Star: “The name of self-sacrifice: baby Helin,” was the headline of a front-page article in the daily yesterday, which reported about the tragic survival story of a 17-day-old baby girl in Elazığ. The baby was able to survive in the mud-brick house her family was living in thanks to her mother and grandmother who sacrificed their lives in order to protect her. The baby’s aunt will take care of her, the daily said. Taraf: “Mother of six sentenced to seven years for carrying banner,” the daily said in the headline of its main story yesterday, reporting that an illiterate woman, Vesile Tadik, was sentenced to seven years, three months in prison for carrying a banner during a demonstration in the eastern province of Siirt. Tadik, who does not speak Turkish, communicated with the judge at the Diyarbakır 4th High Criminal Court where she appeared for the first time through a translator. The 49-year-old woman said: “There was a press release of the [now-defunct pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party] DTP. Some people handed me a banner to hold, and I held it.” The court convicted the woman of disseminating propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Vatan: “Bitter confession,” read the headline of the daily’s top story yesterday, quoting remarks from Health Minister Recep Akdağ, who said Turkey’s hospitals were not strong enough to withstand earthquakes. While everyone was discussing whether their house could withstand a quake in the wake of a temblor that hit the eastern province of Elazığ on Monday, killing 51, Akdağ said it was impossible to claim that Turkey’s hospitals were strong enough to survive earthquakes. “By constructing new hospitals, we try to fend off the risk,” noted the minister.
