Alevis protest against being silenced by Erdogan

On the occasion of the beginning of a court hearing regarding a  broadcasting ban on the Cologne-based Alevi TV channel “Yol” next Wednesday in Ankara, Turkey, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) accuses the Turkish government of trying to silence this independent critical voice of the approximately 15 million Alevis. The human rights organization demanded that “Yol TV” should be able to broadcast its program via the Turksat satellite again. On December 21, 2017, the Turksat operating company had shut off Yol TV’s transmission frequency, claiming that the TV station had insulted the President of the Republic of Turkey.

“The constructed allegations against Yol TV clearly show that the situation concerning the freedom of the press and civil rights in Turkey is bad – and that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is power-hungry and unscrupulous,” said Kamal Sido, the STP’s Middle East Consultant, in Göttingen on Monday. Yol TV, which is associated to the Alevi community of Germany, is based in Cologne. Currently, the only way to watch its program is via the Internet, which is why the number of viewers in Turkey is decreasing. As most of the members of the Alevi religious community speak Turkish, Yol TV broadcasts mainly in Turkish. Occasionally, there are broadcasts in Kurdish dialects or even in German. Yol TV has been around since 2007. In Turkey, Alevism is not recognized as a religion – and its followers, who belong to different ethnic groups, are suffering from discrimination and persecution.

“Yol TV is not the only broadcaster that was banned. There are several other channels that were banned for criticizing the government party and Erdogan’s politics – and that it is hardly possible to watch these channels in Turkey anymore,” Sido stated. During the past two years, the Turkish government closed down at least 153 media organizations, including four news agencies, 28 publishing houses, 47 daily newspapers, 16 magazines, 28 TV channels, and 30 radio stations. Many of them are Kurdish and Alevi media. 146 journalists are said to be in detention in Turkey.

Shortly after the withdrawal of the broadcasting license for Yol TV, representatives of the Alevi religious community had informed the STP that the Alevi associations in Germany are planning to legally resist the ban on their TV channel. The Alevi associations in Germany and Europe are planning to send a delegation of almost 50 people to the court hearing regarding their appeal, which will take place in Ankara on December 20. Among the observers are Mr. Turgut Öker, Honorary Chairman of the European Alevi Association, Mr. Hüseyin Mat, Chairman of the European Alevi Association, and Mr. Mahmut Akgül, Managing Director of Yol TV.