Roj-TV charged with supporting terrorism in Turkey

A Kurdish TV station based in Denmark is to be charged under anti-terrorism laws, five years after it was first investigated. According to a news release from Danish prosecutor-general Jorgen Steen Sorensen, Justice Minister Lars Barfoed is calling for the indictment of the Roj-TV station for supporting terrorism.

Roj-TV, along with Mesopotamia Broadcast A/S METV, are to be prosecuted under the Anti-terrorism Act which makes it illegal to further the activities of people or groups who plan to commit acts of terrorism. According to Sorensen, the station has repeatedly broadcast biased interviews and reports of fighting between Turkish authorities and Kurds in an attempt to “further the activities of the terrorist organisation PKK/Konga Gel”.

In the statement, Sorensen wrote: “In the view of the prosecuting authorities, the form and content of several of the programmes and reports broadcast on Roj-TV have the character of propaganda activities in support of PKK, and that this propaganda activity is designed to further PKK’s activities”.

The news comes as former Danish Prime Minister and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen comes to Denmark on an official visit. The presence of Roj-TV in Denmark was a big concern for Turkey during the NATO election process, and Fogh Rasmussen was only reluctantly accepted by the Eurasian country following a promise that the station would be investigated.

Sorgensen has apologised for the delay with the prosecution, citing complicated conditions that required investigation abroad as the reason for the hold up. The Roj-TV probe first began after complaints in 2005.