Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin words a few days ago sound particularly sinister today, as raids and arrests are taken place against Kurdish and free media in Turkey.

Speaking on Roj TV, DTK (Democratic Society Congress) Co-chair Aysel Tuğluk said that they had been told that a Turkish military helicopter had been shot down during the clashes in Dicle.

A young boy, Gazi Akbayır, was first stabbed and then shot to death by a mob after he made a request for a Kurdish song in a bar.

Arrests of Kurds seem unstoppable as more people in Diyarbakır, Hakkari, Şırnak and Van have been taken into custody on Saturday.

According to data based on reports in local and national newspapers and news agencies, a compilation made by bianet revealed that 20 women were killed by male perpetrators in October 2011. Two of the culprits committed suicide, one attempted to kill himself. One man surrendered to the police after the murder.

The trial of 23 BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) İzmir executives resumed on Friday at İzmir 8th High Criminal Court. Out of 23 BDP administrators and district chairs, 10 have been remanded in custody at Kırıklar F-Type Prison for nine months.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), the Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA-International Association of Lawyers), the Conférence internationale des barreaux (CIB), Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada (LRWC) and the International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (Front Line) have sent a letter to Turkish president Abdullah Gül and minister of justice Sadullah Ergin to express their "deepest concern about the frequent use of arbitrary detention and judicial harassment against a significant number of lawyers for merely defending their clients' rights in politically sensitive cases".

Iranian authorities allegedly lifted the death sentence imposed on Kurdish woman activist Zeyneb Jalalian.