His Excellency Mesut Yilmaz
Prime Minster of the Republic of Turkey
Prime Minister’s Office
Ankara
Turkey

Vienna, 15 October 1998

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI) the global network of editors and media executives, strongly condemns the jamming of transmissions from the London-based Kurdish-language satellite television station, Med TV, by the Turkish authorities.

We are informed that Med TV’s news and panel discussion programmes are being targeted since Friday, 9 October, 1998 by jamming signals emanating from Turkey. This latest incident, however, has several precursors, including the jamming of Med TV for three weeks during 1997.

Med TV is the only satellite station broadcasting in Kurdish. Additionally, it has programmes in Turkish, Arabic, Assyrian and English. According to our sources, the National Security Council of Turkey accuses Med TV of spreading “separatist propaganda,” and it has therefore decided to “take out” the station. Moreover, in Kurdish regions of Turkey, satellite dishes and antennae have reportedly been prohibited and destroyed by soldiers and police units.

IPI believes that the government action against Med TV is an outright violation of everyone’s right to “seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers” as guaranteed by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We therefore urge Your Excellency to ensure that the jamming of programmes broadcast by Med TV is discontinued immediately. We further urge you to ensure that all journalists are allowed to objectively report on developments in your country.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director