From the columns 2

Government expanding enemy front:

Radikal's Murat Yetkin focuses on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's disagreements with various circles and powers within Turkey. Yetkin reports that six members of the Prime Ministry's Human Rights Advisory Board were expected to resign from their posts, a move that will be followed by resignations from within many important nongovernmental organizations.

Exploring the reasons for these moves, Yetkin says that the premier's recent actions contradict with his attitude before the Dec. 17, EU summit, when the union agreed to open accession talks with Turkey. “It is hard to find someone believing that the slogan of ‘zero tolerance against torture,' is a governmental policy today.”

“Some people could say that those resignations are no big deal, but they should not forget that the support of nongovernmental organizations, especially the Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TİHV) was very helpful for the AKP government in being better respected in the eyes of the European Union and the United States,” said Yetkin.

Focusing on groups the premier has made a stand against, Yetkin says that labor unions, nongovernmental organizations and industrialists could be counted among those groups.

Yetkin says that it is still not too late for Erdoğan to re-influence various circles under his governance. “He should redefine the common principles that will cover the largest number of groups and then take the necessary action,” said Yetkin.

Would Öcalan be found innocent in a possible retrial?:

Radikal's İsmet Berkan features the anticipated ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in favor of the retrial of Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK/Kongra-Gel).

Berkan says that the issue is not only limited with the retrial of Öcalan but says research shows that there are the trials of 90 more people that could be repeated according to the court's ruling.

Exploring the reason for this uneasiness, Berkan says that it was due to Parliament in 2002 when it tried to give the right of retrial to former Democracy Party (DEP) deputies with the exclusion of Öcalan and other terrorists.

Berkan says that since Öcalan would definitely be found guilty in a possible retrial, no one should worry about the verdict of such a trial.