The FM 49 radio of Muş province in the eastern Turkey obtained permission for broadcasting its program titled “Healthy life for generations” in Kurdish from the Supreme Council of Radio and Television (RTÜK).

The program was prepared by the Bodily Challenged Association and the radio takes place in this work as a participating institution. Waiting for the social atmosphere to get better in order to broadcast the program, the program plans to talk about the dangers of marriages between close relatives, blood incompatibility and preventing giving birth to handicapped babies.

Toplu: Our program and posters are ready

Bülent Toplu, a representative of the radio, told bianet that they already broadcast Kurdish songs 10 to 15 hours a day. The program is designed 15 minutes in Kurdish and 15 minutes in Turkish as the law requires. They believe that it will make positive contribution especially to the old viewers who do not know Turkish.

Although the program and posters are ready, they delayed it because of the operations in the Northern Iraq by the Turkish Armed Forces.

Toplu, who is also the owner of the local newspapers “Muş Ovası” and “30 Nisan”, said that they had the programmed prepared by a team from the Gün TV and hoped to air it after the local elections.

“Music broadcasting is positive, but there should be more”

Toplu finds the standards for the Kurdish broadcasting inadequate. His reservations are as follows:

“The programs are certainly not adequate. People use Kurdish in the eastern and southeastern Turkey as their mother tongue. Although Turkish is widely used, there is the mother tongue; we cannot ignore this. The Kurdish folksongs aired on the radios and the Kurdish music videos shown on some TV stations in Diyarbakır satisfy the local people, even if partially.”

“However, it will be good if we can provide economic, cultural and educational programs, have such networks. But this is a sensitive region. When permission given, the authority that gives it says they made these programs possible. When the opposite happens, then they say the government did not allow it. In any case, there are major obstacles. The terror had to finish. They concentrate on Kurdish broadcasting since it is a sensitive issue.”

Toplu says the people around him approach positively to the idea of Kurdish broadcasting because there are parents, especially mothers, who do not know Turkish.

FM 49 is the first private radio of Muş, established in February 12, 1994. Filiz FM and the Lale FM by the military broadcast in the city, too.

The Turkish State Radio and TV is also getting ready to start broadcasting in Kurdish twelve hour a day on January 1. (EÖ/TK/TB)