Excerpt of an interview with Mr. Anker Jorgensen

Excerpt of an interview with Mr. Anker Jorgensen ex-Prime Minister of Denmark and honorary president of Mesopotamia Broadcast.

The interview in its entirety was broadcast in Roj TV’s weekly program Nûpel on
Monday evening 19.12.2005

…. Question : For a while Turkey, Kurds and our channel ROJ TV were the focus of media and press here in Denmark , Why?

Anker Jorgensen: As you may know I am not politically active as before. I can say things that I want to say , Things that I do not want , I leave it unanswered.

Q : I understand that, but I want to ask you this question . According to you, why ROJ TV is treated as such ? How do you evaluate the attacks and accusations of Erdogan against ROJ TV ?

AJ: I do not understand why such event happened. I think it all was caused by that caricature that was published here. I really do not understand why this happened when prime minister was here. This is a position which is not acceptable. No matter how big is the issue, no prime minister has the right to say that the reporter of ROJ TV can not stay here, even if the question by reporter sounds unpleasant, in any event he has no right to say that she should not be present. I personally have been confronted with questions by reporters which were not pleasant to me, But I did not dare to say to any one to go out. This is an arbitrary position.

Q : How do you evaluate Rasmussen's reaction?

AJ: I think , he did what he had to do. His reaction proved that Denmark is a democratic country . It is possible that we disagree with some one ,but we do not ask people to leave the place. I can not say to some one whose questions are unpleasant to me to go out. In this present world we must be more open. I believe we have to accept each other here in Europe , at the same time we have to be aware of our differences. Sometimes we may have big differences but to be in the same room . It is not acceptable to ask a side to leave the place.

Q : Do you have a message for Kurdish people?

AJ : Try to deepen your democracy as far as you can. I do not mean that in present world there is a country with full fledged democracy, but it is imperative that we possess such an thought and approach, We should feel responsible towards democratic principles. We have seen how solving problems through animosity and wars have come to an dead end.
That is why it is necessary that Turkey recognizes the existence of diverse people there and accepts their rights.. I can give you a little example, here in Denmark we found a solution for similar problems. We accepted the rights of Green Land and Farrow islands,
The people there use their rights to a high degree, specially in the sphere of culture.
We listened to their complaints and demands in order to see how we can live together.

Q:Thank you for your time Mr. Jorgensen