Republic of Türkiye

[TR] Amendment to the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation Law

IRIS 2008-8:1/34

Eda Çataklar

Intellectual Property Research Center, Istanbul Bilgi University

On 11 June 2008, Law no. 2954 regulating the principles and procedures regarding the duties, authorities and responsibilities of the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), which was founded in 1964 to conduct public broadcasting, was amended. The most notable amendment made was enabling the TRT to broadcast in languages and dialects other than Turkish.

Previously, by a 2002 amendment to article 4 of the Law no. 3984 on the Establishment of Radio and Television Enterprises and their Broadcasts, both public and private radio and television had already been permitted to conduct broadcasting in different languages and dialects used by Turkish citizens in their daily lives. The detailed rules regarding such broadcasts were laid down by a “Regulation on Radio and Television Broadcasts In Different Languages and Dialects Used Traditionally by Turkish Citizens in their Daily Lives” issued by the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK) on 25 January 2004.

As a result of this regulation, the objective of which was harmonization with EU legislation, radio and television enterprises which obtained permission from RTUK were given the right to conduct broadcasting in such languages and dialects, provided that certain time limits were not exceeded. These limits were 60 minutes per day and five hours per week for radios and 45 minutes per day and four hours per week for television corporations. According to these regulations, TRT has been broadcasting in Zaza, Bosnian, Arabic, Circassian and Kurmanji languages on TRT Radio1 and TRT3 since 2004.

After TRT began broadcasting in other languages and dialects, Gün TV and Söz TV which conduct broadcasting from Diyarbakır, and Medya FM Radio from Şanlıurfa have been permitted by RTUK, upon their application, to conduct broadcasting in Kurdish. However, currently only Gün TV continues such broadcasting.

This latest amendment affords the TRT the opportunity to extend the period of broadcasts which are made in the mentioned languages and dialects, and furthermore to dedicate a channel for these broadcasts. It has been announced that when the necessary preparations are completed, a TRT channel is to be dedicated to broadcasts in different languages and dialects such as Kurdish and Farsi which are being spoken in some regions of Turkey. This channel is to be accessible not only in Turkey but also in other foreign countries and especially in the Middle East.

In addition to the above, the recent changes made to the TRT Law have amended the central and provincial organization of TRT, and it has been made possible for TRT to sign contracts, agreements and protocols with radio and television enterprises in Turkey which conduct local, regional and national broadcasting, to sell news and videos and also to buy services from them. Furthermore, from now on TRT will be able to open foreign offices and hire foreign employees on a contractual basis.