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National - Danish Council gives green light for Kurdish Roj TV broadcasts
6-May-07 [9:32]
The Danish Radio and Television Council on Thursday rejected Turkish complaints about Kurdish Roj TV broadcasts, saying that the content of stories aired on that channel had the characteristics of news reporting, not propaganda of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

In 2006, the Turkish Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTÜK) lodged three complaints against the broadcasts of Kurdish Roj satellite TV, which Ankara says is a mouthpiece for the PKK, on the grounds that the television station breached broadcasting principles by inciting violence and racism.

But the Danish Council said there were no grounds to stop Roj TV broadcasts, because it said, the channel aired news stories in the same way as other Danish television stations do.

Turkish sources said they had not yet seen the official document released by the Danish Council, adding that Turkey was already contacting Danish authorities through diplomatic channels to stop Roj TV broadcasts.

Speaking with the Turkish Daily News, Danish sources said Turkey could appeal the Danish Council's decision through the court, not through the administrative authorities.

Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds, some of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.

More than 30,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the PKK took up arms for a Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.

(turkishdailynews com.tr)