Same Content for Different Language Broadcast

Instead of the original aim of providing a media for the cultural development of the communities through culture programs, the daily broadcast mainly comprises of reports on the government and economy.

TRT began broadcasting programs in languages and dialects other than Turkish on June 7, 2004, with broadcasts in Bosnian to be followed by Kirmanchi, Zazaki, Arabic and Circassian.

Looking at the content of the broadcast it seems that the TRT has left independent reporting to local and regional media, who in turn have been awaiting permissions from the Radio and Television Higher Board (RTUK) for the last two years.

Official news bulletin on more than 20 television channels

In the "Our Cultures are Our Wealth" program broadcasted at 10:30 a.m., the TRT3 TV carried reports about the activities of President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and five members of the government, which were already carried by more than 20 national Turkish channels.

The only difference was that the TRT broadcasted a song in the Kirmanchi dialect called "Nobody's left in our village," and the "Aman Dilo" song by Memocan from Urfa. In the Circassian music program, the channel broadcasted a love song called "The reuniting of lovers make the world beautiful," by Nehay Tamara and a folk dance.

Same news in Kirmanchi and Circassian programs

The "A Look at the Week" program carried reports about the Italian President visiting Turkey for trade cooperation and meeting with President Sezer, Prime Minister Erdogan's meeting with a group of Italian businessmen, Agriculture and Village Affairs Minister Mehdi Eker's statements on agricultural loans and subsidies to farmers, the viniculture meeting attended by State Minister Abdullatif Sener in Ankara, the statement by Health Minister Recep Akdag that "there still are difficulties in appointing doctors to the east and southeast," the meeting of Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul with the First Deputy of the Prime Minister of Qatar.

Other reports, which were not about the government, were about the international community's indifference towards Ahiska Turks, who were exiled 61 years ago, the AIDA warning by the United Nations, nutrition and weight warnings during the winter months, the "Kaleici is our love" watercolor exhibition of artist Nevin Doman, on the historic Kaleici site in Antalya, and the "Use of Biological Species" project launched to revive the anchovy in the Black sea.

The sports program carried reports on the Fenerbahce-Milan football game of November 23, and the news that the Japanese government granted 1.8 million dollars to Turkey to support sports. The "Breeze from Anatolia" program carried reports on weaving in Pamukkale and the famous buldan fabric; and the "From Blue to Green" program was about raising calf.

TRT has been broadcasting programs in different languages and dialects for the last 18 months.

While Kurdish broadcasts are banned in local media, Radio 1 and TRT3 broadcasts programs in the Bosnian language on Mondays, in Arabic on Tuesdays, in the Kirmanchi dialect on Wednesdays, Circassian language on Thursdays and in the Zaza dialect on Fridays. But the rating of these broadcasts has not been determined yet.

TRT had started broadcasts in different languages after a government decree on broadcasts in languages and dialects other than Turkish was published on January 25, 2004. (EÖ/EA/YE)