Riza Okcu, the manager of the "Kardes Turkuler" music group and an employee of Music Company "Kalan Muzik" said they had sent the video clip of the Kurdish folkloric song "Mirkut" to more than 10 national television channels. Okcu said the clip was not broadcasted by any of them. "Mirkut" means "knob" in English.

Kalan Muzik sent the video clip, which was prepared with Turkish subtitles in line with the regulations of the Radio and Television Higher Board (RTUK), to more than 10 national stations last week.

The company placed announcements on eight national newspapers Friday, with the title, "We are looking for a television channel that would broadcast this video clip." The announcements include information about the video clip.

"Although we did not get any formal rejections, we can see that there is an inclination toward not broadcasting Kurdish video clips," Okcu told Bianet.

Okcu said that although Turkey passed new laws as basis for democratization, these laws were not applied to the daily life. "It is obvious that cultures like the Kurdish culture, are being treated as sub-cultures," he added.

Okcu said Kardes Turkuler was a popular music group and argued that it was being prevented from reaching its audience.

"Millions of people, whose mother tongue is Kurdish, do not have access to cultural elements in their own language," said Okcu. "We want the cultural diversity and wealth in Turkey to be embraced."

The album is out in the Netherlands

The video clip of the song "Mirkut," which is in the last album, "Hamevaz" of the group Kardes Turkuler, is being broadcasted on www.kalan.com website for the first time. The song tells about people working in rural areas. In the video clip, dancers act as villagers working in the fields.

The European edition of "Hamevaz" was released by the "Connecting Cultures" music company in the Netherlands.

The album was elected the album of the month by the German music magazine Stereoplay in its April 2004 issue. Kardes Turkuler group is also preparing to release the first music DVD in Turkey.

The DVD, which will be published by Kalan Music company, will include images from the group's concerts in Istanbul in the years 2000 and 2001 and sections from their video clips. Neset Ertas and Grup Yorum are also planning to prepare DVDs. (EO/BB/EA/YE)