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Denmark: Ex-Kurdish ROJ TV head takes on
new identity after threats to his life
16.8.2010 |
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Ex-Kurdish ROJ TV head in hiding
August
16, 2010
COPENHAGEN,
Denmark, — The former managing director of ROJ TV,
Manouchehr Zonoozi - who has been living under
police protection after going public about the
Kurdish TV station’s close links to the Turkey
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the spring – has
now been moved to a new secret location following
fresh threats to his life, reports Berlingske
Tidende.
In May of this year, Zonoozi told the newspaper of
the close ties between the TV station and the PKK,
which is considered to be a terrorist group by both
the US and the EU.
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The former managing director of the
Copenhagen-based Kurdish television station ROJ-TV,
Manouchehr Zonoozi. |
Zonoozi said he does not
regret the move to come clean and would not have
changed the past, but the consequences have been
significant. Earlier this summer he was moved to
another new address after the national intelligence
agency PET estimated there were concrete threats to
his safety.
The origin of the threats remains unclear, but the
disclosure of the links to the PKK angered Kurdish
communities across Europe. ROJ TV is the largest
Kurdish TV station in the world and is an important
source of information for the many Kurds living
across Europe, as well as Turkey, Syria and Iraq.
Zonoozi was fired in mid-2008, allegedly by a member
of the PKK who told him both he and his family would
be killed if he contested the dismissal. Zonoozi,www.ekurd.netwho
continues to co-operate with the PET, has been given
a new identity and a safe house, and still enjoys
access to his family. There remains a threat to his
safety, though, as he is still in dispute with ROJ
TV over his last pay check and severance settlement,
which means his former employer will have access to
his new name through the court papers.
Since 1984 the PKK [Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan] took up arms for self-rule in the
mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey
[Turkey-Kurdistan] which has claimed around 45,000
lives of Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas.
The PKK demanded Turkey's recognition of the Kurds'
identity in its constitution and of their language
as a native language along with Turkish in the
country's Kurdish areas, the party also demanded an
end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and
constitution against Kurds, ranting them full
political freedoms.
A large Turkey's Kurdish community estimate to 25
million openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK
rebels.
Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population
as a distinct minority. It has allowed some cultural
rights such as limited broadcasts in the Kurdish
language and private Kurdish language courses with
the prodding of the European Union, but Kurdish
politicians say the measures fall short of their
expectations.
Copyright, respective
author or news agency, The Copenhagen Post | cphpost
dk | Agencies
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