Save ROJ TV

Thursday, April 20, 2006

ANKARA - TDN Parliament Bureau
Justice Minister Cemil Çiçek has stated clearly that Danish authorities currently have sufficient evidence for the closure of Copenhagen-based Roj TV, which Turkey says provoked deadly street clashes in southeastern Anatolia.

The statement of Çiçek, who is also spokesman for the government, came in apparent response to earlier reports quoting Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as saying that Denmark expected Turkey to present new evidence to finalize the ongoing police investigation into alleged ties between Roj TV and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

"If Denmark wants to make a decision to close Roj TV, then it has sufficient evidence to do so," Çiçek told reporters.

The minister noted Turkey's request for the closure of Roj TV has been relayed via the Foreign Ministry.

"In continuous contact with our Interior Ministry, they [Foreign Ministry officials] are sending to Danish authorities whatever piece of evidence Turkey has," he said, adding that the Interior Ministry has already handed over to the Foreign Ministry a comprehensive updated file that contains information and documents concerning Roj TV. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül also has detailed information on the issue.

"In my opinion, the information handed over up until today is sufficient for closure [of Roj TV]. It is extremely obvious. … It is known that it [Roj TV] is very openly lending support to the terror organization; there is nothing to deny about it. It is also known that high-level leaders [of the PKK] broadcast speeches over that channel."

Rasmussen aware of uneasiness of Turkish gov't and media:

Roj TV has been a source of tension between Turkey and Denmark for the last two years. Only late last year Denmark launched an investigation into whether Roj TV has links to the PKK -- classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States -- and refuses to take action until their investigation is complete.

The Danish Radio and Television Board ruled last year that the station's programming could not be considered inflammatory but said it had asked police to look into alleged ties between Roj TV and the PKK.

The Roj TV issue was being handled by a criminal court in Denmark, Foreign Ministry spokesman Namık Tan recently said, noting that Turkey sent all evidence concerning the issue to the office of Denmark's chief prosecutor.

While urging Ankara to provide more evidence, Rasmussen also expressed awareness of the fact that the Turkish government and media blamed him for remaining passive on the Roj TV issue.

"If it can be proved by tangible evidence that Roj TV has provoked terrorist attacks, then needless to say that the channel has committed a crime and will be treated accordingly," he was quoted as saying by CNN-Türk on Tuesday.

Source : Turkish Daily News

19 April 2006

Unsal Turan - Koenhagen

Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen , in his press conference yesterday answered the questions of Hurriyet. Rassmusen was asked " Are you not aware of the orders to attacks in Turkey being given by ROJ TV, which is sending from Danmark? , he answered : " I am not aware if we could be accused to be very passive on the case of ROJ TV. If in connection to orders for terror attacks any evidence could be established , then it will be dealt with accordingly. I am not aware of any new evidence being presented to us by Turks , we are waiting for these evidences".

Translated from Turkish
Source : Hurriyet on line

Hurriyet 19 April 2006, 18:08

Ankara (A.A.)

The Justice Minister Cemil Çiçek said , "If Denmark wants to decide about closing down ROJ TV there are enough evidence "

Çiçek in, Turkish parliament while answering to the questions of reporters said, The Foreign ministry is working on in connection to the closing down ROJ TV.

He said "Interior ministry is in constant contact with them, they forward any evidence gets to their hands to foreign ministry "On the latest evidence about ROJ TV interior ministry has prepared a file and have handed over it to foreign ministry. He pointed out that the Foreign and deputy prime minister Abdullah Gul posses needed information on the case. "In my view the evidences which so far have been handed in ( to Denmark ) are enough for closing down the station, but it is very clear, it seems there is a very open support given to the terrorist organisation, it can not be denied in any way. The terrorist Organisation's most highly placed leaders are talking at that TV channel, and it is evidently written on the front of the table, there are pictures there as well. It means, if Denmark wants to decide on this case there are enough evidence"

Translated from Turkish
Source: Hurriyet on line

AMED (Diyarbekir) (DİHA) -In Turkey where about 542 local, national and regional institutions make limitless broadcasting in Turkish without any hindrance, many restrictions are brought on local televisions which were permitted to air 4 hour in ' local languages and dialects'.

