The decision of Denmark’s highest court to ban the Roj TV channel, on grounds that it favors the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), seems to fit in nicely with the black-and-white thinking amongst many in the West about resistance and terrorism. Terrorists should not have a voice to manipulate people. But is that what was happening at Roj?
The channel was banned because it was said to broadcast propaganda for an organization that is on the European list of terrorism groups. The Danish court wrote history: This is the first time that terrorism accusations have been brought against the media in any Scandinavian country.
How can it be that a liberal, Scandinavian country like Denmark has clipped the wings of press freedom? The same country took freedom of speech so seriously that it allowed cartoons to be published of the Prophet Mohammed, which Muslims considered blasphemous and degrading. It even protected the publisher against Muslim wrath.
Could it be that freedom of speech is only for the Danish? Or is it the effect of Turkish pressure? Both might be true. But I guess even more important is the definition of terrorism, and the idea that media are supporting it.
This is a sensitive issue, and I am the first to condemn the way some political groups misuse media for their own goals, distorting the truth and setting people up against each other.
It is a fact that for decades, PKK has been criticized in Europe for forcing people to pay for its struggle. Many shopkeepers paid, and so did others. Youngsters were convinced to give up their professional life in Europe to fight in Turkey.
That, in combination with the civil war in Turkey which caused tens of thousands of deaths, has landed the PKK on a number of terror lists. But situations change.
Recently, talks with the Turkish government led to a peace deal. From his jail in Turkey, PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan ordered an end to a 30-year conflict for greater Kurdish rights.
So, if the Turkish authorities can negotiate with the PKK, why should a channel that is supporting the movement not be able to broadcast? The PKK was in fact taken off the shelf of the “baddies you fight but do not communicate with.” Is Denmark in this sense not more Catholic than the Pope?
Look at the huge support the movement has. Kurds will tell you how much they dream of their own country, where they could not only speak their own tongue but also make their own decisions.
And however much the force and violence used by PKK has been condemned, many Kurds support the group with their hearts. It is hard to understand for many in the West, but people who are suppressed will remain loyal to those who give them a voice, even if it earns them hardship.
Not all Kurds support the PKK, and the political strife amongst the Kurdish groups can be tough. But the fact remains that they are all part of a bigger movement that struggles for Kurdish rights. Without it, the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan would never have been created.
Perhaps only when you live in a region that is the result of the struggle can you really appreciate the force of people’s longing. How it has shaped their minds, their views, their actions.
What Roj TV has done is show this sentiment, definitely colored by the PKK. But how is that new in the Middle East, where every party has its own media? Look at Iraqi Kurdistan, where all the parties have at least their own newspaper, but usually also TV, radio and an Internet site.
The perception in the West is that media should be independent. But Westerners tend to forget that their media mostly also have a history of affiliation with or ownership by a political party.
The issue of Roj TV is past its expiry date, as long since Med TV from Brussels has taken over, and many other satellite channels broadcast from Iraqi Kurdistan. It makes you wonder what applying the rules used for Roj should mean for them.
The principle remains. What gives a court in Europe the excuse to ban a TV station? Is the affiliation with terrorism a valid one? Isn’t the point that, what is terrorism for one is struggle for the other?
During the Second World War, the resistance of my country, the Netherlands, was broadcasting on Radio Orange. Being caught listening to it could get you imprisoned by the occupying Germans. Denmark is not occupied by the Turks. Yet, it chose to silence a station that gave a voice to Kurdish resistance against the Turkish government.
If you consider Roj as part of a resistance movement of a peoples striving for their own state, that changes the whole picture. And to many Kurds, that seems a more realistic one.
