SYDOW: ROJ-TV WON’T BROADCAST IN SWEDEN

New Anatolian, Turkey
May 10 2006

Swedish Parliament Speaker Bjorn Von Sydow assured his Turkish
counterpart Bulent Arinc yesterday that his country won’t allow
broadcasts by pro-terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Roj-TV.

Sydow’s remarks came in response to reports that a private cable TV
company had decided to broadcast Danish-based Roj-TV.

“I learned about the matter during a meeting with Arinc,” explained
Sydow. “We’re investigating the case. But Roj-TV will definitely
not broadcast within Swedish borders,” CNN-Turk TV reported Sydow
as saying.

Press reports have indicated that Sweden has allowed the channel to
broadcast although it recently closed down a website belonging to
Chechen separatists following a complaint from Russia.

Turkey and Denmark are at odds over the Danish governments’ inability
to close Roj-TV, which broadcasts programs encouraging, supporting
and directing the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Although
Turkey has stepped-up pressure on Denmark to close down the channel,
Denmark insists on rejecting the Turkish requests and says that it
needs more evidence to shut it down.

Touching on the Armenian genocide claims, Sydow reportedly stated that
they have left the issue for evaluation by scholars. He said that his
Parliament is among those which haven’t recognized the controversial
incidents as “genocide.”

During his speech to the Swedish Parliament, Arinc also stressed
that Turkey will never recognize the Armenian genocide claims since,
according to history, such an event never happened. He reiterated
previous Turkish calls to open both Turkish and Armenian archives to
study the events.

Arinc: Turks’ religion never been obstacle to Western integration

Arinc stated that the religious beliefs of Turkish citizens has never
been an obstacle to secular Turkey being an indispensable part of
Europe or to its membership in Western-oriented organizations.

“Nobody questioned Turkish people’s religious beliefs when it joined
NATO in 1952 or when it was supported independence in Europe after
the Cold War,” Arinc added.

Lashing out at the EU’s double standards on Turkey’s accession
process, Arinc said, “Despite negative developments, we believe that
EU membership will be beneficial for Turkey. We don’t want privileges,
but we don’t want double standards either.”