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 Turkey passes law to allow minority languages on TV

 Source : Todays.Zaman | Agencies 
  Kurd Net does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news information on this page

 


Turkey passes law to allow minority languages on TV  31.5.2008





May 31, 2008

ANKARA, —  Parliament passed a bill on Thursday allowing the state-owned television Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) to broadcast programs in languages other than Turkish, paving the way for broadcasts in Kurdish, Arabic and Farsi.

TRT will now be able to allocate one of its channels to 24-hour broadcasts in Kurdish. TRT General Director Ibrahim Şahin has said they plan to broadcast in Kurdish, Arabic and Farsi in the initial stages of their non-Turkish programming. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted at this in a speech in Diyarbakir on Tuesday, when he announced the government's plan to resuscitate the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP).

State broadcaster TRT began airing weekly 30-minute programs in Kurdish and several other minority languages in 2004 as part of Turkey's bid to join the European Union. But the Turkish political and military establishment has long feared that encouraging minority languages might harm unity among Turkey's 72 million people. Commentators say the latest move is an attempt to attract viewers in the mainly Kurdish Southeast away from Denmark-based Roj TV,
www.ekurd.net the most popular Kurdish regional station that authorities regard as a mouthpiece for the Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

During parliamentary negotiations over the bill that amended the law on TRT, a motion to allow TRT to air programs in languages other than Turkish was submitted to become part of the law, sparking reaction from the opposition parties.

Hasip Kaplan, a deputy for Şirnak from the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), lent support to the motion, saying: "It is cultural vandalism to ban 20 million Kurdish people from speaking their mother tongue. These 20 million Kurdish citizens, who perform their military service and pay their taxes, have the right to expect TRT to broadcast in the Kurdish language. Our country will not be divided by just singing folk songs or reading poems. Instead, this will strengthen our brotherhood."

TRT broadcasts in Kurdish may boost the morale of Kurdish citizens, some intellectuals have suggested.

Tarik Ziya Ekinci, a prominent Kurdish intellectual, suggested that Kurdish broadcasting would contribute greatly to the establishment of social peace in Turkey. "This is an important step, and I believe it will help the bloodshed to be stopped and guns to be silenced," he said. Şerafettin Elçi, leader of the pro-Kurdish Participatory Democracy Party (KADEP), voiced the opinion that the move would make Kurdish citizens believe the state values them.

Elçi further suggested that official acceptance of the Kurdish language would boost the morale of society, adding: "Until now, the official policy has been the denial of existence of a Kurdish language. This meant the rejection and denial of Kurds. This bill sends the message that this policy is being dropped. From this point of view, it is quite significant. It is important in terms of official acceptance of the Kurdish language. However, if the programs broadcast follow the lines of the state's official policy, they will not mean much to Kurds. It would be much more meaningful to grant more freedom to private TV networks that are more responsive to popular demand," he said.

Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population as a distinct minority. It has allowed some cultural rights such as limited broadcasts in the Kurdish language and private Kurdish language courses with the prodding of the European Union,
but Kurdish politicians say the measures fall short of their expectations.

Copyright, respective author or news agency, todayszaman com | Agencies 

** Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in Turkey and are denied rights granted to other minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and education in the Kurdish language, but critics say the measures do not go far enough.

The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously rejected due to its alleged political implications by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast Turkey.

Others estimate over 40 million Kurds live in Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia), which covers an area as big as France, about half of all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in Turkey.

Turkey is home to 25 million ethnic Kurds, a large Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.

Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language, prohibiting the language in education and broadcast media. The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q which do not exist in the Turkish alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and 2003

The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it is a criminal offence" 

Southeastern Turkey: North Kurdistan ( Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia    

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