October 12, 2016•Update: October 13, 2016
By Elin Joensson
STOCKHOLM
A Sweden-based Kurdish language TV channel has been shut down Tuesday following a request from Turkey’s broadcasting authority, local media said Wednesday.
The closure of Newroz is the second case of a Kurdish TV channel being shut down outside Turkey in recent days, Radio Sweden’s news channel Ekot reported. Med-Nuce in Belgium was shut last week.
In both cases, the broadcasters were given notice by French satellite company Eutelsat. “They called two days ago and said that Eutelsat had decided to close our channel,” Newroz CEO Faruk Nozhatzadeh said.
The request was made by Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council. The European Federation of Journalists claimed Eutelsat had been put under pressure by Turkey to remove TV channels accused of support the PKK terrorist organization.
Newroz, based in Stockholm, aired across Europe and in parts of Asia.
