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Turkey: Kurdistan TV Correspondents Under Pressure
10.4.2007 |
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Based
at the Kurdistan Autonomous Region in Northern Iraq,
Kurdistan TV's Diyarbakir bureau chief Eren says
they face discrimination and pressure from local
officials. "We're continuously surveilled by the
police and receive anonymous threats".
April
10, 2007
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- Kurdistan (northern Iraq) based
Kurdistan TV's correspondents in Diyarbakir claim
that they face arbitrary discrimination by local
officials and receive random threats.
The station's Diyarbakir bureau chief Mehmet Eren
told bianet that they established the necessary
infrastructure in 2006 but try to work under
pressure since then:
"Although we totally comply with the legal
framework, we can't cover official events, can't get
accreditation without a reason, face random and
arbitrary pressure such as identity checks etc.
Our focus is on news related to the Kurdish issue in
Turkey and such coverage results in increasing
pressure and obstruction on us".
Noting journalists who work for the station are
continuously under surveillance, Eren said: "Our
houses and offices are surveilled by the police. We
also received anonymous e-mail threats".
bianet org
** The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate as many as 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
Turkey is home to some 20 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media.
The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish
alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and
2003
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence" -
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan ( Kurdistan-Turkey)
wikipedia
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