(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of Communications Enis Öksuz, RSF protested the “one-year suspension of radio station Özgür Radyo by the RTÜK (the authority responsible for regulating audio-visual media)”. RSF also asked the minister to “do everything possible to ensure that this authority ends its arbitrary attacks on the audio-visual media. The RTÜK […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of Communications Enis Öksuz, RSF protested the “one-year suspension of radio station Özgür Radyo by the RTÜK (the authority responsible for regulating audio-visual media)”. RSF also asked the minister to “do everything possible to ensure that this authority ends its arbitrary attacks on the audio-visual media. The RTÜK has already suspended 21 radio stations and 20 television stations this year, for a total of 3186 days”. The organisation recalled that “the European Human Rights Court recently sentenced Turkey on two occasions for violating freedom of expression”.
According to information collected by RSF, on 5 July 2000, the RTÜK ordered the one-year suspension of Istanbul radio station Özgür Radyo. The station was criticised for broadcasting a verse from one of Turkish poet Ataol Behramoglu’s poems, during a programme which aired on 1 May. The station is accused of “inciting violence and hateful sentiments in society”, in accordance with Article 4 of Law 3984. Behramoglu contested the decision, stating that “this verse, written thirty years ago, is published in all new editions of my books.”
