 | |
| Country | Denmark |
|---|---|
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Mesopotamia Broadcast |
| History | |
| Launched | 1 March 2004 |
| Closed | 3 July 2013 |
| Links | |
| Website | Roj TV |
Roj TV (Kurdish : ڕۆژ تیڤیRoj TV or Rozh 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.
Roj TV broadcast from Denmark and had some office and studio facilities in Belgium. The channel transmitted on the Eurobird 9A satellite (9 Degrees East) to Europe and the Middle East on 11.843 GHz Vertical - S.Rate 27.500 [1] and HellasSat 2 satellite 39 Degrees East on 11512 GHz Horizontal - S.Rate 27.500. [2] Transmissions on the Hotbird satellite (13 Degrees East) ceased. [3]
Programming on Roj TV consisted of news, political discussion programs and cultural programming (particularly music and occasional films) with a small amount of children's, entertainment and educational programming. As well as programming in various Kurdish dialects Roj TV broadcast in Turkish (aimed at both Turks and assimilated Kurds), Zaza, Persian and several other languages spoken in the region. A short weekly English news bulletin was broadcast most Saturday mornings (around 11.30 UK time) and very occasionally films with English subtitles were shown. Roj TV was accessible live through the Internet before it was shut down.
Kurdish-language programmes were completely forbidden from the media in Turkey [4] from 1925 until 2002 when restrictions were relaxed somewhat. However, during this time Kurdish stations started broadcasting to Turkey via satellite from Europe. Initially there also were several Turkish language commercial satellite broadcasters established in a similar manner in response to the TRT monopoly. However, with the deregulation of broadcasting within Turkey all of these have moved their operations to within Turkey itself, and many of them have now been licensed on terrestrial frequencies.
In 2004, the national public broadcaster TRT became the first major broadcaster to broadcast a Kurdish-language programme [5] although initially TRT only broadcast Kurdish programmes once per week, along with a handful of local TV and radio stations. These programmes were initially limited 45 minutes per day (an hour per week on TRT), are heavily censored, must include Turkish sub-titles and should not include children's programmes and any other types of educational programmes. The programmes are mostly focused on Atatürk and Turkish ancient history. [6]
In 2008 TRT announced they were planning to launch their own full-time Kurdish-language channel TRT 6 with programming "promoting the Turkish Republic and its values as well as to counter the propaganda from the PKK channel Roj TV." On January 1, 2009, TRT 6 was officially opened with a new year's special including Kurdish singers such as Rojin. The channel has been promoted with much fanfare prior to the March 2009 local elections in Turkey, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan using Kurdish at party rallies in the south east to welcome the channel[ citation needed ].
MED TV was a London-based international TV whose licence was revoked on April 23, 1999, by British regulators as their broadcasts were judged as 'likely to encourage or incite crime or lead to disorder'. The Independent Television Commission imposed three fines totaling £90,000 on MED TV for three separate breaches of the requirement for due impartiality before the closure. [7] eventually revoking their broadcasting licence amid accusations of bias on the ITC's part. [8]
When Med TV lost its licence in the UK, MEDYA TV started transmissions from studios in Belgium via a satellite uplink from France on July 30, 1999. [9] MEDYA TV's licence was revoked by the French authorities on February 13, 2004, [10] the French court believed that the station had ties with the PKK; [11] and the CSA, the French licensing authority, stated that MEDYA TV was a successor to MED-TV, and a French Appeal Court confirmed CSA's decision. [12] [13] The channel ran an announcement stating that "A new channel, Roj TV, will begin broadcasting on the first of the month". [10] Roj TV began transmissions from Denmark on March 1, 2004. [14] [15]
Roj TV was banned from broadcasting in Germany [ discuss ] by the German Interior Ministry in June 2008 because of the network's alleged ties with the PKK organization. Roj's production company based in Wuppertal was also dissolved. [16] This ban was temporarily lifted by a German court on 25 February 2010. [17]
The Turkish Government claimed the channel was a mouthpiece for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), [18] which they regard as a terrorist organization (as do the U.S. and UK) and lobbied the Danish government to revoke Roj TV's broadcasting license. [12] A Turkish Foreign Ministry official stated: "We know for sure that Roj TV is part of the PKK, a terrorist organization... [The PKK] is listed as a terrorist organization by the EU. Denmark is a member of the EU, and we would expect that the broadcasting organization of a terrorist group would not be given a free pass." [12] While the station's general manager, Manouchehr Tahsili Zonoozi, an Iranian Kurd, acknowledges that the station maintains contact with the PKK, he characterizes it as an independent Kurdish broadcaster, which is not under the control of the PKK. [12] The Turkish authorities repeatably made formal complaints to the Danish Radio and Television Board regarding Roj TV, but none of the complaints were upheld by the Board, who ruled that the TV channel had not violated any rules over which the Board has regulatory power. [19]
