1 A pro-Kurdish newspaper closed after a court ruling sanctioned a government crackdown that included confiscation of every issue, the daily's editor said Saturday.
2 Baki Karadeniz said directors of Ozgur Ulke, or Free Country, decided to cease publication Friday. A day earlier, a court decided the Istanbul-based paper had made no changes since being banned last year on allegations of making Kurdish propaganda.
3 The newspaper, which began publishing nine months ago, had a circulation of about 14,000.
4 A U.S.-based media aid group on Friday condemned the court decision against Ozgur Ulke as 'another effort to silence opposition voices.' In a letter to Prime Minister Tansu Ciller, the Committee to Protect Journalists called on the government to 'end the legal pressure on opposition media.'
5 Karadeniz said he expected another pro-Kurdish daily to be established soon. But he said he would not be part of the venture in order to avoid a similar court decision.
6 Turkish officials are sensitive over the media coverage of the Kurdish rebel war in southeastern Turkey.
7 Since early last month, security teams have seized Ozgur Ulke at a printing plant. Ozgur Ulke countered by issuing second versions carrying blank spaces with the word 'censored' over the columns where articles were cut.
8 Nineteen employees of Ozgur Gundem have been killed in unsolved murders between 1992 and 1994. Thirty-five employees from the two papers are in jail on separatism charges.
9 Kurdish guerrillas have been fighting for autonomy in southeastern Turkey since 1984. About 14,000 people died in the violence.

The newspaper , which began publishing nine months ago , had a circulation of about 14 , 000 .
circulation
Who were the predominant subscribers to the newspaper?