Radio Station in Turkey Shut Down for Using the Term 'Armenian Genocide'

The Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council has revoked the license of Açık Radyo (Open Radio) due to the use of the term 'Armenian Genocide' during a broadcast on April 24.

The council had previously decided to fine the radio station and suspend its broadcasts for using the term, and the license was revoked after Açık Radyo failed to comply with the suspension order.

The decision to shut down the radio station was made by a council composed of nine members, predominantly from the ruling Justice and Development Party, after the station continued its broadcasts, which the council argued incited hatred and hostility within society based on race, language, religion, gender, class, or sect.

The thirty years of effort by a radio that has been on the air since 1995 have been wiped out by this single decision. More democratic and liberal intellectuals in Turkey are concerned but not surprised, as the list of punished non-governmental media outlets silenced by the Supreme Council is long.

Açık Radyo has defended fundamental human rights and freedoms and promoted multicultural life and relationships between cultures and identities since its inception. For many years, the AKOS weekly newspaper has also had airtime on the station.

Thanks to the efforts of over 1,300 volunteers, the radio station has produced more than 1,200 broadcasts on politics, sociology, psychology, culture, environmental issues, and many other fields.

The staff and management of the radio station will seek to protect their rights through all legal avenues and oppose the repression of press freedom.