In 2005, when the then Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Denmark and wanted to give a press conference together with Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Erdogan refused to do so, as in the audience was also a reporter from Roj TV. [20] Erdogan hoped Denmark would now take the Turkish demands more seriously and prohibit Roj TV. Denmark did not comply and instead defended press freedom in Denmark. [21]
In May 2008 Germany searched the production studios of Roj TV in Wuppertal [22] and Berlin. Following the searches, the Interior Minister declared that Roj TV was a part of the PKK and banned the channel from being active in Germany. As a response Kurds protested in several parts in Europe against the ban of the channel in Germany and the closure of the studios. [21] Roj TV challenged the ban at a court in Leipzig, who demanded a decision from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) whether a ban of a Danish television channel could be prohibited from broadcasting in Germany. [22] The CJEU ruled Germany was allowed to ban Roj TV from being present in Germany with offices and production studios, but it could not ban Roj TV from broadcasting into Germany from another country. [23]
On 4 March 2010, Belgian police raided several locations including Roj TV's facilities. [24] Belgian prosecutors said the raid was due to "very serious evidence that, in a very organised way, youngsters of Kurdish origin were recruited in western Europe, notably in Belgium". [25] Programming was disrupted for a time but the channel returned to air.
In August 2010, Roj TV was formally indicted by the Danish attorney general for violation of Danish anti-terrorism legislation, specifically the rules against "promoting terrorist activities" of the Kurdish organization PKK. [26] However the channel remained on air pending possible court proceedings.
In the United States diplomatic cables leak of November 2010, a diplomatic message surfaced that referred to a Turkish representative's claim [27] that Turkey withdrew its opposition to the appointment of Anders Fogh Rasmussen to Secretary General of the NATO in exchange of the closure of Roj TV. [27] [28]
On 10 January 2012, a Danish court found the owners of Roj TV guilty of "promoting terrorism" and fined them 5.2 million Danish kroner ($894,800). The money would be paid in installments of DKK 65,000 for 40 months. The prosecutors claimed that the TV station was "financed and controlled" by the PKK. [29] On 26 January 2012, Roj TV signed a broadcasting agreement with satellite provider Intelsat.
Soon after Stêrk TV was launched, which also reported about Kurdish cultural and political events. [30]
The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement which historically operated throughout Kurdistan but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq. Since 1984, the PKK has been involved in asymmetric warfare in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict. Although the PKK initially sought an independent Kurdish state, in the 1990s its goals changed to seeking autonomy and increased political and cultural rights for Kurds within Turkey.
The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation is the national public broadcaster of Türkiye, founded in 1964. TRT was for many years the only television and radio provider in Türkiye. Before the introduction of commercial radio in 1990, and subsequently commercial television in 1992, it held a monopoly on broadcasting. More recent deregulation of the Turkish television broadcasting market produced analogue cable television. Today, TRT broadcasts around the world, including in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, the United States, and Australia.
The mass media in Turkey includes a wide variety of domestic and foreign periodicals expressing disparate views, and domestic newspapers are extremely competitive. However, media ownership is concentrated in the hands of a few large private media groups which are typically part of wider conglomerates controlled by wealthy individuals, which limits the views that are presented. In addition, the companies are willing to use their influence to support their owners' wider business interests, including by trying to maintain friendly relations with the government. The media exert a strong influence on public opinion. Censorship in Turkey is also an issue, and in the 2000s Turkey has seen many journalists arrested and writers prosecuted. On Reporters Without Borders' Press Freedom Index it has fallen from being ranked around 100 in 2005 to around 150 in 2013.
MED TV was the first Kurdish satellite TV with studios in London, England and Denderleeuw, Belgium. MED TV broadcast programs mainly in six languages, Kurdish, English, Arabic, Assyrian and Turkish.
