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Roj TV and the silence of Europe
23.1.2012 |
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January
23, 2012
The decision by Eutelsat to stop broadcasting
RojTV as from Sunday night tells a lot about direct
and indirect pressure. But also about the little
freedom enjoyed by the press in Europe as well as in
the Middle East.
Since the formal press release by the Paris-based
group, announcing the end of the broadcast, there
has been virtually no reaction at all. That is no
reaction from European journalists or media. True,
Reporters Without Borders has published a press
release and so has the Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ), but no commentators have felt the
duty - yes the duty, ethical and political duty - to
write a column about the decision which creates a
dangerous precedent.
Indeed the Danish court which has tried RojTV had
deemed not necessary to ask for the closure or even
the suspension of the Kurdish satellite channel. It
has fined RojTV which in turn has appealed the
ruling.
It is embarrassing and shameful the deafening
silence from other media. As if the decision by
Eutelsat could not one day land at their doorstep.
Because what is at stake here is the unilateral and
discretional decision by one company (Eutelsat) to
prevent one channel to broadcast. But also the fact
that indeed what is contested to RojTV is to be
sidelined with "one part", i.e. the Kurdish
liberation movement.
The discussion about 'impartial' reporting would be
endless. What is clear is that most media are
sidelined with one or another group, faction, lobby,
government you name it.
What about Italy former prime minister Berlusconi?
He owns more than 6 channels all venerating him as
some sort of saint… And RAI, the Italian (namely)
state television duly bowed to PM Berlusconi (with
rare exceptions, often punished with censorship).
The big difference though is that while Berlusconi
abused his power and actually used the channels he
owned for his personal gaining, RojTV is trying to
give Kurds - who are denied any possibility to
freely benefit from their language,www.ekurd.net
cultural heritage, politics, and are instead
constantly beaten down by the Turkish state which
indeed tries to silence them with any means
necessary - a voice. If it needs added, the
repression and pressure RojTV journalists and
workers have to face with every day is under
everybody's eyes, should anyone want to spend some
time reading about raids, arrests, searches, fines
etc. which hit the channel since its establishment.
RojTV has played a crucial role in ultimately
keeping the Kurdish people and their hopes alive.
Only through RojTV were the Kurds (and not just
them) able to know what was going on in Turkey as
well as in the Middle East. The massacre by the
Turkish army in the Roboski village on 28 December
which left 35 civilians dead, was first reported by
RojTV. Or none would have possibly known what had
happened, or very late.
In other words, RojTV has played the role of the
"watchdog", reporting what otherwise would have
never hit the world's attention. Indeed it was not
just about breaking news of massacres, repression,
political police operation orchestrated by the state
(of which there is unfortunately plenty in Turkey)
but providing that link, that red thread between
Kurds in the diaspora (who were forced to leave
their country because of the repression in most
cases) and the people who still live in Kurdistan.
Culture had always an important place in the
channel's broadcasting.
So RojTV is sidelined. Yes, but not for its profit.
Sidelined for truth and for the right of the Kurds
to have their voice heard.
For Eutelsat to severe this lifeline, to act as a
judge of what can and what cannot be said, it is as
dangerous as the lobotomised silence of the European
media.
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author or news agency,
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