Îslam Çareser e

In 2009, the AKP government launched an official Kurdish TV channel, TRT Şeş, when the Constitutional Court was preparing for the closure of yet another pro-Kurdish party, the DTP, due to its links to the PKK. Prime Minister Erdoğan inaugurated the channel by uttering the Kurdish words “TRT Şeş bi xêr be!” (May TRT 6 be beneficial!). The pro-Islamic party’s move was a surprising step to many Kurds and was called “a great revolution.” ¹ Turkey’s weakening secularist elite seemed not happy about these reforms; only two years before the launch of TRT Şeş, the highest administrative court ruled to dismiss Abdullah Demirbaş, the mayor of Diyarbakır’s Sur Municipality, on the grounds that the municipality had published some brochures “in languages other than Turkish” (read: Kurdish). ² Soon after the pro-Islamic AKP’s introduction of TRT Şeş, private enterprises were allowed to open channels in Kurdish. Two brands were quick to step onto the stage; Dünya-TV and Çağrı TV, owned by the Gülen movement and Hizbullah.