Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) PM member Arzu Mucu and BDP Women’s Council member Çimen Altürk were taken into custody in Hakkari on 20 February. BDP PM member Arzu Mucu who went to Hakkari for celebrations of the coming International Women’s Day on 8 March was taken into custody at a police control point in Depin area. While Mucu was taken to Hakkari Security Directorate, the reason of the detention hasn’t been reported yet.

Deputies of Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and Labor, Democracy and Freedom Block have started a two-day hunger strike on 20 February to support the indefinite and non-alternate hunger strike of jailed MPs of BDP for Şırnak Selma Irmak and Faysal Sarıyıldız and many other political prisoners. The hunger strike act of MPs is staged in protest to the ongoing military and political operations and the isolation imposed on Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan.

35 people were taken into custody in Mersin today as a result of police intervention in the demonstration by woman members of KESK Mersin Platform. The protest act by KESK's woman members was organized to condemn the detention and arrests of unionist women in the recent period, on the eve of the coming International Women's Day on 8 March.

Sixty thousand people from many countries in Europe have today demanded freedom for Öcalan and status for Kurdish people. The demo was staged after the arrival of Long March in Strasbourg on 17 February. The march left Geneva on 31 January to reach Strasbourg on Thursday, after 420 kilometers in Siberian temperatures.

The Democratic Congress of People (HDK) will organize a Middle East Forum in Istanbul today. Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Co-Chair Gültan Kışanak, academics Abbas Vali and Gençay Gürsoy and journalists Nuray Mert, Faik Bulut, Hüseyin Aykol, Cengiz Çandar, Aslı Aydıntaşbaş and Aydın Çubukçu will have a speech in the forum focusing on Turkey and the Kurdish issue in the framework of the situation in the Middle East. The forum will take place, in Taksim Hill Hotel today between 10.00 and 18.00.
ANF / ISTANBUL

The Association for the Research and Development of Kurdish Language (KURDİ-DER) has launched a campaign to mark International Mother Language Day, on 21 February. The association is sending postcards written in Kurdish to the jailed mayors and non-governmental organisation representatives.

In response to the parliamentary question presented by BDP MP Pervin Buldan, Minister of Justice, Sadullah Ergin announced the number of children currently jailed in Turkey. Accordingly, the number, which was 17 in 2005, increased to 1023 in 2010, recording an increase by a thousand percent. The report by the Minister of Justice displays the multiply of figures of political prisoners since the beginning of so-called 'KCK (Kurdish Communities Union) operations'.

We publish this article by Mehmet Atakan Foça. The article was first published in Bianet. On 12 October 2011, students from primary and high schools in the Nusaybin district of Mardin (south-eastern Turkey) protested against violence at school. The police intervened against the young demonstrators. Police officers ran after a group of 19 students who tried to escape. They hustled them to a nearby mine field. The juveniles were beaten and taken into police custody.