Hakan Tas, manager of the radio station, has asked RTUK chair Fatih Karaca, for a 20-day postponement because of the Ramadan holiday but he has not received a response to his request.
Suvagci told Bianet he talked about the need to find a democratic solution to the Kurdish problem on the program. During the program, Suvagci talked about the disappearance of Ebubekir Deniz and Serdar Tanis while under arrest and that he had not been able to hear from them since that time. Suvagci himself has been arrested five times in the last five years, he said.
Tas said that station has been punished because of the show, Gundem, which aired on March 22, but that the radio station gave equal time to all party representatives before local elections. There was nothing on the show that would hurt the people, he said.
Who will give the news?
"We have to cover the news, not just the music on our radio station because there is only one radio station in our town," Tas said.
Hakkari FM has been given the 30-day closure under Code 3984, which will begin in early October.
Citing the code, the reason for the punishment was, "Provoking violence, terror or ethnic separatism," "inciting hostility among the people," and using broadcasting to "incite hatred." (EO/CC/YE)
