Arabic Broadcast Incomprehensible for Turkish Viewers

Cumhur Kılıçoğlu, owner of the Siirt Mücadele ('Siirt Struggle') newspaper, declared that the language used in the Arabic broadcast of  TRT E1 Turkey differs from the Arabic spoken in Siirt to an extend that it cannot  be understood by the viewers. Siirt is a province in the south-east of Turkey. The Turkish Radio and Television Cooperation (TRT) launched the broadcast in Arabic in the beginning of April.

"The Arabic spoken on TRT is a general form of the language. The Arabic spoken in Turkey comprises a number of dialects. The Arabic spoken on TRT E1 for example is that much different that it is incomprehensible for viewers in Antakya, Şanlıurfa, Mardin and Siirt", provinces in south-eastern Anatolia.

Kılıççıoğlu: Nobody consulted us

Kılıçoğlu has been working as a journalist in Siirt for more than 50 years. He worked on translating Arabic terms into Turkish and studied the local language of Siirt. The journalist talked to bianet and said that he had not been consulted at all before TRT went on air with the Arabic broadcast.

Kılıçoğlu thought that TRT E1 was broadcasting in a common form of Arabic when he watched the opening ceremony of the state channel in the beginning of the month. "But this language has nothing to do with the Arabic spoken in Siirt", he declared.

"The criticism voiced about the Kurdish broadcast of TRT Şeş also applies to the broadcast in Arabic. The Arabic spoken in the centre of Siirt is not the same as the Arabic spoken in Sason in another part of the province. There are even differences between villages belonging to the same region".

Kılıçoğlu said that the broadcast could be understood by Arab people who are living in Turkey and who are following current affairs of the country. "The broadcast is also good in respect to language education. The program directors were brought from abroad since they could not find capable people in Turkey. Our dialect of Arabic is based on the spoken language, not on written language". (EÖ/VK)