Inspite of claims of authorities as '' the way of Kurdish broadcasting is opened'' about the subject of Kurdish broadcasting, There are bluffs among institutions broadcasting in Turkish and those in other languages. The televisions which took the permission of screening in local languages and dialects in last month, can make airing 4 hour 45 minute in a week. The flow of airing which have to be subtitled should be sent to RTUK( High Councill of Radio and Television) daily, weekly, monthly and annually.

Broadcasting oriented to language education, motion picture, discussions, religious programs, documentaries and advertisements were not included in this restricted right of broadcasting.

Turkish deciphering of the broadcasting should be sent to RTUK for RTUK does not have staff member knowing Kurdish.

Hundreds of national and local TV

The broadcatings in Turkish are not subjected to any restriction except the rules determined by RTUK . While there is no Kurdish TV broadcasting 24 hour in Turkey, the number of national televisions which took licence from RTUK is 24, regional television is 16 and local television 214. Also until now 36 national radio, 101 regional radio and 951 local radios had taken licence from RTUK.

On the other hand while the number of televisions who took permission for broadcasting over satellite is 86, the number of radio is 49. The number of institutions making cablecasting is 65 according to data of RTUK. In Turkey where 542 institutions broadcast in Turkish, Kurdish televisions should settle for 4 hour in a week.

While Kurdish broadcasting faces big hindrances, many televisions including ROJ TV, KTV, KURDSAT, Zagros TV, MMC, Rojhelat TV ,Sahar 2 are broadcasting over satellite for Kurds in Turkey.

VELI AY

18.04.2006

Source : www.kurdishinfo.com

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

(Sabah) Fatih Altayli

A response from Denmark: Sabah daily's Altayli uses his column to forward a response to his readers from Danish Ambassador to Ankara Christian Hoppe, on criticism aimed at his country's permission to give outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)-linked Kurdish Roj TV to continue their broadcasts. According to Altayli, Hoppe says: "The accusations about Roj TV continue to be scrutinized by the Danish court system, an investigation which is also using many of the documents sent by Turkish bureaus to Denmark. Just as the same situation would be if it were in Turkey, the final decision on the matter will not come from the government, but from the Danish justice system. And, just as in Turkey, in Denmark, the government is not allowed to meddle in the workings of the justice system. In the end, your newspaper's implication that 'the answer coming out of Denmark is negative' is completely wrong. I hope that in the future, your writing on this matter will reflect the truth." In response to this, Hoppe's response, Altayli has his own response: "This answer from Hoppe is funny. We have seen many times how our European friends have tried to intervene and put pressure on Ankara on topics which have been transmitted to the justice system in our own country. When it comes to the independence of the justice system in Turkey, they don't take it seriously. But when it's about Denmark, it's suddenly very serious. No one knows better than Justice Minister Cemil Çiçek what Turkey had to go through before the matter of Roj TV was brought before the Danish courts. Of course, there is a new development. At least the Danish side seems to understand a bit better our sensitivity on this subject." (Vatan)

They have forgotten all about the EU: More rumblings that Ankara seems to have slowed down on the European Union accession process came yesterday in the form of a column from Vatan daily's Okay Gonensin. "The subject at hand is the European Union. And Ankara has forgotten this subject," starts off Gonensin. He goes on to note that the "latest proof of this" is the "1 billion euros extended to Turkey for 'fiscal cooperation efforts' for last year which returned to EU coffers after not having even been touched." Gonensin goes on to warn that even though no official announcements have been made about this yet, in coming days, EU officials will announce that this money has been returned and other project support funds have been frozen, all while "underlining Ankara's lack of activity." So what, asks Gonensin, is Ankara doing? He notes: "Economic problems are continuing, the youth are still out of work, because the world is watching and observing that Turkey has stopped on the road to Europe." Gonensin even ties the recent violent events in the Southeast of Turkey to the slowdown on the EU road: "The EU project includes hope for change on many societal problems, including the Kurdish problem. And the fact that Ankara has forgotten the EU project can now even be seen at the very ends of the country." He touches on the wider meaning of the EU project, saying: "The EU project carried the label of a better future for the entire country. It still does carry this meaning for most of the country. But Ankara doesn't see this, and does not use this 'hope project' in the face of societal problems." Gonensin closes, observing it is better not to even entertain the idea that Ankara might be "deliberately" forgetting the EU project. For, he says, if this is the case, then "we must prepare ourselves to face even heavier problems from here on in." (Hürriyet) Mehmet Yilmaz

