 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(August 2007) |
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| Broadcast area | Europe, Middle East |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
| Programming | |
| Picture format | 576i (4:3 SDTV) |
| History | |
| Launched | 15 May 1995 |
| Closed | 23 April 1999 |
MED TV was the first Kurdish satellite TV [1] with studios in London, England and Denderleeuw, Belgium. MED TV broadcast programs mainly in six languages, Kurdish (Sorani, Kurmanji, and Zaza dialects), English, Arabic, Assyrian and Turkish.
MED TV Programmes were a varied mix from children's programs, music, documentaries and news broadcasts. [2] A program in which Kurdish books written in the three scripts of Arabic, Kyrillic and Latin were discussed, was moderated by a journalist of Özgür Gündem. [2] It broadcast to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Its primary audience was in the Middle East where it was seen by many as a refreshing source of information outside of state censorship. It also has a large audience amongst the Kurdish population scattered throughout Europe.[ citation needed ] In Turkey, it was forbidden to watch Med TV, people were arrested for having been caught watching its programs. The police would search for satellite dishs in Diyarbakır, which they'd confiscate. [2] Turkey saw MED TV as a part of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), [3] which it classifies as a terrorist organization. Nonetheless its shows were very popular amongst Kurds in Turkey. [4]
At its establishment in 1995, thirteen media workers employed at the Television. Most were amateurs, only one had an education in the field. The company expanded its activities significantly until in 1997, the television counted with 250 employees. [2] The TV had close ties with the newspaper Özgür Gündem, whose chief-editor Gurbetelli Ersöz was also MED TVs chief-editor for Turkish Kurdistan. [2]
Turkey repeatedly urged providers of satellites to end the broadcast of MED TV. One of the reasons the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HADEP) was banned in 2003, was allowing people to watch MED TV in the party's offices. [5] HADEP Med TV first broadcast with a license from Independent Television Commission (ITC) and from satellites of Polish Telecom, until the polish government gave in to Turkish demands to ban MED TV. Following the ban in Poland, Med TV rented satellites from USA based Intelsat to broadcast its programs. [6] But Turkey kept on demanding the British Government to take MED TV off the air, and MED TV's license was revoked on April 23, 1999, as their broadcasts were judged as 'likely to encourage or incite crime or lead to disorder'. Its license was revoked just after the arrest of Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the PKK on request by Turkey. [7]
Following the ban there were widespread allegations of bias on the part of the ITC as the then chairman Sir Robin Biggam had interests in BAE Systems which also had extensive interests in Turkey. [8] [9] [10] Balfour Beatty and the UK Government were also criticized over the ban. [11]
On April 26, 1999, a spokesman for MED-TV said that they were determined to resume broadcasting either in a different country or under a new name. [12]
It is not in the public interest to have any broadcaster use the UK as a platform for broadcasts which incite people to violence.
— ITC Chairman Sir Robin Biggam. [13]
When I went to Diyarbakir and Mardin in December 1995 for the Turkish general election, I enquired particularly whether that TV station [Med-TV] was being received and what was the public response. I was told that the viewers were positively rapturous. Old people had wept for joy after such a long period of cultural starvation. For all, it was a new window on the world and, what is more, in their own language.
When Med TV lost its licence in the UK, MEDYA TV started transmissions via a satellite uplink from France in July 1999 and a production studio in Denderleeuw, Belgium. [15] MEDYA TV's licence was revoked by the French authorities in February 2004, [15] the French court believed that the station had ties with PKK; [16] and CSA, the French licensing authority stated that MEDYA TV was a successor to MED-TV, and French Appeal Court confirmed CSA's decision. [17] The channel ran an announcement stating that "A new channel, Roj TV, will begin broadcasting on the first of the month".[ citation needed ]
Roj TV began transmissions from Denmark on March 1, 2004. [16] [17]
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Abdullah Öcalan, also known as Apo, is a political prisoner and founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The Democratic People's Party was a pro-Kurdish political party in Turkey.
Roj TV was an international Kurdish satellite television station broadcasting programmes in the Kurmanji, Sorani and Hewrami dialects of the Kurdish language as well as in Persian, Zaza, Arabic, and Turkish.
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Kurds have had a long history of discrimination perpetrated against them by the Turkish government. Massacres have periodically occurred against the Kurds since the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. Among the most significant is the massacre that happened during the Dersim rebellion, when 13,160 civilians were killed by the Turkish Army and 11,818 people were sent into exile. According to McDowall, 40,000 people were killed. The Zilan massacre of 1930 was a massacre of Kurdish residents of Turkey during the Ararat rebellion, in which 5,000 to 47,000 were killed.
Kurdish nationalist uprisings have periodically occurred in Turkey, beginning with the Turkish War of Independence and the consequent transition from the Ottoman Empire to the modern Turkish state and continuing to the present day with the current PKK–Turkey conflict.
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People's Democracy Party was a Kurdish political party in Turkey. Murat Bozlak founded the party on 11 May 1994. The party disbanded in 2003.
Özgür Gündem was an Istanbul-based daily Turkish language newspaper, mainly read by Kurds. Launched in May 1992, the newspaper was known for its extensive reporting on the Kurdish-Turkish conflict, and was regularly accused of making propaganda for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Its editors and staff have frequently been arrested and prosecuted, which resulted in multiple publication bans. Since April 1994, the publication continued under different names until Özgür Gündem was relaunched in 2011.
Yeni Ülke was a Turkish pro-Kurdish newspaper. It was founded in October 1990 as a weekly newspaper, and in 1993 merged with the daily Özgür Gündem. The motivation for the establishment for the newspaper came mainly from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and PKK members wrote several columns and articles for the newspaper. The newspaper was soon popular and had a wide readership, which reportedly reached 50'000.
Feridun Çelik is Kurdish–Turkish a former Mayor of Diyarbakır and politician of the People's Democracy Party (HADEP) and Democratic People's Party (DEHAP).
Gurbetelli Ersöz was a chemist, journalist and later also member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Yaşar Kaya was a Turkish-Kurdish politician and publisher of the pro-Kurdish newspaper Özgür Gündem. Together with authors like Ismail Besikçi and Musa Anter, he was a co-founders of the Kurdish Institute of Istanbul in 1992.
Murat Bozlak, was a Kurdish politician active in several political parties. He was the president of the People's Democracy Party (HADEP) and a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey for the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). Bozlak was a Kurdish politician and a founding member of the Social Democracy Party (SODEP), the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP), the People's Labor Party (HEP), the Democracy Party (DEP) and the HADEP. The first two parties were dissolved, while the latter three were banned by the Turkish constitutional court.
Alican Önlü is a politician of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) and a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Throughout his political career he was a politician in a variety of parties such as the Democracy Party (DEP) and the Democratic Society Party (DTP).
Zeynep Kınacı (1972–1996) was a member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) known for having committed its first suicide attack. The way she carried it out has influenced women's role within the PKK.
MED TV -wikipedia.
