Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Saudi radio closes Turkish language broadcast


Beirut, 24 January: The Saudi Arabian government ended Turkish broadcast by Jeddah radio, according to Saudi Arabian officials. The officials indicated that the radio broadcast in Turkish for 2 hours on short wave for 35 years. Turkish citizens living particularly in Saudi Arabian cities of Medina and Al-Dammam, and Turkish-speaking republics in Central Asia were listening to this programme.
Reason for the decision on ending Turkish broadcast has not been announced. Turkish citizens said tens of thousands of Turkish citizens have been working in Saudi Arabia for years and they were listening to the broadcast in Turkish. Meanwhile, sources said that Turkish embassy officials launched initiatives at Saudi Arabian government for resumption of the broadcast.
(Source: Anatolia news agency, Ankara, in English 1239 gmt 24 Jan 07 via BBC Monitoring)
Media Network adds: According to the 2007 World Radio TV Handbook, the broadcast was on the air at 0400-0600 UTC on 15275 kHz.

(Source: R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)