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Turkish PM in spat over Denmark's
pro-Kurdish TV station
16.11.2005
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ANKARA, Nov 15,
2005 (AFP) - 21h10 - Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan defended Tuesday his boycott of a
news conference in Denmark attended by a reporter
from a pro-Kurdish television station.
Erdogan decided to shun the joint press conference
with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen
after the latter turned down his request that the
Roj TV journalist be told to leave.
"How can we come together in a press conference with
a member of a medium which is under the patronage of
a terrorist organization? That was not possible for
me," Erdogan said at Ankara airport after flying in
from Denmark.
He remained defiant when asked whether his stance
might cast a pall on Turkey's respect for press
freedom at a time when the country is bidding to
join the European Union.
"Whatever the price of my behaviour, Turkey can pay
it," Erdogan said.
The prime minister described Roj TV, which
broadcasts from Denmark, as "a medium which is
contributing to the escalation of terrorism" in
Turkey.
"This has nothing to do with freedoms," he said.
Turkey has long pressed Denmark to revoke the
license of the organization widely believed to be
linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an
armed group blacklisted as a terrorist organization
by Ankara, the European Union and the United States.
Turkey complains that the channel, on air since
March 2004, incites hatred and fear by expressing
open support for the PKK.
Danish broadcasting authorities ruled earlier this
year that the station's programmes did not contain
incite hatred and said it had asked police to
investigate alleged ties between Roj TV and the PKK.
The spat coincided with escalating violence in the
mainly Kurdish southeast after the PKK ended a
five-year truce in June 2004.
The conflict has claimed about 37,000 lives since
the PKK took up arms for Kurdish self-rule in 1984.
AFP
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