Turkey's state TV cuts off Kurdish speech by deputyFebruary 24, 2009 - 19:39 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey's state television cut off live broadcasting on Tuesday when the head of the largest pro-Kurdish party began addressing his parliamentary deputies in the Kurdish language.The incident highlights tensions in the European Union-candidate country over the public use of the once-banned language despite recent government moves to ease restrictions, including launching a Kurdish state channel. It also comes ahead of March 29 local elections, in which the ruling AK Party is locked in a close battle with the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the Kurdish southeast region. "In order to show that there is nothing to fear in using other languages and to emphasize brotherhood of languages during the International Day of Mother Tongues, let me continue my speech in Kurdish," DTP head Ahmet Turk told a gathering of DTP members before he went off the air. State owned TRT channel said it had cut off Turk's speech because under Turkey's constitution, Turkish is the official language of Turkey. It apologized to its viewers. Turkey launched a Kurdish state channel in January to expand cultural rights of minority Kurds. However, some restrictions on Kurdish remain in place, including giving political speeches, Reuters reports. 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 | Narek Manasyan wins European Boxing Championships silver for Armenia Armenia’s Narek Manasyan (92kg) won Armenia’s second silver medal at the European Boxing Championships 2024 on April 28. Blinken urges Azerbaijan to continue negotiations with Armenia Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken has urged Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to continue negotiations with Armenia. Pashinyan, Blinken talk Armenia-U.S. ties over the phone Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a phone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on April 28, Pashinyan’s office reports. Titus, Bilirakis lead legislation to sanction Azerbaijani war criminals Representatives Dina Titus (D-NV) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) have introduced the bipartisan legislation. |