Tuesday, June 09, 2015

VOA Reports on the Rise and Fall in Turkey



WASHINGTON D.C., June 08, 2015 --The Voice of America provided extensive coverage of the parliamentary elections in Turkey over the weekend as the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) won enough votes to give Kurds a voice in Parliament for the first time and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice and Democracy Party (AKP) lost a majority in Parliament.

VOA coverage was enhanced by live news feeds from Mutlu Civiroglu (VOA Kurdish) and Alparslan Esmer (VOA Turkish) and by reports filed by VOA's network of freelance reporters on the ground in Turkey. In addition, VOA's 43 other language services carried reports on the elections.

As the election approached last week, VOA Turkish broadcaster Esmer interviewed HDP official Hafize Ipek in the Turkish city of Diyarbakir. Ipek told VOA, "'the ruling party's goal is to prevent HDP from getting over the 10 percent threshold and keep the Kurds unrepresented in Turkish politics. Our goal is to assure polling station and vote security to avoid fraud." The HDP needed to win at least 10 percent of the national vote to enter Parliament. By winning more than 13 percent on Sunday, the HDP denied President Erdogan's ruling AKP party a majority.

VOA Turkish posted a Special Election Page on its website featuring interviews with political leaders and candidates, and its coverage has been available in Turkey on Mynet.com, one of the country's leading news and entertainment Internet portals.

VOA also reported on voting by approximately 90,000 Turkish voters in the United States, 22 percent of whom cast ballots at the Turkish Embassy and at consulates in nine U.S. cities.

VOA Kurdish broadcaster Mutlu Civiroglu reported from Istanbul and then traveled to southeastern Turkey, a predominantly Kurdish-populated region, to file reports and video for VOA Kurdish and English programming. He filed video and photos from the scene of the bomb blast at an HDP political rally in Diyarbakir, Turkey two days before the election.

VOA Kurdish stringer Salih Turan in Istanbul sent photos, videos, and interviewed voters. He also filed reports for radio and provided content for VOA's Kurdish websites.

On Sunday, after the votes were counted and HDP's electoral breakthrough was known, Khajijan Farqeen, a reporter for VOA's Kurdish Service, filed on the joyous celebrations in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir.
 (VOA)

Voice of Turkey - Summer shortwave schedule
Effective to: 24 October 2015

All times UTC

Arabic
0900-1000 11750va
1400-1500 9540va 17770va

Azerbaijan
0700-0800   11730as
1530-1600 9530as
1600-1630 9530as

Bulgarian
1100-1130 7210eu

Chinese
1100-1200 15240as

Dari/Pashto
1500-1600 11765as
1600-1630 11765as

English
0300-0400 6165as  9515va
1230-1300 15450va
1300-1330 15450va
1630-1700 15520as
1700-1730 15520as
1830-1900 9785eu
1900-1930 9785eu
2030-2100 7205va
2100-2130 7205va
2200-2300 9830va

rench
1730-1800 7360af
1800-1830 7360af
1930-2000 7360af 9635eu
2000-2030 7360af 9635eu

Georgian
1000-1100 9655as

German
1130-1200 13760eu
1200-1230 13760eu
1730-1800 11835eu
1800-1830 11835eu

Italian
1400-1430 9610eu

Kazakh
1330-1400 11880as

Persian
0830-0900 11795as
0900-1000 11795as
1500-1600 9765as

Russian
1300-1400 11965va

Spanish
0100-0200 9770va  9870va
1630-1700 11930va
1700-1730 11930va

Tatar
1000-1030 9855as

Turkish
0000-0100 7260as
0100-0200 7260as
0400-0500 6040as  11980va
0500-0600 6040as  11980va
0600-0700 11750as  11955va  13635va
0700-0800 11750as  11955va  13625va
0800-0900 11750as  11995va  13625va
0900-1000 11955as  13635va
1000-1100 11955as  13635va 
1100-1200 1195as 13635va
1200-1300 13635va
1300-1400 9840va
1400-1500 9840va
1500-1600 9840va
1600-1700 5960va 9460eu
1700-1800 5960va 9460eu
1800-1900 5960va 9460eu
1900-2000 5960va 9460eu
2000-2100 5960va 9460eu

Turkmen
1200-1230 11825as

Urdu
1200-1300 13710as

Uyghur
0200-0300 9465as
1230-1300 11700as
1300-1330 11700as

Uzbek
1030-1100 13650as
Legend:
af (Africa)
as (Asia)
eu (Europe)
va (various target areas)
(Intl SW Broadcast Guide/Summer 2015)
Available at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00X8BIF0K