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Turkish Cypriot Dialect Banned on TV and Radio

19th October 2009

The so-called governing body which regulates electronic media in the occupied areas of Cyprus, the Higher Broadcasting Council (HBC), has forbidden the use of the Turkish Cypriot dialect on TV and radio. The directive is being actively enforced on broadcasting stations with immediate effect.

The HBC is carrying out inspections of 15 TV channels and 23 radio stations to make sure Turkish Cypriot dialect is not transmitted and only the ‘Turkish’ language is used.

All parties criticized the decision of the HBC to forbid the Turkish Cypriot dialect on TV and radio. The chairmen of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), Democratic Party (DP) and Communal Democracy Party (TDP), Ferdi Sabit Soyer, Serdar Denktash and Mehmet Cakici respectively criticized the decision, as did the self-styled prime minister, Dervis Eroglu, with Eroglu saying that “This decision might concern the TV speakers“, adding that he is “proud of being a Cypriot, and noting that he will never be ashamed of this. “If you ask me this decision is wrong. In this country everybody speaks as he wishes.”

Soyer accused the National Unity Party (UBP) of trying to rule by using oppression, saying “You are a government which dictates even how people will talk“. Whilst Denktash said that “They will turn the Turkish Cypriots into the only people in history which is ashamed of the way it speaks“. Cakici noted that the decision is “A policy of annihilating the Turkish Cypriot culture“.




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