Bulgarian Station Campaigns against Turkish Broadcast

Today's Zaman

A private television station in Bulgaria has launched a signature campaign to stop the broadcasting of news bulletins in Turkish on Bulgarian National Television (BNT), the public broadcaster of Bulgaria, the Anatolia news agency reported on Friday.

The Turkish news bulletin has been broadcast for 15 minutes every day for the last eight years. The campaign by private channel Skat TV has been encouraged by the ultranationalist Ataka party, which has close links with the channel, Anatolia said. Employees of Skat TV have already been collecting signatures from Bulgarian citizens in big cities including Sofia to stop the Turkish news bulletins on public television.

Nencho Nenov, campaign coordinator who stated he was an investigative journalist, told Anatolia that banning news broadcasting in Turkish on BNT is a demand of the Skat TV audience. "Our audience doesn't want Turkish broadcasting on public television. We will convey the signatures we have collected to Parliament in September," Nenov was quoted as saying by Anatolia.

So far, 40,000 signatures have been collected, Nenov said, adding: "There is no Turk in Bulgaria. There are Muslims. Those who see themselves as Turks are only harming themselves." Approximately 15 percent of Bulgaria's population is made up of ethnic Turks.

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