C.A.S. and C.S. Romania (26692/05)

The applicants, C.S. and C.A.S., father and son, are Romanian nationals who were born in 1954 and 1990 respectively and currently live in Iasi (Romania).

The case concerns C.A.S.’ complaint that it took the authorities seven years to investigate his repeated raped by a man, eventually acquitted, who forced his way into the family flat when he came home alone from school in a period from January to April 1998. C.A.S., 7-years’ old at the time, alleges in particular that the violent sexual abuse to which he was subjected was of such gravity that it amounted to torture, and that the proceedings were slanted, the domestic courts blaming his parents, and to a certain extent him, for not reacting sooner.

He relies on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial) and Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life and the home). Both applicants further complain under Article 8 that their family life was destroyed and that they were forced to leave the town in which they lived to rebuild a normal life.

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Turkish air strike killed 36 civilians

The deaths of 36 people, who may have been locals smuggling in goods from northern Iraq, killed in an overnight airstrike by Turkish warplanes in southeastern Turkey have led to doubts about the intelligence sources on which the military relied before conducting the operation.
Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Deputy Chairman Hüseyin Çelik held a press conference Thursday evening, saying the incident was the result of an “operational accident” that was caused by a mistake or intelligence failure. He said both a legal and an administrative probe were underway to name those responsible for the deadly error. “If there was a mistake, it will not be covered up in any way and the necessary legal action will be taken.”

A statement from the Şırnak Governor's Office said 35 people were killed and another was injured in the airstrikes. However, hospital records indicate a death toll of 36.

The Turkish military released a statement Thursday that said the area struck was the Sinat-Haftanin region of northern Iraq, where the primary Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) bases are located and where there are no civilian inhabitants.

“Administrative and judicial investigations are underway and procedures are being followed with respect to the incident,” the General Staff said.

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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.

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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.

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(Turkey) Religious Freedom Report 2011

N3553K5R3PKP The constitution protects religious freedom, and, in practice, the government generally enforced these protections; however, some constitutional provisions regarding the integrity and existence of the secular state restrict these rights.

The government generally respected religious freedom in practice. During the reporting period, the government took steps to improve religious freedom. Notably the government permitted religious services to be held annually in historic Christian sites that had been turned into state museums after decades of disuse. The government continued to impose limitations on Muslim and other religious groups, including restrictions placed on Muslim religious expression in government offices and state-run institutions, including universities, for the stated reason of preserving the "secular state." The government has yet to reopen Greek Orthodox Halki seminary after 40 years of closure.

Authorities continued their broad ban on wearing Muslim religious headscarves in government offices as well as public schools, although the ban was relaxed in universities and ignored in some workplaces. Members of some religious groups said they were effectively blocked from careers in state institutions because of their faith. Some religious groups also faced difficulties regarding freedom of worship, registration with the government, property ownership, and the training of their followers and clergy. Although religious speech and persuasion was legal, some Muslims, Christians, and Bahais faced restrictions and occasional harassment for alleged proselytizing or providing religious instruction to children.

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Debt due, caught and killed people

Tekirdağ Cerkezkoy (Turkey) district, because of bank debt and taken to safety sentenced to 2 months imprisonment with a pistol shooting seriously injured per directorate. Ekrem M (53) to a bank of 13 thousand 300 pounds of debt due by the court were sentenced to 2 months imprisonment.

M looking for a prison sentence became final on Ekrem police teams, took a local custody. Ekrem reported decision on the M, was taken to Police Headquarters Cerkezkoy.

Transactions will be sent to the court and then sent to prison, Ekrem learner M, perineum between the concealed handgun permit and went to the toilet, a hand on his head and fired. Tekirdag State Hospital for severe injuries and was removed.

Being treated at the intensive care unit were recorded from the continuing danger of Ekrem M vital. After the public prosecutor made observations of the event came to Police Headquarters.

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Nicknamed: Kemal Gandhi

Born in 1948 in the Nazımiye district of Tunceli, an area where the population is predominantly ethnic Kurds, Kılıçdaroğlu would never have forecast that he could one day become the chairman of the Republican People’s Party, or CHP. Nor would his family and friends.

His parents were from modest Anatolian families. His father was an ordinary state employee at the land registry office with limited income to raise their seven children.

Kemal was the only one in the family who graduated from university Kılıçdaroğlu’s family comes from a local tribe called the Kureyşan, known as a holy kin group among the Alevis. The tribe is considered to have descended from Caliph Ali and Kılıçdaroğlu does not deny this. This also brings clues about his dignified character and cool and tolerant approach to almost every issue, even in strained times. The reflections of this culture and philosophy of Alevi belief surely can be found in Kılıçdaroğlu’s identity.

ankara , echr , Economic , news , Political , Social , Turkey

Google Censorship in Turkey

In October, 2010 Turkey lifted a ban on YouTube that had been in place for two years.

About 600,000 Turkish bloggers are thought to use the Google tool to publish their personal journals. The ban has been imposed because Turkey’s copyright protection laws allow for entire services to be shut down.

Google confirmed the Blogger ban in a statement and said those with worries about piracy should turn to its easy-to-use takedown systems rather than seek a wholesale shutdown. "The process for making a copyright claim for content uploaded to Blogger is straightforward and efficient, and we encourage all content owners to use it rather than seek a broad ban on access to the service," said a spokesperson. "that way, people in Turkey can continue to enjoy Blogger whilst we respond to the specific complaint."

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