TURKEY: NEW LEGAL MEASURES ON BROADCASTING IN AND TEACHING OF NON-OFFICIAL LANGUAGES

[Francis M Hult]

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TURKEY: NEW LEGAL MEASURES ON BROADCASTING IN AND TEACHING OF
NON-OFFICIAL LANGUAGES

February 2004  Two legal measures have been recently adopted in Turkey
concerning its numerous minority languages, the so-called languages and
dialects used in daily lives of Turkish citizens: a bylaw on
broadcasting in non-official languages, enacted on 25 January 2004, and
a regulation on the teaching of non-official languages, adopted on 5
December 2003. As regards the bylaw on broadcasting, it applies to the
public station (TRT) as well as to the private ones and, despite
allowing a certain use of such languages, it declares that the language
of broadcasts shall be essentially Turkish and that the broadcasting
only in non-official languages shall not be permitted. Among the
provisions are the following: radio and television broadcasts in
non-official languages shall include translations into Turkish (radio)
and subtitles (television), the programmes in such languages shall be
the news or programmes on music and traditional culture, but the
teaching of non-official languages shall be prohibited, and the
broadcasting in such languages in televisions may only be up to 45
minutes per day and 4 hours per week, while radio broadcasts shall be
restricted to 60 minutes per day and 5 hours per week. Moreover, the
bylaw stipulates in a provisional article that until a profile of the
audience is made, broadcasts in non-official languages shall be done
only by statewide televisions and radios. And as regards the regulation
on the teaching of non-official languages, unlike the previous
regulation of September 2002 the new one does not require the approval
of parents of students below 18 years of age allowing their attendance
in such courses. However, these students will only be allowed to receive
teaching of non-official languages as long as they do not fail to attend
school, where they learn Turkish.