Turkish Radio Station Broadcasts in Four Languages

Radio Ses, a local radio channel from Mersin at the eastern Mediterranean, is broadcasting in additional languages other than Turkish since 15 January this year after the restricitons on broadcasts in languages and dialects other than Turkish had been lifted. Radio Ses ('Voice') airs four programs in the Kurdish Kırmançi dialect, one in the Zaza language spoken by the Zaza people in eastern Anatolia and one broadcast in Arabic per week.

General broadcasting director Feride Bilgiç said that they took the decision to broadcast programs in these languages on 7 January. The first programs were aired on 15 January after having applied to the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK).

"We started broadcasting right away after we had sumitted the referring notice. We did not include a limitation of broadcasting time", Bilgiç told bianet.

"We were a little worried at first, but..."

The radio station started broadcasting in 1994 under the name of Şok Radio and changed its name to Raido Ses in 1999. Bilgiç conceded that they had doubts when they initially started broadcasts in other mother tongues:

"We were concerned if the number of listeners would decrease. Would the companies advertising in our programs cut their ads because of doubts? As the only radio station in Mersin broadcasting in different languages among a total of 17 channels we were not sure about the approach of the political power and the police. However, ommitting something did not seem to be the right thing to us".

"The current situation is quite fine, advertisements did not decrease. To the contrary, the number of listeners increased and many people call us to give positive feedback. In accordance with our name of Radio Ses we want to reflect the full spectrum of colours and cultures".

Radio programs

- Feride Alsan Bilgiç broadcasts news in Kırmançi (Nuçe) at 7.00 pm Monday to Friday.

- Umut Baran presents a program on Kurish and Turkish poetry and arts every Friday night from 9.00-10.00 pm.

- Hasan Biber and Şemsl Ceber air a program on Arabic social and cultural matters ever Thursday from 7.00-8.00 pm.

- Çiğdem Göksoy addresses Turkish women in her program called "The colour of women" every Thursday from 10.00-11.00 am.

- The "Lom u dem" (time and expression) program in the Zaza language is prepared by writer and teacher Doğan Munzur and can be heard every Wednesday from 10.00-11.00 pm.

- Sosyolog Ahmet Gegez'in hazırladığı "Zıman u Cıvak" (Dil ve Toplum) programı Kürtçe'nin tarihçesini aktarıyor.

- The Kurdish program "Xemla jiyane" (Beauties of  Life) for women is aired on Saturdays from 10.00-11.00 am.

14 media institutions applied to RTÜK

As reported by Hale Gönültaş from Vatan newspaper, RTÜK was going to decide about  the approval of 14 television and radio institutions on Thursday (18 February). The following institutions applied:

Cemre FM (Mardin; Kırmançi-Zaza), Radyo Ses (Mersin; Kurdish-Zazaca-Arabic), Radyo Net (Şanlıurfa; Kırmançi-Zaza-Arabic), Çağrı Fm (Diyarbakır; Kırmançi-Zaza), Gün Radyo (Diyarbakır; Kırmançi-Zaza), Nur FM (Diyarbakır; Kırmançi-Zaza), Gün TV (Diyarbakır; Kırmançi-Zaza), TV 21 (Diyarbakır; Kırmançi-Zaza), ART TV (Diyarbakır; Kırmançi-Zaza), Söz TV (Diyarbakır; Kırmançi-Zaza), Can TV (Diyarbakır; Kırmançi-Zaza), Can Radyo (Diyarbakır; Kırmançi-Zaza), Aktüel FM (Diyarbakır; Kırmançi-Zaza), Aksa FM (Diyarbakır; Kırmançi-Zaza). (EÖ/VK)