A Kurdish TV station

İhsan Yılmaz

Last week, I visited a local Kurdish-language TV station that is based in the southeastern Turkish city of Gaziantep, Dünya TV.

Dünya is a Turkish word with an Arabic origin that means the world. It is run by Gülen movement participants. It is the only private Kurdish-language TV station that is mostly funded by Turks. Even though it was only established less than a year ago, I was told that, according to survey data, 20 percent of Kurds who watch TV also watch Dünya TV as well as others. It performs better than the state-sponsored TRT 6, the symbolic importance of which cannot be denied, showing that the state has jettisoned its policy of denial that a language called Kurdish exists. I think Dünya TV's existence could serve a few beneficial results as far as peaceful co-existence in the country is concerned.

It first of all shows that not only the state but Turkish civil society institutions also recognize in practice that the Kurdish language exists and that Kurds are part of this country with in their own linguistic and ethnic identity, not necessarily as an assimilated and “Turkified” population. It also shows that Turks are ready to put their money where their mouth is and invest in an area that will not generate income in even the medium term. What is more, it is obvious that they are running this state for the purpose of peaceful co-existence rather than commercial expectations. Similar to the state's Kurdish TV station's symbolic importance, this will have an influence on the hearts and minds of many Kurds who are not true believers of “Kurdism.” We must also not forget that this Dünya TV has been complemented by the movement's educational and humanitarian efforts in the region. It also refutes the claims that the Gülen movement is a nationalist movement.

There is an educational aspect of the existence of Dünya TV, and I do not mean educating Kurds by this. The TV station receives about 2,500 visitors from all over Turkey and most of these visitors are from the Turkish heartland. Turkish nationalism of all sorts and varieties have influenced the hearts and minds of the overwhelming majority of Turks in this country and the Dünya TV experience prepares them to gradually accept that the Kurdish language in public spaces is not harmful. It is true that many of them have never had a problem with this and many others have modified their negative attitudes, but there is still much work to be done.

At the moment, mostly programs produced for Samanyolu TV are broadcast in Kurdish, but the number of tailor-made Kurdish language programs is increasing as well. The educative process that I mentioned above will take a new fascinating turn when these authentic Kurdish programs begin to be broadcast in Turkish in western parts of the country.

Published on Today's Zaman, 25 May 2011, Wednesday