Around 500 journalists were fired and 70 others were subjected to physical violence in 2015, the Turkish Journalists Association (TGC) has said.

The government is preparing to make a legal arrangement allowing for public servants to attend Friday prayers without interrupting their office hours.

As academics and researchers of this country, we will not be a party to this crime!
 
The Turkish state has effectively condemned its citizens in Sur, Silvan, Nusaybin, Cizre, Silopi, and many other towns and neighborhoods in the Kurdish provinces to hunger through its use of curfews that have been ongoing for weeks. It has attacked these settlements with heavy weapons and equipment that would only be mobilized in wartime. As a result, the right to life, liberty, and security, and in particular the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment protected by the constitution and international conventions have been violated.  
 
This deliberate and planned massacre is in serious violation of Turkey’s own laws and international treaties to which Turkey is a party. These actions are in serious violation of international law.  
 
We demand the state to abandon its deliberate massacre and deportation of Kurdish and other peoples in the region. We also demand the state to lift the curfew, punish those who are responsible for human rights violations, and compensate those citizens who have experienced material and psychological damage. For this purpose we demand that independent national and international observers to be given access to the region and that they be allowed to monitor and report on the incidents.
 
We demand the government to prepare the conditions for negotiations and create a road map that would lead to a lasting peace which includes the demands of the Kurdish political movement. We demand inclusion of independent observers from broad sections of society in these negotiations. We also declare our willingness to volunteer as observers. We oppose suppression of any kind of the opposition.
 
We, as academics and researchers working on and/or in Turkey, declare that we will not be a party to this massacre by remaining silent and demand an immediate end to the violence perpetrated by the state. We will continue advocacy with political parties, the parliament, and international public opinion until our demands are met.

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Deputy Chair Ümit Özdağ has accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of conducting “Wahabi-Salafi policies” over recent tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Almost 800 journalists were fired in Turkey last year, while 156 were detained and nearly 500 legal actions were taken against journalists by judicial authorities, according to a senior member of the country’s main opposition party.

Turquie : plusieurs victimes dans une explosion à Istanbul

Six people were killed late Jan. 13 when a car bomb exploded near a district police post in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakır, officials have said.

The European Court of Human Rights has dismissed demands for an interim injunction to lift ongoing curfews in two southeastern districts where operations against militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) are continuing.

The government will also speed up renaming southeastern towns populated mostly by Kurdish citizens, where name changes from Turkish to Kurdish were seen as necessary. Signs located at town boundaries will also be changed accordingly.

Ankara will no longer engage in contact with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and will instead “liquidate” all PKK militants through ongoing security operations, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed.

La justice turque a condamné, mercredi 20 janvier, à onze mois de prison ferme pour « insulte » une femme reconnue coupable d’un geste obscène envers l’actuel président, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, lors d’une manifestation en mars 2014, a rapporté la presse locale.

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) abandoned an inter-party commission tasked with writing a new charter on Feb. 16 over the presidential system debate.

Facing strong resistance to a presidential system change, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has begun reconsidering the idea of a semi-presidential system similar to the one in France, with a senior executive of the party arguing that Turkey’s existing parliamentarian system and France’s semi-presidential system differ very little.