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53 Turkish Mayors Face Fines for Supporting Kurdish TV

April 16th, 2008Kawthar (Sudan)

After initially being sentenced to two and a half months in prison, a court in the Turkish city of Diyarbakir – which houses a large Kurdish population – reduced the sentence of 53 mayors, and they now face fines. Their “crime”: sending a request to the Danish Prime Minister, asking him not to shut down the Denmark-based Kurdish station Roj TV.

Launced in 2004, Roj TV broadcasts news and various entertainment programs in Kurdish, as well as several other languages. However, the Turkish government views the station as a propoganda machine for the PKK, and has striven to have it shut down.

While Roj admits that is in contact with the PKK, it denies being controlled by it, and maintains its independence.

In a bid to meet EU requirements, Turkey eased restrictions in 2002, allowing Kurdish language programs to be broadcast, they remain heavily regulated. If its licence is revoked, Roj TV would be the third Kurdish broadcaster to meet such a fate, after Med TV and Medya TV in 1999 and 2004 respectively.

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3 Responses to “53 Turkish Mayors Face Fines for Supporting Kurdish TV”

  1. #1 Elephant - April 16th, 2008 at 8:59 am

    There stand 53 good men, God bless them.

  2. #2 Jina - April 16th, 2008 at 1:46 pm

    Yet, I haven’t heard any of this on any of the mainstream media here in the Free World.

  3. #3 Halalhippie /Denmark - April 16th, 2008 at 2:08 pm

    Well, in Denmark we have this thing about freedom of the press, and we don’t really like censorship, especially not being told by other countries to censor media that upholds Danish law. It can be a bit of trouble at times (!) .

    So what do you think ? Did Danish PM Anders Fogh-Rasmussen do the right thing, NOT closing down the TV-station ? (not that he has the power to do so)

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