Turkey bombed military targets in Syria

Turkey's military struck targets inside Syria on Wednesday in response to a mortar bomb fired from Syrian territory which killed five Turkish civilians, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's office said in a statement.

Our armed forces in the border region responded immediately to this abominable attack in line with their rules of engagement; targets were struck through artillery fire against places in Syria identified by radar, the statement said.

"Turkey will never leave unanswered such kinds of provocation by the Syrian regime against our national security," it added.

Davutoğlu had also agreed with NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on the need for an emergency meeting of NATO members, the statement said.

A mortar bomb fired from Syria landed in a residential district of the southeastern Turkish town of Akçakale on Wednesday, killing a woman and four children from the same family and wounding at least 13 other people.

A cloud of dust and smoke rose up over low-rise buildings as residents ran to help the wounded. Others, infuriated by the increasing spillover of violence from Syria's civil war, took to the streets shouting protests against the local authorities.

Davutoğlu phoned UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to brief him about the incident and also spoke with senior military officials and Syria crisis mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, his ministry said in a statement.

Davutoğlu signaled over the weekend that Turkey would take action if there was a repeat of a mortar strike which damaged homes and workplaces in Akçakale last Friday.

"It (latest mortar round) hit right in the middle of the neighbourhood. The wife and four children from the same family died," Ahmet Emin Meşhurgül, local head of the Turkish Red Crescent, told Reuters, adding he knew the victims personally.

ECHR; President Jean Paul Costa (France)

Born on 3 November 1941 in Tunis
Diploma of the Institute of Political Studies of Paris, 1961
Master of Law, Faculty of Law, Paris, 1962
Diploma of Superior Studies (post-graduate), Public law, 1964
Former pupil of the ENA (Ecole nationale d’administration), 1964-66
Auditeur at the Conseil d’Etat, 1966
Rapporteur at the judicial section of the Council of State, 1966-1971, 1977-80, 1987-89, assessor of sub-section (chamber), judicial section of the Council of State, 1989-93
Directeur du cabinet (political secretary) of the Minister of Education (Alain Savary), 1981-84
Associate professor, Universities of Orléans, 1989-98 and Panthéon-Sorbonne, 1992-98
President of sub-section, judicial section of the Council of State, 1993-98
Judge of the European Court of Human Rights since 1 November 1998
President of Section since 1 May 2000
Vice-President of the Court since 1 November 2001
President of the Court since 19 January 2007.

Turkey hittings military targets in Syria

Turkish artillery hit targets near Syria's Tel Abyad border town for a second day on Thursday, killing several Syrian soldiers according to activists and security sources, after a mortar bomb fired from the area killed five Turkish civilians.

Turkey's government said "aggressive action" against its territory by Syria's military had become a serious threat to its national security and sought parliamentary approval for the deployment of Turkish troops beyond its borders.

"Turkey has no interest in a war with Syria. But Turkey is capable of protecting its borders and will retaliate when necessary," Ibrahim Kalin, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan, said on his Twitter account.

Political, diplomatic initiatives will continue," he said.

In the most serious cross-border escalation of the 18-month uprising in Syria, Turkey hit back after what it called "the last straw" when a mortar hit a residential neighbourhood of the southern border town of Akçakale on Wednesday.

Timoshenko: impossible damage?

I hope that the recently proposed changes to the criminal code in Ukraine will make such trials impossible in the future,” said Thorbjorn Jagland, Secretary General of the 47-member body, after a Ukraine court jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko for seven years. She was convicted of abusing power.

Enraging:
The judgement has enraged the West, jeopardising Kiev’s plans to join the EU. The verdict has potentially devastating consequences for the country - which could be averted on appeal, as President Viktor Yanukovych was quick to point out.

Timoshenko filed a complaint against Ukraine at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in June, claiming her trial was politically motivated. The ECHR rules on actions brought by individuals and legal entities that claim their human and fundamental rights have not been upheld by national courts. So first, the Appeals Court in Ukraine must uphold the verdict against Timoshenko. If it does, it is likely that she could be awarded damages by the ECHR.

ECHR; Işıl Karakaş (Turkey)

Born on 8 December 1958 in Istanbul, Turkey
B.A. in Political Science, Istanbul University, 1983
Research Assistant, Faculty of Political Sciences at the Istanbul University, 1984-1993
M.A. in Public Law, Istanbul University, 1986
M.A. in European Law, Centre européen universitaire at the Nancy II University, 1988
B.A. in Law, Marmara University, 1990
Member of the Istanbul Bar, 1991
PhD in Public Law, Istanbul University, 1992
Associate Professor, Faculty of Political Sciences at the Istanbul University, 1993-1999
Associate Professor, Faculty of Law at the Galatasaray University, 1999-2003
Director of the Research and Documentation Centre on Europe at the Galatasaray University, 2002-2008
Professor of International Law, Faculty of Law at the Galatasaray University, 2003-2008
Visiting Professor at the University of Aix-Marseille III, of Reims, of Montpellier II, of Strasbourg Robert Schuman
Vice-Dean, Faculty of Law at the Galatasaray University, 2004-2008
Judge of the European Court of Human Rights since 1 May 2008.