Osman Baydemir is a Kurdish politician, lawyer and human rights activist. He was the mayor of his home town of Diyarbakır from 2004 to 2014. He was a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey for the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and also the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP).
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.
Censorship in Turkey is regulated by domestic and international legislation, the latter taking precedence over domestic law, according to Article 90 of the Constitution of Turkey.
Rojda Aykoç, also known as Rojda Şenses or simply Rojda, is a contemporary Kurdish singer.
Denmark–Turkey relations are the current and historical relations between Denmark and Turkey. Denmark has an embassy in Ankara, and Turkey has an embassy in Copenhagen. Both countries are members of NATO and Council of Europe. Diplomatic relations between Denmark and Turkey were put under pressure in 2014 because of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy and the Roj TV affair (Roj TV's broadcasting license was suspended by the Supreme Court in Denmark on February 27, 2014). Denmark is a member of the European Union, Turkey is not a member.
TRT Kurdî is the first national television station that broadcasts in the Kurdish dialect of Kurmanji and in Zazaki. On the channels sixth anniversary it changed its name from TRT 6 into TRT Kurdi. The channel has been mostly met with criticism from the Kurdish population in Turkey on various grounds, including accusations of being a government propaganda tool. A 2018 survey asking Kurds about TRT Kurdî showed that a majority (59%) did not trust the channel.
Osman Öcalan was a Kurdish militant and ex-commander of the Kurdistan Workers' Party.
Rudaw Media Network, is a major media broadcaster in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq.
The Firat News Agency (ANF) is a Kurdish news agency that gathers and broadcasts news from the Middle East, broadly concerning Kurdish matters. The news agency has offices in Amsterdam and journalists around the world.
Zaza nationalism is an ideology that supports the preservation of Zaza people between Turks and Kurds in Turkey. The movement also supports the idea that the Zaza people are a different ethnic group from Kurds.
The February 2016 Ankara bombing killed at least 30 people and injured 60 in the capital of Turkey. According to Turkish authorities, the attack targeted a convoy of vehicles carrying both civilian and military personnel working at the military headquarters during the evening rush hour as the vehicles were stopped at traffic lights at an intersection with İsmet İnönü Boulevard close to Kızılay neighborhood. Several ministries, the headquarters of the army and the Turkish Parliament are located in the neighbourhood where the attack occurred. The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) took responsibility for the attack and said they targeted security forces. Censorship monitoring organization Turkey Blocks reported nationwide internet restrictions beginning approximately one hour after the blast pursuant to an administrative order. The attack killed 14 military personnel, 14 civilian employees of the military, and a civilian.
Turkey's media purge after the failed coup d'état on July 15, 2016 resulted in the shutdown of at least 131 media outlets and the arrest of 117 journalists – at least 35 of whom have been indicted for "membership in a terror group".
Ronahî TV is a Kurdish television channel focusing on Kurds around the world. The channel was launched in 2012 and broadcasts from EU countries and Syria. Its headquarters are in Qamishli.
On 12 August 2005, Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan delivered a speech on the subject of the Kurdish issue in Diyarbakır, the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. The speech is characterized by being the most liberal discourse ever at the time conducted by a Turkish head of government on this issue. In the speech, the prime minister conceded that the Turkish state had made mistakes in the past, used the term “the Kurdish question” and vowed to settle it through more democracy, more citizenship law, and more prosperity. The speech was considered "historic" and "groundbreaking" in Turkey. The speech also faced heavy criticism by Turkish commentators and the main opposition party CHP, for putting the unity of Turkey in danger.
A terrorist attack occurred on İstiklal Avenue in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey, on 13 November 2022, killing 6 people and injuring 81 others.
(Page 22) "As regards cultural rights, permission was granted to two local TV channels in Diyarbakır and to one radio (station) in Şanlıurfa to broadcast in Kurdish. However, time restrictions apply, with the exception of films and music programmes. All broadcasts, except songs, must be subtitled or translated in Turkish, which makes live broadcasts technically cumbersome. Educational programmes teaching the Kurdish language are not allowed. The Turkish Public Television (TRT) has continued broadcasting in five languages including Kurdish. However, the duration and scope of TRT's national broadcasts in five languages is very limited. No private broadcaster at national level has applied for broadcasting in languages other than Turkish since the enactment of the 2004 legislation.
