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NEWS & LETTERS, August - September 2008
World in View
Turkish TV back on
Turkey's alternative Hayat TV has been allowed to resume broadcasting. It was closed July 15, following Ministry of the Interior accusations that it supplied newsfilm to Roj TV, an international Kurdish television channel. Based in Denmark, Roj TV is accused by the Turkish authorities of having ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
The closing of Hayat TV was seen as a heavy blow to press freedom in Turkey. Strong protests were lodged by the Association of Intellectuals for Democracy, which includes the Turkish Writers Union, Turkish Journalists Union, PEN Center for Turkey, International Press Institute, and many trade unions and individuals. Mustafa Koz of the Writers Union stated: "The shutting of Hayat TV forced us to think about our situation. This act told us to stick to each other."
Hayat TV describes itself as the voice of workers, women, and minorities in Turkey. "We, the millions of workers and labourers, are obliged to watch whatever is presented on the television that we put in the key place of our homes. We are either alienated from ourselves, our problems and culture or identified with a different world which by no means resembles us. Let us be neither alienated nor identified with phenomena outside of ourselves. Let us be ourselves, protect our own existence."
The channel is carried on TurkSat in Turkey and the Caucasus, the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe.
--G.E.
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