Turkey to provide more funds to Armenian, Jewish publicationsMay 31, 2018 - 14:38 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey's outreach to minorities sees a boost in funds for dailies and weeklies published by those communities. A state-run agency will hand out TL 200,000 ($44,838) to publications in the Greek, Armenian and Jewish communities, Daily Sabah reports. The program was launched in 2011 to help financially struggling press outlets belonging to communities concentrated in Istanbul. Every year, an average TL 150,000 is allocated for newspapers. The Press Advertising Authority (BİK) oversees the program that aims to promote freedom of expression. Weeklies will be granted TL 28,000 each, while dailies will receive TL 36,000. The only requirement to be entitled to funds is that the publication has to have been in circulation for at least 10 years. Since 2011, BİK has supplied cash assistance of TL 1.1 million to minority newspapers, including Normarmara, Jamanak, Apoyevmatini, Agos, İho and Şalom. Long treated as second-class citizens, the Greek, Jewish, Armenian and Syriac communities have lauded the efforts for the return of their rights, although they have complained about it being a slow process. 1.5 million Armenian were killed in the Genocide of 1915-1923 at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. While some three dozen countries, as well as a number of international organizations and local government bodies have recognized the Genocide, Turkey denies to this day. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |