NEWS

Recently, HDP MP Garo Paylan had been banned from the parliament for 3 sessions and subjected to verbal assault for he used the word “genocide” and his speech was removed from the parliamentary minutes. Paylan wrote for Agos, telling what happened before and after the speech and what was his intention in the first place.

Protestant Churches Association released “Violations of Right Report 2016”. Attacks and hate speech against Christians and churches continue. Churches are at serious risk.

The report titled “Challenges and Opportunities of Refugee Integration in Turkey” is issued.

HDP Kars MP Ayhan Bilgen is arrested. Diyarbakir Chief Public Prosecutor's Office had issued an arrest warrant for Bilgen.

HDP Group Deputy Chairperson and Diyarbakir MP İdris Baluken was released yesterday.

In Gegharkunik province of Armenia, a mausoleum and artifacts dating back to Urartu (Kingdom of Van) era have been found.

American-Armenian scholar Ronald Grigor Suny was the speaker of human rights and freedom of expression conference, which is held once in a year in Boğaziçi University in memory of Hrant Dink. He made a presentation titled “The Crisis of Contemporary Democracy”. We talked to Suny about this crisis in terms of Turkey and world and its relation to populism.

HDP MPs Mehmet Adıyaman, Osman Baydemir, Ahmet Yıldırım and İmam Taşçıer have been taken into custody today to give statement to the prosecutor. They are released, after they have given their statements.

On Friday, the recent round of hearings ended. Arrested suspect Ali Fuat Yılmazer continues to present his defence. He said, “The groups that we called dark organizations in the past are within the state now. That is why we live in an empire of terror now. No one goes outside. In this sense, the murder achieved its goal.” The court decided to hear 51 people including Hanefi Avcı and Muammer Güler as witnesses.

Full text of the speech that Rakel Dink gave on the 10th anniversary of the murder of Hrant Dink.