Thursday, April 19, 2012

Voice of Turkey plans to add Mongolian service soon

The Voice of Turkey (Türkiye’nin Sesi Radyosu in Turkish), Turkey’s state-owned radio broadcasting service in foreign languages, will soon add Mongolian to its portfolio.
 
The Voice of Turkey is the world’s fourth biggest radio station in terms of the number of foreign languages in which it broadcasts. It airs content in Turkish as well as in 34 other languages with plans to start a Mongolian service soon.

With such a large coverage, Turkey’s official radio station is placed on the list above the BBC, which broadcasts in 33 languages, and comes after the US, China and Russia. Now in its 75th year, the Voice of Turkey is considering expanding its coverage to Mongolia.

“We have received requests from Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, Gagauz Turks and Bashkortostan [a republic in Russia] to start broadcasting in their languages,” Süleyman Köksoy, director of the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) Foreign Service, told Sunday’s Zaman in an exclusive interview.

If the plan gets the go-ahead from the governing board, Mongolian will be the 36th language broadcast by the Voice of Turkey. The Voice of Turkey utilizes new technology such as web-broadcasting and a satellite feed as well as the traditional shortwave transmission.

The latest additions among the languages broadcast are Armenian (over the web since 2009) and Afghan languages such as Dari Persian, Pashto and Afghan Uzbek.

“The broadcast in Armenian has met with considerable interest in Armenia; we generally get positive messages,” Köksoy said. Stories of the lives of Armenian artists who lived in Anatolia and Ottoman bureaucrats of Armenian origin are being broadcast during the one-hour transmission.

This relatively new addition has led the Armenians living in İstanbul today to request radio broadcasts in Armenian from TRT inside Turkey. Noting that broadcasting in Armenian is a step towards friendship, Köksoy commented, “It is proof we don’t have any negative feelings towards Armenians.”

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(Source :  Today's Zaman, Turkey via kimandrewelliott.com)

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