STATE TV READIES TO AIR ARMENIAN

Hurriyet
685.asp?gid=244
June 24 2009
Turkey

ANKARA – The signal remains strong for reconciliation between Turkey
and Armenia as the Turkish state broadcaster’s head of radio reveals
plans to begin TV broadcasts in the Armenian-language within a year. ‘I
sincerely am working for the common future of the two peoples,’
says a member of the broadcasting team.

Just months since it began radio broadcasts in Armenian, state-owned
Turkish Radio and Broadcasting Corporation, or TRT, is now preparing
to launch an Armenian television channel.

According to a source, who declined to be named, initial efforts to
broadcast in Armenian began after a meeting between President Abdullah
Gul and his Armenian counterpart, Serge Sarkisian, last September
when Gul visited Yerevan for a football match between the national
teams of both countries. One team will prepare the television and
radio broadcasts together.

TRT Radio Bureau and Foreign Broadcasts Director Å~^enol Göka
confirmed that Armenian television broadcasts would begin within a
year. Göka refused to provide any details on preparations, but did
say the rate of work was accelerating.

In April, Ankara and Yerevan agreed on a "road map" deal for
U.S.-backed talks leading the way to normalizing ties and opening the
common border, which Turkey closed in a show of support of Azerbaijan
in 1993 after the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territories in
the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Armenia accuses Turkey of failing to recognize the 1915-era killings
of Armenians within Ottoman Empire as an act of genocide. Turkey
says hundreds of thousands of both Turks and Armenians died at the
time due to communal violence and wartime conditions, but rejects
allegations of genocide.

"We are ready to normalize relations without preconditions and are
hopeful that Turkey too will take that path, "Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian said.

"As for Turkey’s part, I can only express hope that Turkey will not
retreat," Nalbandian said in response to a question from an Armenian
reporter at a joint-news conference with Foreign Minister Sheikh
Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan of the United Arab Emirates on Sunday
in Yerevan.

The plan was to launch the radio channel in June but it was
brought forward to April 2 so that broadcasting could begin before
U.S. President Barack Obama’s state visit on April 5.

Göka said the decision to launch a radio channel in Armenian was
made about 18 months ago. Broadcasts in Armenian carry a message
to Armenia and the world, said Göka. "We are tackling the common
history of the two nations. We are emphasizing our joint values in
order to strengthen the links between the two people."

Most popular broadcaster

He said TRT was proud to be one of the most popular broadcasters
in Armenia. But, he also criticized the head of the Armenian state
broadcaster, Alex Haroutunian, saying: "He was in Turkey a few
weeks ago and made a statement about how he did not know about TRT’s
broadcasts in Armenian. To tell you the truth, I was very upset. The
only thing I will say is that they knew about the broadcasts." The
two signed a deal last year to prepare joint programs.

When asked about the Armenian broadcasts in the Eastern Armenian
dialect, which is used mainly in Armenia rather than the western
dialect used by Turkish Armenians and the Armenian diaspora, Göka
said: "In the beginning, when we decided to launch such a service, our
target audience was Armenia, not Istanbul. We see these broadcasts as a
key to developing good relations with Armenia." Speakers of western and
eastern Armenian dialects are virtually unintelligible to one another.

Göka also said he could not understand all the controversy surrounding
TRT’s broadcasts in Armenian, noting that TRT radio broadcasted in
31 different languages. The team in charge of the Armenian broadcasts
has been kept away from the public’s eye.

Armenia-born Ernest Margarian is a member of that team. Margarian,
who told the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review that he was making
public his identity for the first time, said he had moved to Turkey
in 2004 and decided to settle in Ankara. When asked why he chose
to hide his identity, he said: "I didn’t really have a reason. I am
not really doing anything that will attract criticism. I just didn’t
want to become a public person." Any potential criticism from Armenia
for what he is doing does not discourage him, he said. "Because I
sincerely am working for the common future of the two peoples."