Advice for those who want to move ahead: Read 'Rethinking the Kurdish Problem': Yilmaz's column in yesterday's Hürriyet daily: "There are two important subjects that will influence Turkey over the next 20-25 years. The first is completing the EU accession process, and the second is solving the "Kurdish problem." And right now, looking at the way the ruling and opposition party leaders are arguing over these matters in the Turkish Parliament, I am awash in pessimism. If you want, try to remember the various polemic tirades that both Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Deniz Baykal have entered into in previous days: have any of them brought about solutions? Don't even bother trying to recall what these two men have said ... you will find nothing worthwhile. The conversations and arguments on these matters continue among the people of this country, and it is all the same old information, memorized figures and forms. I think we need to start reading and thinking much more about this problem. Mustafa Akyol's new book titled 'Rethinking the Kurdish Problem-What Went Wrong? Where to From Here?' presents a great collection of information about the historical basis of the Kurdish problem. I advise it to anyone who wants to know more about the matter, but doesn't know where to start."

Source ( Sabah)

Turkish Daily News

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Turkey's Kurds face a historic choice

By: Suat KINIKLIOGLU

.....On another front, it has become apparent that Turkey's efforts to combat broadcasting of Roj TV may not come to a satisfactory result by our efforts alone in urging Denmark to close it. Turkey needs to take the offensive and establish its own Kurdish TV station, broadcast to its own population and beat Roj TV in the hearts and minds of Turkey's Kurds. As a good friend noted recently, if need be, "We need to explain the Turkish Republic and Atatürk in Kurdish." There are certainly risks involved but strong political leadership requires such risks to take. That said, it is saddening to see how the main opposition is trying to make political capital out of such a sensitive and equally critical issue for this country.

The latest comments by the governor of Diyarbakır reveal fresh thinking and need to be explored further. Sabah columnist Erdal Şafak's recent writing also demonstrates sober and constructive views on the problem. Finally, Prime Minister Erdoğan's statements after the events in Diyarbakır offer hope for a new willingness to focus on the problem. The plan to solve the Kurdish issue must be multifaceted. It entails a political plan that will have to address the issue of education in the mother tongue, TV broadcasts and the establishment of a true Kurdish TV station as well as an economic investment plan that has a strong social dimension.....

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

"All of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers of society. We can vulgerize that society. We can brutalize it. Or we can help lift it onto a higher level." ~ William Bembach.

There is one aspect of the serhildan that I haven't commented on yet, mostly because I have been watching other aspects of it. The one aspect I have not mentioned yet, is that of Roj TV.

Those who follow Kurdish news may remember that, back in November of last year, the Turkish media went into a frenzy over Roj TV and Denmark, who issued a broadcasting license to Roj. And when I use the term "frenzy," I mean exactly that. If you had googled "Roj TV" back then, you would have gotten hundreds of returns referring to Roj TV, and the vast majority of them were from Turkish media. All of these articles had catastrophic, end-of-the-world sounding titles like, "Roj TV to be closed by Denmark in five minutes," or "US to use nukes on Denmark if Roj TV broadcasts continue."

