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O 131136Z AUG 08
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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  If the fines are not rescinded, Gun expects to be 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