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Reporters Without Borders condemns the
suspension of Hayat TV in Turkey
23.7.2008
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July
23, 2008
Reporters Without Borders condemns the indefinite
suspension of Hayat TV’s broadcasts since 16 July at
the behest of the High Council for Turkish
Broadcasting (RTUK) for allegedly providing film of
the Kurdish New Year celebrations to Kurdish ROJ TV,www.ekurd.net
a station based in
Germany which the Turkish authorities regard as an
outlet of the banned Turkey's Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK).
In reality, the footage was provided by the Kurdish
news agency DIHA.
“Hayat TV’s suspension without any warning is
indicative of the pressure which the Turkish
authorities put on certain news media,” Reporters
Without Borders said. “The grounds given by the RTUK
was Hayat TV’s alleged cooperation with ROJ TV when
in fact the Turkish New Year footage was obtained
from elsewhere. Hayat TV’s suspension must be lifted
at once.”
Insisting that he has never provided any footage to
ROJ TV, Hayat TV chief Aydin Cubukçu said he would
do everything necessary to be able to resume
broadcasting and would seek compensation from the
RTUK and the state-owned TV satellite operator
Türksat.
Cubukçu claimed that, at the behest of the RTUK,
Türksat chief executive Özkan Dalbay wrote in a 16
July letter to Turkovizyon, a company contracts
Türksat services for a number of Turkish TV
stations: “To avoid our disconnecting all of the
Turkovizyon platform’s broadcasts,www.ekurd.net
we ask you to terminate
Hayat TV’s broadcasts and to henceforth pay more
attention to the content of the stations you host.”
Hayat TV had been broadcasting since 3 December
2007. Its content is targeted at Turkish workers.
Copyright, respective author or news agency, rsf org
* Since 1984 the
Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) took up arms
for self-rule in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey. A large Turkey's Kurdish
community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK
rebels.
The PKK demanded Turkey's recognition of the Kurds'
identity in its constitution and of their language
as a native language along with Turkish in the
country's Kurdish areas,
the party also demanded an end to ethnic
discrimination in Turkish laws and constitution
against Kurds, ranting them full political freedoms.
The PKK is considered a 'terrorist' organization by
Ankara, U.S., the PKK continues to be on the
blacklist list in EU despite court ruling which
overturned a decision
to place the Kurdish rebel group PKK and its
political wing on the European Union's terror list.
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.
** 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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