The Turkish Parliament passed a bill on Thursday allowing the state-owned television Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) to broadcast programs in languages other than Turkish, paving the way for broadcasts in Kurdish, Arabic and Farsi.
TRT will now be able to allocate one of its channels to 24-hour broadcasts in Kurdish. TRT General Director Ibrahim Zahin has said they plan to broadcast in Kurdish, Arabic and Farsi in the initial stages of their non-Turkish programming. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted at this in a speech in Diyarbakir on Tuesday, when he announced the government’s plan to resuscitate the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog).