UK Kurdish student Organisation

We, as young members of the Kurdish community in the UK and their supporters across UK universities, are condemning the proposed closure of RojTV. As a forum for the expression of ideas about Kurdish identity as well as a means to voice political debates and discussion, Rot represents one of the sole free platforms for Kurdish movement.

Rot has also played an important role in empowering younger generations of Kurds throughout the Diaspora, keeping them in touch with each other and with their unique heritage. It has supported the career development of many successful artists, musicians and film-makers, and renewed a sense of pride in the contributions of the Kurds to many world cultures around the world. It provides our members with positive role models and a means of education regarding the positions and activities of Kurds in various European countries, to say nothing of keeping people abreast of events in the Middle East.

Further, as a truly democratic institution, RojTV has provided a means of contact and a voice for those Kurds in places like Syria and the former Soviet Union as well as Iran, who would not otherwise have any connection to their brothers in other regions, due to the isolation and repression they suffer in their home communities. It is a sole means of informing people about events taking place across borders, not only the Kurds but those who participate in their struggle, and in the general struggle for peaceful solutions to the issues facing the Middle East generally.

UK Kurdish student Organisation

4.12.2005