Paris Commercial Court held a hearing on Wednesday on the closure of Med Nuçe, the broadcast of which had been stopped by the biggest European satellite company Eutelsat on October 3. The hearing was open to public, a representative of the French press syndicate SNJ-CGT participated in the hearing and two lawyers represented Med Nuçe TV.

Med Nuçe lawyers had taken Eutelsat’s unilateral end to Med Nuçe’s broadcast agreement to court. During the hearing, Eutelsat’s lawyer failed to offer any serious arguments and agreed that Turkey requested Med Nuçe’s closure. Eutelsat’s lawyer also admitted that he did not know the content of Med Nuçe’s broadcast, and argued that the closure decision was not connected with the oppression of the free press since Turkey had filed the closure request in May; before the July 15 coup attempt.

EUTELSAT AND TURKEY DID NOT REQUEST ANYTHING FROM ITALY

Med Nuçe lawyer Jean Louis Malterre stated that Turkey had oppressed free press before July 15, and emphasized that it had not requested anything from Italy despite its requests from Norway, Switzerland and Belgium.

There were intense arguments among the lawyers during the hearing and Malterre stated that only Italian institutions could allow the closure of Med Nuçe since the organization had received its 6 year long broadcast permit from Italy in 2015. Melterre also rebuked the argument of the Eutelsat lawyer regarding the European agreement on broadcasting and said that this agreement is related to violent and pornographic broadcasts, which was not mentioned in Eutelsat’s closure decision. Med Nuçe lawyers also recalled the Eutelsat boss’ words on the company’s relations with Turkey on October 5, and that the French government had responded to the question of senator Michel Billout, saying that the closure of TV channels is unacceptable unless there is proved broadcast of terrorism and violence.

"ERDOĞAN IS BEHIND EUTELSAT"

Med Nuçe lawyers stated that Erdoğan is behind Eutelsat, and the company should not be a tool of the Turkish government’s oppression. The lawyers also demanded a decision that would force Eutelsat to resume Med Nuçe’s broadcast.

EUTELSAT TAKES A STEP BACK BUT MAKES TWO UNACCEPTABLE SUGGESTIONS

Unlike the previous hearings, Eutelsat lawyers did not request the court to issue a decision of non-competence, and said that the agreement between the Belgian intermediary company and Eutelsat, which enabled Med Nuçe’s broadcast, has been cancelled. The lawyer suggested that Med Nuçe could broadcast via two other frequencies and insisted that the court pays attention to these options, but Med Nuçe lawyers rejected this proposal.

DECISION ON NOVEMBER 14

At the end of the hearing, judges stated that they would announce their decision on November 14.

During the hearing, tens of people protested the closure of Med Nuçe TV and other Kurdish channels.

Med Nuçe’s broadcast had been stopped on October 3. More than 20 TV channels and radio stations had also been shut down in Turkey on September 29, when Eutelsat sent an email to Hot Bird regarding the closures. Zarok TV, a children’s channel, was among these media organizations. Eutelsat had later stopped the broadcast of Newroz TV on October 11.