During Turkish parliamentary discussions on the effectiveness of the activities by the country’s television and radio companies, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) MP Faruk Bal demanded that state-run TRT (Turkish Radio and Television Corporation) prepare programs against the events devoted to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. 

Bal claimed that TRT, which is funded by the state budget, should work in favor of the public, Istanbul’s Agos Armenian bilingual weekly reports.  

In his turn, pro-Kurdish “Peace and Democracy Party” (BDP) MP Sirri Sureyya Onder stressed that even though TRT is funded by way of the taxpayers, it does not represent all segments—that is, national and religious minorities—of the society in Turkey. He noted that TRT becomes a tool of the authorities every time, and insisted that TRT 1 should be taken off the air.