As French satellite company Eutelsat’s threat to shut down Stêrk TV, News Channel and Ronahi TV which broadcast over satellite from Europe continues, protests from Kurdish media continue to rise. Journalist Maxime Demiralp said the events were scandalous and that “Eutelsat is committing a crime with their compliance with Turkey and thus the administrators of the company can be put on trial.”

Read the whole thing: ANF | Journalist Demiralp: Eutelsat officials could be put on trial

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Demiralp stated that Turkey is going back every year in regards to press freedom and freedom of expression and protested Western institutions, saying: “Despite all these, if the West doesn’t speak out, that shows that democracy is also in regression. Because this isn’t just an issue about the Kurds. This is an issue of democracy in general. Democracy is in regression throughout the world, as apparent in the West. We can see this very clearly by the company Eutelsat.”

Demiralp stated that Eutelsat has serious relationships with Turkey and said: “This company has serious alliances. The military and police communications infrastructure is done by this company. The Kurdish media is sacrificed to this. That is the financial side of things. The political side is that the states are silent in the face of this dirty alliance. This silence shows the political side of things.”

Related on freedom of the press in Turkey: https://rsf.org/en/turkey | https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2017/turkey | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/14/erdogan-free-speech-turkey-journalists-referendum | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Turkey | http://nypost.com/2016/12/04/crushing-free-speech-in-turkey/ | http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/03/turkey-judiciary-sets-example-of-subservience.html |

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