TURKEY

Today, public officials who are responsible for Dink murder are being heard. Before the trial, Friends of Hrant made a statement to the press. It is stated that the public officials stand trial because of “fight for power” and the highest prosecution organ insists on protecting the governor who was in office at the time of murder.

In the report of civil inspectors, the names of the police chiefs, who hadn't reported the information about Ankara massacre to their superiors, are listed. 102 people were killed in the suicide attack on October 10, 2015 during a rally in Ankara. In the information that was received on the day of the attack, even the name of the bomber is reported.

Diyarbakir Metropolitan Municipality appealed to Council of State for annulling the urgent expropriation decision taken by cabinet.

Personal data of nearly 50 million Turkish citizens leaked online and this intensified the debates on personal security. According to information technology law experts, Protection of Personal Data Law proposed by the government for solving the security problem will create a legitimate ground for government to use “sensitive data”.

The expropriation decision made by the cabinet in Sur province of Diyarbakir caused disquiet. Stating that the cabinet should correct this decision, Archbishop Aram Ateşyan said that they demanded a meeting with Minister of Environment Sarı. Lawyer of Surg Giragos Church Ali Elbeyoğlu said, “The execution of this decision shouldn't be under the initiative of the government. We will appeal this decision. The decision of the cabinet should be corrected by the cabinet itself.”

General Directorate for Foundations Director Adnan Ertem spoke about the urgent expropriation decision taken by the cabinet. He said, “We want to preserve the historical structures.”

Prof. Dr. Baskın Oran filed a claim for compensation against President Erdoğan, because of his statements about the academics who signed the declaration titled as “We won't be accomplices to this crime”. Oran is one of the signees.

Can Dündar and Erdem Gül stand trial today because of their journalism activities. President Erdoğan and Turkish intelligence office (MİT) became the intervening parties. A confidentiality order is imposed on the case.

CHP MP Selina Doğan tabled a parliamentary question addressed to Ministry of Internal Affairs, but hasn't received a response. After that, she applied to General Directorate of Civil Registration and Citizenship Affairs. She demanded to know how many of non-Muslims there are in Turkey, given there is race code procedure. The Directorate replied that they cannot give any answer to that question, since there is no procedure like race code.

Two bombers who carried out attacks at Brussels Airport yesterday are identified as brothers Khalid and Ibrahim el-Bakraoui. It is stated that though they have criminal records, any relation to a terrorist organization hasn't been found yet.