Los Angeles Times

Published December 29, 2005

The move is seen as a step toward expanding the cultural rights of the country's long-repressed Kurdish minority in line with Turkey's efforts to gain full membership in the European Union.

Zahit Akman, the head of the Radio and Television Higher Board, told the semi-official Anatolian news agency that "local stations have completed their applications [and] will be able to start broadcasts at the end of January."

Private broadcasters in the predominantly Kurdish southeast region reacted with cautious optimism.

"It's a very positive signal to the Kurdish people," said Nezahat Baybasin, owner of a local news channel in the city of Diyarbakir, who said she submitted an application to broadcast in Kurdish two years ago.

Some stations complained that the broadcasts would be limited to 45 minutes a day and that none would be broadcast live because of regulations requiring Turkish language subtitles.