Okay, I'm exaggerating, but the titles did give the impression that the demise of Roj TV was imminent. Of course, all of this media frenzy was manufactured because the Turks had something to hide back in November. At that time, the Turkish government was stepping-up its black operations within Turkish-occupied Kurdistan. The Semdinli affair was the most notorious of these black operations, but there were several other suspicious bombings that took place as well, in the month of November. These bombings resulted in mass protests in Kurdish cities throughout "The Region," and these protests made the Turkish government look bad. Very bad. That simply wouldn't do, what with the EU watching and all, so they manufactured the Roj TV event, in which Erdogan walked out of a press conference with the Danish Prime Minister because a Roj TV reporter was in the audience.

The Turkish game did not work. Denmark stood firm on the right of free expression in general, and the right of free expression for Kurds in particular.

The Google search engine, or any other search engine for that matter, went dead on the subject of Roj TV. Until the end of March, 2006, that is.

If you google "Roj TV" now, you will find some 9 pages of returns. Again, the vast majority of these are from the Turkish media. Again, it appears that the Turkish government is in a frenzy to close Roj TV and, naturally, they are engaging in this manufacturing frenzy because it kills them that Kurds outside the "territorial integrity" of the Turkish state, enjoy free expression rights. . . just like other human beings. Again, we read similar apocalyptic titles, like "Roj TV can be a dangerous toy for Danish politicians," or "Turkey insists on closure of Roj Tv," or "US also wants Roj TV to be shut down." The funniest titles come from the Journal of Turkish Weekly and Zaman, and I encourage everyone to do a Google search for "Roj TV" just to check out the hilarious titles from those two rag sheets.

No less paranoiac, but far more dangerous for its subtelty, is a piece titled "Preventing Turkey's Popular Slide away from the West," by Soner Cagaptay. Here is the so-called Voice of Reason, which is a nice way of saying that this is the fascist fist in the velvet glove. Soner Cagaptay is a Washington DC reptile posing as a Republican. The Turkish version of Michael Rubin, if you will.

Cagaptay remarks how Turkey has been "a traditional bastion of Western policies in the Middle East," which is innocent-sounding enough on the surface. That is, unless you are familiar with Gladio and CIA/MIT psychological operations against Kurds since Turkey became a member of NATO. From this perspective, Cagaptay's remarks take on a much darker color.

In other words, Turkey has been an active player in maintaining the status quo of brutal Middle Eastern social structures. Worse, Turkey has been an active creator of such structures. Cagaptay is admitting that Turkey has been an enthusiastic supporter of Kurdish genocide, and that this genocide dovetails perfectly with the strategic aims of the West. If you read carefully enough, you will clearly see that Soner Cagaptay also admits that it is the desire of the Turkish people to maintain this genocidal status quo, and all this in the first paragraph alone.

Cagaptay then turns his attention to the EU. He says that while it will take a minimum of ten years for Turkey to be ready for full EU membership--and not even that is guaranteed--he sees this as problematic, especially since other countries have spent less time preparing for EU membership while Turkey has been passed over. And, like the good Pashas' boy that he is, blames it all on PKK. He never mentions the fact that Turkey has been an associate member of the EU since 1963, when it became an associate member of the old European Community. The bottom line is that Turkey has had 43 years to prepare itself to become a full member of the EU, and it continues to be put off because it is not a democracy. In fact, it hasn't a clue as to what "democracy" means.

Turkey is still being forced by the EU to become a civilized state and it still balks at doing so. Much of the reluctance of allowing Turkey to become a full member has to do with its horrifying human rights record, a record consisting of atrocity after atrocity, perpetrated mainly against its Kurdish population.

It is a typical tactic of the Kemalist or the Fethullahci, pointing the finger at everyone else, refusing to take responsibility for one's actions while bemoaning one's own perpetual victimhood. All with the Voice of Reason. This is Washington, after all, and they simply don't do histrionics inside the Beltway.

Cagaptay claims that neither DTP nor PKK represent the majority view of Kurds in "The Region." This is pure denial by our propagandist. No doubt Cagaptay will love it if DTP is branded "illegal" before 2007 so that it won't be eligible for running in the elections. That way he will be able to point to his article while appropriating for himself the mantle of prophet. Unfortunately, life in LaLa Land has the very bad habit of coming back to hit you in the teeth, Cagaptay. I hope you have dental insurance.

