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 (RTÜK), 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 Bьlent Arэnз, who is responsible for RTÜK 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 Эzmir and a TRT music channel in Ankara and Эstanbul,” 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 RTÜK 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 have the final say over where and how the broadcasting will take place.
The government is expected to inform RTÜK of its decision after evaluating the request at a Cabinet meeting. If the Cabinet approves the request, RTÜK 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 Эstanbul. 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.
RTÜK 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. RTÜK 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 RTÜK’s discretion. Kurdish broadcasts, which began on a weekly basis in 2004, are now available 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 Tьrksat 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 (
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