Denmark pressured by Turkey on ROJ TV

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

FM called his Danish counterpart Sovndal and expressed Ankara’s views. AP photo

Turkey increased pressure on Denmark for the closure of the Kurdish television station ROJ TV, known as the mouthpiece of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), following a court decision that sentenced the station for distributing propaganda of the terror organization.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu phoned his Danish counterpart Villy Sovndal yesterday to express Ankara’s views and expectations from Copenhagen in light of the court verdict. Recalling that Tuesday’s verdict marked the end of the judicial process of ROJ TV, which in fact proved the station’s link with the PKK, Davutoğlu demanded the closure of the station in line with the court verdict.

A Copenhagen court sentenced ROJ TV to pay a 400,000-euro fine for making propaganda on behalf of a terrorist organization yesterday but did not order the closure of the pro-Kurdish broadcaster. A prosecutor had filed a lawsuit last August, requesting the closure of ROJ TV.