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Roj TV trial begins today in Copenhagen
After countless complaints and petitions from the Turkish government over a number of years, in August 2010 Denmark's public prosecution opened a court case against Roj TV charging it of helping to promote the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
While filing the case, top Danish prosecutor Jørgen Steen Sørensen said at the time that Roj TV was promoting activities of the PKK.
The PKK is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the European Union. Its members are fighting for autonomy in Turkey's Southeast, a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people since 1984.
Roj TV has a Danish broadcasting license but has no studios in Denmark.
Some Kurdish groups living in Denmark have announced that they will be staging a protest against the case and in support of Roj TV, while some 133 leading figures of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) in Turkey have drafted a joint statement titled “Call on the International Community to Support Roj TV.”
“As the Kurdish society … our expectation from European countries -- particularly from Denmark -- which have embraced democracy, human rights and freedom of press as principles is not to open a case against Roj TV, but to make a contribution in providing the conditions for Roj TV to freely broadcast on their own soil,” the statement said, asking intellectuals all around the world to support Roj TV.
Roj TV executives, meanwhile, apparently due to fear of the outcome of the trial, have established a reserve channel in Sweden. The Danish court is expected to make its final decision on the Roj TV case on November 9, and if Roj TV is eventually closed down, the new television station called “Newroz,” will start broadcasting from Sweden.
The TV station has long been a cause of tension between Denmark and Turkey. Ankara believes it is broadcasting propaganda for the PKK and has called for the station to be closed, but Denmark refused to do so, citing freedom of the press.
Roj TV was also at the center of a disagreement between the two countries before the selection of NATO's new secretary-general. The candidacy of former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen was initially criticized by Turkey, which has veto power in the alliance.
NATO member Turkey eventually lifted its objections in April 2009 to Rasmussen's appointment, backed by the United States and most European NATO members, after receiving a number of assurances, including the closure of Roj TV.
In 2005, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had canceled a joint press conference with Rasmussen at the last minute after Danish authorities ignored his request that a reporter from Roj TV be removed from the hall where the conference was due to take place.
In May 2011, Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said at a joint press conference with his visiting Danish counterpart, Lene Espersen, that Turkey is closely following legal proceedings surrounding Roj TV broadcasts promoting terrorism, insisting that recent developments clearly show terrorism is a crime against humanity.
At the time, when asked why the station was still broadcasting, Espersen said Danish ministers did not order the closure of TV stations, referring to Roj TV. She said the decision to shut down TV stations is independent of the political system in Denmark and that there is no way the government can interfere in these decisions.
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