The letter of our co-chairs Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş to the Executive Board of EUTELSAT regarding Mednuçe TV and Newroz TV:
To the Executive Board of EUTELSAT,
We would like you to know that we deplore EUTELSAT’s unilateral shutting down of Turkish/Kurdish news channel MedNuçe TV broadcasts which are followed by Kurds and progressive, freedomloving and democratic individuals who all face discrimination in Turkey.We have also learned that the broadcast of Newroz TV which is yet another Kurdish media channel shall also be stopped by EUTELSAT.
We would like to state that we are having difficulty understanding the closure of MedNuçe broadcasting from Europe in times when censure on the press and dismissal of journalists upon political pressure runs rampant in Turkey and media with working principles similar to those of MedNuçe are closed down without any legal basis.
As is evident in the European Parliament progress reports and decisions on Turkey adopted by Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the freedom of press record of Turkish governments is very poor. In the 2016 World Freedom of Press list published by RSF in April Turkey has receded from 149 to 151 among 180 countries as you may be aware. With the declaration of state of emergency after the failed coup attempt of July 15th, the number of journalists in prison has risen from 30 to over 120. We underline that most of these journalists have nothing to do with the coup attempt. AKP government has also closed down 12 opposition and democratic media organs in the absence of any judicial ruling on September 29th and 30th. Among these is Zarok TV, the only children’s channel in Kurdish.
The simultaneous closure decisions taken by the totalitarian AKP regime in Turkey and your institution EUTELSAT have served to suspend the freedom of information of those circles in favor of democracy and pluralism in Turkey. And the continuation of this situation serves to further institutionalize the totalitarian regime in Turkey. If the assertions of the AKP government the press freedom record of which we mentioned above have been instrumental in your decision to stop MedNuçe TV broadcasts, we kindly ask you to reconsider your decision and correct this mistake urgently. If you believe your decision fort his closure does not contradict freedom of information which is one of the basic principles of human rights in the European Union, we would like to respectfully note that we request an explanation from you on behalf of our party and constituency.
SelahattinDemirtaş & FigenYüksekdağ
HDP Co-Chairs
11 October 2016