TURKEY: PRIVATE KURDISH TV STATION FACING FINES, CLOSURE

UNCLAS ADANA 000027 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM PTER IZ TU SUBJECT: TURKEY: PRIVATE KURDISH TV STATION FACING FINES, CLOSURE SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Turkey's sole Kurdish-language television station, Gun-TV, is facing prohibitive fines from regulators for airing reports of the activities of the pro-Kurdish DTP politicians on the grounds that such broadcasts "encourage violence or provoke hatred." Gun officials claim they were reporting on public events/statements by elected officials and that other channels broadcast the same stories (in Turkish) without being punished. Other local journalists believe that, in addition broadcasting in Kurdish, Gun is also facing problems because it is not pro-AKP. If the fines are not rescinded, Gun expects to be bankrupted in the next six months. End summary. KURDISH BROADCASTING RED TAPE . . . -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Diyarbakir-based Gun-TV, a regional channel that reaches about one million viewers, has been the only Turkish television station to successfully navigate the regulations that permit Kurdish-language broadcasts. The broadcasts are limited to four hours per week, cannot include children's programming and must be subtitled in Turkish. The translation requirements increase costs by about 100% and make it impossible to produce live programming. Other media owners in the southeast have said they would gladly broadcast in Kurdish, but the costs and fear of state interference prevent them from doing so. . . .TURNS INTO HARASSMENT -------------- ¶3. (SBU) In a meeting on July 31, Gun's News Director, Adnan Bilen, told us RTUK, the Radio and Television High Committee (the national broadcast regulator),has levied three fines on Gun for alleged violations of rules regulating broadcasters, which state that "broadcasting should not encourage the use of violence or provoke hatred." Each fine is YTL 120,000 (USD 104,000) and as the debt now exceeds the value of the station, if Gun's appeals fail it will be forced to close down, probably within six months. ¶4. (SBU) Two fines, according to Bilen, stem from a series of news stories - broadcast in Kurdish and Turkish - reporting on public statements by DTP politicians during the tense January-February period of heightened PKK violence and a week-long cross-border operation by Turkish forces into Iraq. The DTP statements urged an end to the operation and calls on both sides to suspend attacks, for negotiations, and one DTP deputy's suggestion that confederation be considered as a solution to the Kurdish question. The third fine resulted from a report on a parliamentary resolution submitted by DTP deputy Selahattin Demirtas regarding allegations by 13 Kurdish construction workers that they were fired from a job site in Konya because the manager wanted to hire Turkish workers. Bilen told us TRT-3, one of the state TV channels, broadcast the same story but has not faced any sanctions. Mainstream media outlets also routinely broadcast DTP statements, protests, albeit with a different slant than Gun's. ANTI-KURDISH, PRO-AKP, OR BOTH? -------------- -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Bilen claimed that RTUK is harassing his station to advance AKP's political agenda. He said that RTUK has concluded an agreement under which the police monitor Gun's broadcasts for any objectionable material. He added that some decisions clearly show that the government is against Kurdish language content. For example, he said health ministry representatives had asked for assistance in producing a number of public service announcements on women's health issues and while working level experts all agreed that the messages should be in both languages, the AKP minister rejected the idea. ¶6. (SBU) Faruk Balikci, president of the Diyarbakir-based Southeast Journalists Association, told us that Gun is probably facing harassment because of its Kurdish programming and because of its pro-DTP bias. He suggested that as the March 2009 local elections approach, the AKP will increase the pressure on opposition media in Diyarbakir, where the party anticipates a closely fought election for the DTP-held mayoralty. GREEN