Officials from Med Nûçe TV, which was closed recently due to AKP pressure, gave a presentation in the conference held in the Council of Europe titled “Press Freedom in Turkey” yesterday.

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Group of the Unified European Left (UEL)Member HDP MP Ertuğrul Kürkçü gave the opening speech in the conference which higlighted AKP’s anti-press freedom practices and stated that France and Europe should not bow down to this.

Kürkçü said several radio and television networks were closed in the recent weeks, disregarding even the current laws, and that this should be prevented.

ÇETİN: PRESS FREEDOM WAS SACRIFICED TO ECONOMIC INTERESTS

In his presentation, Ferda Çetin said Med Nûçe and other Kurdish televisions were closed by Eutelsat under pressure from the AKP. Çetin underlined that the company sacrificed the principle of press freedom to their economic interests and called on France and Europe to protect their principles.

On the relationship between Eutelsat and Turkish RTÜK (Supreme Board of Radio and Television), Çetin mentioned that Eutelsat had received many bids from Ankara, including sending satellites A5, A6 and A7 into space.

ARSLAN CALLS ON THE EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS TO NOT BE PARTNER 

TV Editor Heval Arslan said they will continue the legal struggle until the end and that the lawsuit they filed was going to be heard tomorrow in Paris, and they expected awareness from the French public and judiciary.

Arslan asked the CoE, ECHR and EU to not be partner to the forcible and unlawful silencing of a people under oppression.

In the program to be led by PACE Left Group Member and HDP MP Hişyar Özsoy titled “Press and Media Freedom in Turkey” today at 13:00 in the Council of Europe, Ferda Çetin and İMC TV’s Ayşegül Doğan will make presentations.