Known for his researches on Caucasus and his book on Karabakh conflict titled “Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War”, author and journalist Thomas de Waal's recent book “Great Catastrophe: Armenians and Turks in the Shadow of Genocide” has been published in Turkish by Iletişim Publishing. By way of his book, we talked to de Waal about the current developments in Caucasus.

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.

On the 10th year of the murder, Hrant Dink is commemorated where he was shot.

It has been 10 years since the founder and editor-in-chief of Agos Hrant Dink was shot to death on January 19, 2007, in front of the office of Agos newspaper. Since then, only a few steps have been taken in revealing the ones who ordered this murder and who planned the murder. Here is a brief timeline covering the key actors and cornerstones of the case that has been going on for 10 years.

One of the judges of Dink murder case remarked on the murder during a trial: “Think about a book. You know what will happen in the end, the moment you start to read it.” It is the exact definition of the process leading Hrant Dink to death.

Dink murder suspect Ali Fuat Yılmazer talked about the claim that he was assigned as the chief to the Office C of General Directorate of Security Intelligence Branch, because he is a member of the Gulenist organization. He said that the minister of interior had assigned him and claimed that Abdülkadir Aksu, who was the minister at that time, should be arrested.

In Dink case, Director of Office C of the General Directorate of Security Intelligence Branch Ali Fuat Yılmazer started to present his defence. Yılmazer accused the personnel of Istanbul and Trabzon directorates of security. He pointed out former chief of General Directorate of Security Intelligence Branch Engin Dinç's relations with Trabzon gendarmerie personnel; he said, “Dinç had inexplicable relations.” He also talked about Ergenekon and KCK operations.

10th round of hearings of Dink murder case will continue today in Istanbul. Friends of Hrant was in front of the court house.

Human Rights Watch reviews more than 90 country in World Report 2017. HRW, in Turkey chapter of that report, states: “The crackdown that followed the coup attempt was symptomatic of the government’s increasing authoritarianism."

Prof. Dr. Nilgün Toker Kılınç, who signed the “Academics for Peace” declaration and is dismissed with the recent emergency decree, thinks that dismissal is an “act of vengeance” rather than punishment.

We talked to Assoc. Prof. Murat Sevinç, a faculty member of Ankara University School of Social Sciences, about the content of the proposed constitutional amendments and their outcomes.