The local Gün TV channel in Diyarbakir, in south-eastern Turkey, is the only channel to have broadcast Kurdish programmes for the last one and a half years. However, the channel, which is legally allowed to broadcast four hours a week in Kurdish, has faced many difficulties, both over its news and music programmes.
Costly and time-consuming
Gün Radio-TV representative Ahmet Birsin says that because they are obliged to translate everything into Turkish as well, they have to organise dubbing, translation and editing serivces. Because they have not got simultaneous translation facilities, they cannot have live programmes.
The channel has broadcast a twelve-part porgramme on handicrafts and an EU-supported programme on "conscious farming". Birsin said that the latter programme had allowed farmers to discuss agricultural problems in their own language and had been very popular.
Birsin regretted the fact that the regulations on non-Turkish broadcasts forbid programmes targeting children, which meant that producing programmes related to health problems were severely restricted.
Gün Radio on trial
Birsin also reported that the Gün Radio, part of the same group, has been taken to court for a song entitled "Mesopotamia", which was played by the radio station on 9 November 2006. Based on the translation and report of the police department, the radio station's former executive editor, Cemal Dogan, faces a trial under Article 216 of the Penal Code for "inciting the public hatred and hostility or denigration".
The Diyarbakir Public Prosecutor Turan Güzeloglu said in his indictment of 28 February that the song said, "Who said that you have no owner, here we have come Lice, we have come, Emperor, Shah Kurdistan" and "With wounds and blood, with guns and stars, with religion and belief".
Birsin said that "we ask ourselves whether we face these situations because we broadcast in Kurdish".
RTÜK Law amended 2004
On 25 January 2004, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) amended Article 4 of RTÜK Law No. 3984 and Law No. 4471, so as to allow "the broadcast of traditionally used different languages and dialects used by Turkish citizens". Institutions wanting to broadcast in Kurdish were given permission two years later, but with a daily limit of 45 minutes and a weekly limit of four hours. All programmes must have Turkish subtitles. Radio stations are allowed one hour of Kurdish daily and five hours weekly, also with mandatory translation. (EÖ/NZ/AG)
