Turkish Government has Decided to Support Armenian Newspapers

The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government has decided to lend support to newspapers and weeklies published by minority groups in Turkey, which have recently been experiencing difficulties due to financial problems, Today’s Zaman reports.

The newspapers in question are Greek dailies Apoyevmatini and İho, Armenian dailies Nor Marmara and Jamanak, Armenian weekly Agos and Jewish weekly Şalom.

The Prime Ministry’s Press Advertising Agency (BİK) Director General Mehmet Atalay plans to meet with officials from the six publications on July 26 to discuss their problems. Atalay spoke to the press about the meeting and said the AK Party government is willing to help solve the issues, mostly financial, faced by minority publications. “We have launched efforts to allow [minority] publications to receive state aid. We will either amend the existing regulations or pass new ones,” he said.

Atalay’s meeting with minority publications is part of the government’s bid to see Turkey admitted as a member of the European Union. Turkey has so far ignored the problems faced by minority publications. After the Jun. 12 parliamentary elections, Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan decided to deal with these problems by making it easier for the publications to benefit from state aid. In Turkey, publications by minority groups were previously not allowed to receive any state financial assistance.

Asked about the content of the upcoming meeting with minority publications, Atalay said the meeting will help develop a roadmap for the government to decide how to make financial aid available to the publications. “We will listen to officials of minority publications and develop a roadmap. They will tell us about their problems and needs. We will also exchange views about a financial aid plan for the publications and share our opinions about effective journalism,” he added.