UYGAR GÜLTEKIN

The State of Turkey, after having seized a building that belongs to the Bulgarian Exarchate Orthodox Church Foundation, is now demanding a fee in return for occupying the building for 3 years –after returning the building to the foundation. The Treasury has issued a 50 thousand TL fine to the foundation.

Following the land dispute involving the plot on which Diyarbakır Airport today stands, the land plot on which Batman Airport stands has also become the subject of a lawsuit. Zuart Sudjian has filed a case claiming that the State had built an airport on the plot she had inherited. Sudjian’s land in nearby Diyarbakır had also been appropriated by the State, and the Diyarbakır Airport was built on a part of her plot.

The ‘race code scandal’ in minority schools continues despite a broad public outcry. In the most recent case, two students were barred from registering at Armenian schools. An official from the Istanbul National Education Directorate made a statement, saying, “We are checking the race status of the students”. İsmail Cem Halavurt, lawyer of the parents of the students who were not admitted to the schools, said, “The Ministry is committing a crime”.

CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu made a statement regarding Doğu Perinçek’s case at the European Court of Human Rights: “We do not find it right that Mr. Perinçek is being tried for a thought he expressed. We must stand united for freedom of thought. All the modern world should.”

The lost gravestone of Garabet Balyan, the architect of the Dolmabahçe Palace, and a member of the Balyan family praised by President Erdoğan as ‘competent masters’ of their art, was discovered at a Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality construction site in Kartal.

In the Zirve Publishing House Massacre case held in Malatya, verdicts of release were issued for three suspects tried for instigating the murders. Lawyers of the victims’ families share the view that the releases are a further outcome of the consensus reached between the AK Party government and ultra-nationalist circles after the 17-25 December corruption scandals.

Bakırköy Municipality plans to give Hrant Dink’s name to a street in Bakırköy.

Zuart Sudjian wages formidable legal battle for the return of land that belongs to her family, unlawfully seized by the State and site of Diyarbakır Airport today

Human rights organizations have taken the decision to act in cooperation to establish a ‘Foundation for the Investigation of Mass Graves’ under the supervision of the Human Rights Association (İHD). The work to discover mass graves will be carried out according to periods, such as the 1915 Armenian Genocide, Kurdish rebellions after 1925, and the Kurdish War.