“Kurdish TV Channel” Becomes Possible On Paper

President Abdullah Gül signed into law the bill that makes Kurdish broadcasting on one of the state television (TRT) channels possible. This bill was already announced by Prime Minister Erdoğan during his Diyabakır trip.

Once Gül sends the signed "Law About Making A Change Regarding the Law of Turkish Radio and Television and the Law of the Founding of Televisions and Their Broadcasting” to the Prime Ministry and it is published in the Turkish Official Gazette, it will be possible to allocate one of the channels of TRT for Kurdish broadcasting. TRT already broadcasts in mother tongues during the weekdays.

TRT will start broadcasting in Kurdish after the preparations between the government and the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) are completed.

Broadcasting in mother tongue in TRT will expand

It is expected that TRT will increase its broadcasting in non-Turkish languages such as Kurdish, Arabic, Circassian, Zaza and Bosnians. 

According to the law, after it is published in the Turkish Official Gazette and the necessary preparations are completed, TRT will be able to expand its broadcasting in mother tongues. It has already been doing limited broadcasting in mother tongues in TRT Radyo 1 and TRT 3, each day of the week allocated to a particular mother tongue. With this new law, it will be able to assign a whole channel to broadcasting in mother tongues.

The limited Kurdish broadcasting have not gone beyond TRT and Gün TV

Presently, TRT broadcasts in Bosnian on Mondays, in Arabic on Tuesdays, in Kırmanci on Wednesdays, in Circassian on Thursdays and in Zaza on Fridays, allocating half n hour for each.

The permission for broadcasting and publishing in different languages in local and national media was granted in 2004. On January 2004, the ‘Regulation About Radio And Television Broadcasting In Different Languages And Dialects That The Turkish Citizens Are Using Traditionally In Their Daily Lives’ was published.

After TRT started broadcasting in non-Turkish languages, four local media organizations asked for permission from RTÜK and started broadcasting in KuUrdish. However, only Gün TV continues broadcasting in Kurdish today.

TRT will be able to sell news and buy services from private organizations

Moreover, TRT will be able to make contracts, protocols and agreements with radio and television institutions and firms that broadcast in Turkey. Staying within the limits of the contracts made, TRT will be able to sell news and images to radios and television channels that broadcast regionally and nationally and buy services from them.

In contracts, protocols and agreements with international radio and television channels, the approval of the Prime Minister will be required.

The discussions in the Parliament were as fierce as the discussions during the proposal. Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), claimed in his announcement made previously that this law was a gesture to PKK’s mountain cadre. (EÖ/TB)