GOVERNMENT TO MAKE DECISION ON ARMENIAN BROADCASTING

Today’s Zaman
04 October 2009, Sunday

Work on a bylaw allowing private television channels to broadcast
in languages other than Turkish, an important leg of the Kurdish
initiative, has been completed, and private organizations have
petitioned the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK), requesting
permission to broadcast in a variety of languages.

One of these requests seeks permission to broadcast in Armenian,
a matter that has been left to the government to decide on.

The regulation on broadcasting in languages and dialects traditionally
used by Turkish citizens in their daily lives was sent to the Prime
Ministry for final review. Following the decision to launch TRT 6,
a state-owned channel that broadcasts in Kurdish 24 hours a day, the
government decided to grant private stations the right to broadcast
in other languages as well.

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arınc, who is responsible for RTUK and
the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), said that after
launching Kurdish-language broadcasting, TRT will begin broadcasting
in Arabic and French next year. "We are going to launch an Arabic
channel, followed by a French and English channel as well as a tourism
and documentary channel in Ä°zmir and a TRT music channel in Ankara
and Ä°stanbul," he added.

As one of the most important changes introduced by the democratization
package, the bylaw will remove the time restriction on programs
broadcast in Kurdish on private television stations. The legislation
requires Turkish subtitles during news reports. A previous piece of
legislation required Turkish subtitles during all programs, but this
would have burdened private stations with additional expenses and
led to problems.

One of the most interesting requests submitted to RTUK was a petition
to broadcast in Armenian. Never having encountered such a request
before, the board will make a decision based on the government’s
stance on the issue. If the request is accepted, the board will hav
will take place.

The government is expected to inform RTUK of its decision after
evaluating the request at a Cabinet meeting. If the Cabinet approves
the request, RTUK will order a demographic study on the region of
the broadcast. If the region has a dense Armenian population, then
permission will be granted to broadcast in Armenian. The majority of
Turkey’s Armenian population lives in Ä°stanbul. Their numbers are
close to nil in other parts of Anatolia.

The newly designed legislation does not grant unlimited freedom to
private television stations with regards to broadcasting in different
languages and dialects. In other words, not everyone will be able
to broadcast anywhere, any time and in any language. Broadcasts in
different languages will be allowed in specific regions, and studies
will be conducted to determine the languages and dialects spoken by
the viewers and listeners in those regions.

RTUK will reach a decision over the request to broadcast in Armenian
taking into consideration the rights to be potentially granted by
the new legislation.

The issue is expected to arise in the upcoming days when Parliament
discusses protocols signed with Armenia. RTUK sent a letter to seven
private media organizations requesting that they provide missing
forms or other documents they might not have yet turned in but that
are required as part of the application process. This letter alone
is a strong indication that the board will allow private channels to
broadcast in native languages.

While previous legislation put a time restriction on private radio and
television broadcasting, the new legislation to go into effect as part
of the democratization package will remove the time limit. There are
reports that a request to broadcast in Armenian had not been made
before because of the time restriction. Private channels will be
required to broadcast at least 50 percent of their daily program in
Turkish. This percentage can be adjusted at RTUK’s discretion. Kurdish
broadcasts, which began on a weekly basis in 2004, a vailable around
the clock. Aside from TRT, there are 14 other television stations,
predominantly based in other countries, that broadcast in Kurdish
nonstop. Of these 14 channels, four are directly controlled by the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Only TRT 6 is available via Turksat satellite service. All other
Kurdish television stations are available via Hotbird satellite
service, which provides wider coverage. Kurdish stations that
broadcast via satellite are Roj TV, Mesopotamia TV (Me-TV), MMC TV,
Newroz TV, northern Iraqi-based Kurdistan TV, Zagros TV, Kurdsat TV,
Gali Kurdistan, Peyam, the Iranian-based Sahar TV, Rojhelat TV, Komala
TV and the Europe-based Kurd1 TV. If Turkey allows local television
stations to broadcast in Kurdish, competition is expected to increase
in this field. There are expectations that at least three national and
four local stations will provide around-the-clock Kurdish broadcasting.

RTUK will set up a new department to monitor private Kurdish-language
broadcasting. Like TRT, RTUK will hire 19 employees who know and
can translate the Kurmanji dialect of Kurdish and Zaza, a related
language. The subject of hiring new personnel to keep track of
broadcasts in Armenian will also be brought to the agenda. Staff from
TRT will be transferred to RTUK to deal with Armenian broadcasts.

RTUK had granted permission to 15 organizations to broadcast in
different languages and dialects under the previous legislation. In
Diyarbakır, RTUK allowed GUN TV to broadcast in Kurmanji, Söz TV to
broadcast in Kurmanji and Zaza, and Cagrı FM to broadcast in Kurmanji
and Zaza. In Å~^anlıurfa it allowed Medya FM to broadcast in Kurmanji
and in MuÅ~_ it allowed MuÅ~_ FM7 to broadcast in Kurmanji. In 2006,
Söz TV decided to stop broadcasting on its own.

Organizations that were previously not granted permission because
they did not meet the necessary conditions and are currently awaiting
approval under the new legislation include Mina Media for Kurmanji,
EmtaÅ~_ Media for Kurmanji, Batman à uel Radio and Television for
Kurmanji and Zaza, Polo TV for Kurmanji and Zaza, Genc Ä°mparator for
Kurmanji, Gun IÅ~_ıgı Communication for Armenian, Laz, Kurdish and
Greek and Siirt Metropol for Kurmanji and Arabic.