Danish court bans Kurdish broadcasts for inciting terrorism,

[Aslan]

COPENHAGEN - A Danish appeals court has imposed harsher restrictions on a Kurdish satellite TV station and its parent company, finding them guilty of inciting terrorism and ordering a halt to their broadcasts. It also doubled their fines to 5 million kroner ($874,000) each.

Last year, a lower court had fined Roj TV and Mesopotamia Broadcast A/S METV 2.6 million kroner each but did not revoke their broadcast licenses, sparking celebrations among Kurds in Denmark and sharp protests from Turkey.

In its decision Wednesday, the Eastern High Court backed Turkish claims that Roj TV is a mouthpiece for the Kurdistan Workers' Party, a rebel group also known as PKK and considered a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States. PKK has been fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey since 1984.

Judge Hans Christian Thomsen said that Roj TV, which started broadcasting from Denmark in March 2004, and METV had violated a Danish anti-terror law by supporting the Kurdish rebels, adding that they were so entangled at many levels with various PKK organizations they could be considered to be directly linked.

"PKK has constantly used violent means to achieve its goals," Thomsen told the court. "PKK's armed fight is, without a doubt, terrorism in the sense of the law." He described Roj TV's news shows as "partisan, one-sided and uncritical."

Turkey's ambassador to Denmark, Berki Dibek, welcomed the verdict.

Roj TV manager Imdat Yilmaz said the board of Mesopotamia Broadcast A/S will decide later whether to appeal Wednesday's verdict.