|
Turkey: Company Refuses to Distribute
Kurdish Daily
16.8.2006
|
|
|
|
A company in Malatya has refused to distribute
Kurdish-language "Azadiya Welat" newspaper after
publication turns daily following 12 years of weekly
print. They are distributing through 12 bureaus
across the country.
BIA (Malatya) - The Kurdish language "Azadiya Welat"
newspaper which after 12 years of printing in weekly
editions has just become a daily is suffering from
distribution problems.
Newspaper executives who prepared the journal for a
daily format had to distribute the first issues
through their nation-wide 12 offices when the
company that used to distribute it in weekly format
refused to do so on a daily basis.
Saying that talks were continuing to overcome the
problem, the newspaper's Editor-in-Chief Tayyip
Temel told bianet that if no conclusion was reached,
they would seek an alternative distribution company.
Newspaper bureaus have managed to distribute 25
thousand copies of the daily issue of the newspaper
prepared for August 15 Thursday, he explained,
noting that all copies in the east and southeast
cities of Diyarbakir, Batman, Kiziltepe, Van, Adana,
Mersin, Hakkari and Agri had sold out wile sales in
the western province of Istanbul were high.
Temel, referring to the circulation and sales
problems of opposition newspapers, agreed that the
daily issue of Azadiye Welat would have problems
even when distribution issues were resolved.
"When we take into account the Kurdish literacy
rate, it is evident that we will have problems in
the first stage. But our readers have been demanding
a daily newspaper for a long time" he said.
"Kurds should be able to read news in their own
language"
Noting that approximately 15 million Kurds lived in
Turkey, Temel said the Kurdish language faced a
great problem in the country due to the policies
enforced but that this should not be interpreted as
this language not being necessary.
"Even though we have been printing weekly for about
12 years, our readership potential never fell under
7 thousand" he explained. "We thought that a weekly
newspaper could not effectively meet the news
requirement. Our target is for the Kurds to read
news reports in their mother tongue".
Temel ecalled that of the court cases launched
against the weekly version of the newspaper on
grounds of conducting "visual and written
propaganda" in favour of the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK), 20 were still continuing but
claimed they would be "the voice of all Kurds in the
world".
"Local Kurdish publications restricted"
Temel, who believes practical restrictions against
local Kurdish publications continue in the country
says that even the allowing of Kurdish language
broadcasts only for a limited time of 40 minutes is
"an insult".
He argued that the Kurds had the right to protest
these broadcasts by not listening to them and that
it was important for the democratic quarters in
Turkey to support a Kurdish newspaper.
Stressing that the daily version of the newspaper
would be full of new initiatives, Temel said that
for the first time Kurdish language sports and
health news would be covered, marking a first in
daily publishing.
Who will write?
To be published daily as an eight page newspaper,
Azadiya Welat's editor is Hamdullah Yilmaz who was
sentenced to three years imprisonment for "terror
organization propaganda". Among its columnists is
Istanbul Kurdish Institute Chairman Sami Tan,
politician and writer Osman Ozcelik.
Temel said that author Mehmet Uzun had also promised
he "will definitely write" for the newspaper
bianet org
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 