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Turkiye blocks Deutsche Welle over licensing issues

July 1, 2022 at 2:58 pm

German broadcaster ‘Deutsche Welle’, 3 February 2022 [YURI KADOBNOV/AFP/Getty Images]

Turkiye has blocked access to Deutsche Welle’s websites after demanding it apply for a license, DW reports.

According to the report, the Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK) has blocked the websites of German public broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, over licensing issues.

The German public broadcaster says it plans to take legal action against the move, report says.

DW Director General, Peter Limbourg, said: “This is simply unacceptable for an independent broadcaster.”

“We had outlined in an extensive correspondence and even in a personal conversation with the Chairman of the Media Control Authority why DW could not apply for such a license. For example, media licensed in Turkiye are required to delete online content that RTUK interprets as inappropriate,” he added.

Radio and Television Supreme Council, also known in short as RTUK, is the Turkish state agency for monitoring, regulating and sanctioning radio and television broadcasts, and was founded in 1994.

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