As for the US, Cagaptay begs the US to tell Turkey how "valued" it is. Cagaptay begs the US to take care of PKK. Cagaptay begs the US to handle Turkey's Cyprus problem. Cagaptay begs the US to go to bat for Turkey with the EU. Cagaptay begs the US to realize how Turkey and the US share the same democratic values. In this context, I take it that "democratic values" means a shared experience of covert operations with the goal of genocide. Yeah, I'd love to hear Cagaptay lay that fact of history on the American people. As Senator George McGovern once declared:

"We were involved in assassinations, assassination attempts. We were operating paramilitary operations with mercenary forces hired in other people's countries with no knowledge on the part of our own Congress, our press or the American people. All of these things are alien to a system of constitutional democracy." ( p.2)

That brings us back to Roj TV. According to our Beltway reptile, Roj TV makes Turkey's situation with the EU worse, and the recent violence in "The Region" has been caused by Roj TV. However, Cagaptay fails to mention that Roj TV has been under investigation for one full year for the same old charges, and Danish authorities have found no credibility to previous Turkish claims that Roj has "incited hatred." The Turkish government loves to use that expression, "incitement to hatred." This is what is known as psychological projection on a national scale.

Cagaptay fails to mention that the Turkish government has done nothing to improve the situation of Kurds or that human rights violations against Kurds have been escalating since 2004. I suppose that Cagaptay would prefer that Turkish propaganda be spread among Kurds via RTUK laws, which guarantee "free expression" in Kurdish language, with no more than 45 minutes per day, of pre-recorded, Turkish-language subtitled television programs. But as long as Roj TV continues to broadcast freely, all of RTUK's efforts at propagandizing the Kurdish people will be ignored.

However I have a newsflash for Cagaptay and for everyone else in LaLa Land: RTUK's efforts at propagandizing the Kurdish people will be ignored, with or without Roj TV, because everyone in "The Region" knows that RTUK exists to protect the state from the spread of dangerous ideas--like democracy, free expression and human rights--and in this respect Roj TV is definitely the antithesis of any Turkish broadcasting law.

It would appear that the Danish government is not fooled by Turkish propaganda either.

In light of the renewed offensive against Roj TV, as well as the renewed offensive against the Kurdish people under Turkish occupation, I would like to point out something else that I noticed a while ago. The following organizations have not stood against the Turkish government's attempts to silence Roj TV:


REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS

ARTICLE 19

INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF JOURNALISTS


These organizations make all kinds of noble and false statements about how they exist strictly for free expression rights, and how the right of free expression cannot exist under regimes of fear and repression, or how they are engaged in global battles for free expression. They regularly feature journalists and news organizations that are under the gun in just about every patch of real estate that anyone can imagine, but they have not made any statement in support of Roj TV against the Turkish government's propaganda campaign to silence the Kurdish voice. Their silence is a crime against the Kurdish people's basic right of free expression and, by this very silence, these organizations lend support to the Ankara regime.

Therefore, these organizations are enemies of the Kurdish people.

Just as the Turkish government manufactured it's anti-Roj TV media event in order to divert attention from its renewed black operations against Kurds under Turkish occupation, so it is now attempting to manufacture a new media event against Roj TV, to divert attention from its murder of Kurdish demonstrators, Kurdish children, the disappearance of Kurds, the detention of Kurds, the denial of detentions by the government, the harassment and acts of terror against Kurdish politicians, lawyers and human rights workers. It is attempting to divert attention from its use of chemical weapons against Kurdish gerîlas, and the inhumane refusal to allow proper burial to gerîlas. It is attempting to divert attention from the Turkish government's declaration of war against all Kurds.

Once again, I refer everyone to the 14 characteristics of fascism.

Serkeftin, Roj!

Source : http://rastibini.blogspot.com