ROJ TV promotes PKK, says Danish prosecutor

COPENHAGEN - Anatolia News Agency

This file photo shows front page of Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende publishing a report on ROJ TV showing the relations between the TV and the outlawed PKK. Hürriyet photo

Denmark-based Roj TV, a broadcaster with alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), is spreading propaganda on behalf of the militant organization, according to a Danish prosecutor.

The channel is the heir to Med TV and Medya TV, both of which were shut down in Britain and France, prosecutor Jakob Buch Jepsen said in an indictment presented to the court. The channel is illegal in Germany, Jepsen said while highlighting the alleged links between the PKK and Roj TV, according to reports. Jepsen further said four telephone lines owned by Roj NV, which provides programs to Roj TV from outside the country, were also being used to provide contacts between Turkey and northern Iraq.

The PKK is recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU. Turkey’s European Union minister yesterday said Roj TV was the only issue negatively affecting relations with Denmark.

Egemen Bağış said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was not only a terrorist organization, but also an illicit drug trafficking gang that was poisoning the European youth. “The only negative issue in our relations with Denmark is Roj TV,” Bağış told Turkish reporters in Copenhagen. He said time would show what kind of an attitude would be assumed by Denmark, which takes over the rotating presidency of the EU in January. Bağış said he had observed during his talks that Danish executives had perceived Turkey’s contributions to the EU more this year when compared to the previous year. The EU had yielded to the spoiled stance of the Greek Cypriot administration, Minister Bağış said.