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Turkish private TV channels set to begin
Kurdish broadcasts
30.12.2005
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ANKARA, Dec 29 (AFP) - 10h15 - Privately owned
Turkish television networks will be allowed to start
broadcasting in the Kurdish language in January, a
belated move two years after the government
authorised the reform, the Turkish audiovisual
watchdog RTUK said Thursday.
Several networks have applied to RTUK for permission
for Kurdish broadcasts and those who fulfill the
required conditions will be given the go-ahead, said
a RTUK official, who spoke on condition of
anonymity.
"Broadcasting permission will be granted as of
January to networks who have handed in the necessary
documents," the official said.
In a ground-breaking move to ease the country's
entry into the European Union, Turkey's parliament
adopted in August 2002 a set of reforms allowing
state radio and television (TRT) to broadcast in
Kurdish.
When TRT initially resisted the move, the government
in 2003 gave the green light to private radio and
television networks to broadcast in Kurdish as well.
It was only last year that TRT finally began
broadcasts in Kurdish and three other minority
languages in an effort to impress the EU ahead of a
critical summit on Turkey's future bid for
membership in the bloc.
Expanding cultural rights -- especially for the
Kurds estimated to number between 10 to 15 million
-- is a key condition for the Ankara government
which in October began membership talks with the EU.
AFP
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