[Freedom of expression, three years after the assassination Hrant Dink. The situation of non-Turkish media, the history of Radio Life in Istanbul. Our interview with Güler Yıldız.]
In Turkey, more and more are using the media, besides the Turkish, Kurdish and other minority languages. After decades of cultural nationalism, the Turkish society seems to slowly find its multiethnic nature.
This flowering of non-Turkish media is a direct result of a recent shift in language policy of the country. In 2001 the prohibition was abolished in speak languages other than Turkish, but not write and communicate in the languages of minorities. In 2006, the Erdogan government, operating a timid step forward, enabled radios and televisions to broadcast in Kurdish, but only music and one hour less per day.
In 2009, with the birth of TRT6 , a public channel that broadcasts 24 hours over 24 in Kurdish, there has been a real shift. Although TRT6 has an editorial strongly pro-government, the choice of the government to create a chain in Kurdish meant that therefore it was possible, even for other media to broadcast in languages other than Turkish.
The headquarters of radio, television and newspapers are multilingual mainly concentrated in Istanbul and Diyarbakir. The main languages are Kurdish, with Azadiya Welat (daily), and Gün TV Radyo His , then comes the Armenian Tv Su with , Agos (bilingual weekly published in Istanbul) and Jamanak in Armenian only. There are also monthly Salom, spokesman for the Jewish community, Skane Nena community and laze Jineps for Circassians. Apoyevmatini Iho and, finally, are published in Greek.
Yasam Radio [Radio Life], which broadcasts in a multilingual, was the first radio station in Istanbul to offer its listeners programs in Kurdish, Armenian, Laz, Circassian, and in Greek, quickly becoming a benchmark for minorities. Güler Yıldız, editor in chief, we talked about on radio and freedom of expression in Turkey.
- Alberto Tetta: Radio Yasam Why?
- Güler Yıldız: Yasam means life. We want our radio says all the stories that cross so diverse society. Istanbul is a huge city, exciting and stressful at the same time, multicultural and complex, and it is not easy to metabolize all that energy. Radio Yasam is open to the symphony of sounds with multiple life is, while wanting to help listeners to interpret.
- Alberto Tetta: Turkey is a country rich in diverse cultures, yet this reality is often not represented in the media. Your choice is against the current. Why?
- Güler Yıldız: That Turkey is a multicultural country is a fact. The problem is that, since childhood, we were instilled in the minds of ideas as simplistic stereotypes - the Kurds are bad, Armenians are bad, the Greeks are evil, Jews are evil and so on. History textbooks are filled with gossip about minorities, stories devoid of any foundation. In this way it feeds the hatred and young people begin to perceive the Kurds and Armenians as second class citizens, growing up with these prejudices. The newspapers have to turn this stereotype image of minorities in order to increase sales, they know that's what people want to read. We, on the contrary, we reject this approach. We are a radio station that broadcasts from Istanbul, a city built by Greek architects, Armenians and Jews, as were Greek, Armenian and Jewish people who inhabited before the arrival of the Turks. It now remains little, but that does not mean they do not exist. They have cultural associations, they run schools and places of worship, but the problem is that their life runs parallel to ours, we do not know. We live in the same building, but we know nothing of each other. So we said we had to do something to bring people to know and especially meet, we go to all the diverse cultures that surround us.
- Alberto Tetta: What are your relationships with minority organizations? Are there any programs where you work?
- Güler Yıldız: The report is excellent. We are a reference point. For example, two programs that we broadcast Laz, Radyo Cixa and Tanura, are managed by the President and Vice-Chairman of the Cultural Association Laze Istanbul. Similarly, Kafdağından Esintiler our program Circassian, has a good feedback from listeners. With regard to the Kurds, their cultural associations were the first to support us.
- Alberto Tetta: What do you think of the government project opening against Kurds? Climate change does he really or is there still problems for those that broadcast in languages other than Turkish?
- Güler Yıldız: As radio, we welcome the government initiative. In Istanbul, a radio that also broadcasts in other languages is now regarded as something natural. We had no legal problem, even with the Nationalists, also because we mainly deal in culture and we do not do politics. The problems are of another order. We develop programs in Kurdish, Circassian and Armenian, but the listeners, especially younger ones, do not know the language of their parents because they are victims of an assimilation process. In addition, there is the issue of sponsorship. Being a private radio station, our entries come mainly from advertising, even though we try to find agencies willing to support us. By associating their brand with a radio station that broadcasts in Armenian and Kurdish, they fear losing customers.
- Alberto Tetta: Besides the language issue, what is the more general situation of freedom of expression today Turkey?
- Güler Yıldız: Things did not go that well. Problems, rather than from the government and right wing organizations, from the army and police. When you start talking to them, they start to watch you and if you overtake a certain limit, the denunciations arrive. That said, however, we must also say that all media are not treated the same. Radical Islamists, for example, have their own newspapers, radios and televisions, and write what they want without any problem. It is up to daily and left Kurdish what those reserved for special treatment. There are still some journalists left in prison for years for crimes of opinion and, as regards the Kurds, they need only write something critical to be immediately accused of separatist propaganda.
- Alberto Tetta: January 19 [2010], outside the headquarters of his newspaper Agos , thousands of people commemorated Hrant Dink and asked for justice three years after his assassination. What this event means to you?
- Güler Yıldız : When Hrant was killed three years ago, over 100 000 people demonstrated outside the offices of Agos . It could have been Hrant or any of us, but they chose him. His murder must be seen in a larger plan to block the party Erdogan, the AKP, in its itinerary of rapprochement with Europe. Hrant was the sacrificial victim is the one they chose. A great many people thought like him. Hrant was not killed because he was an Armenian, but because he spoke of peace, because he was a Turkish citizen, that is what bothered him. But the reaction to the killing was significant. In Turkey, historically, a very large number of journalists have been killed, but nobody has ever shown to them. After the assassination of Hrant Dink, on the contrary, people have said "Enough! "
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Source: http://www.balcanicaucaso.org/aree/Turchia/Radio-Yasam
Article published 28.01.2010.
Translation from Italian: © George Festa - 01.2011.
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