The state regulator for TV and radio broadcasts in Turkey announced that an investigation has been initiated over a recent broadcast by Turkish Fox TV, regarding remarks made by Başak Demirtaş, the wife of the imprisoned former pro-Kurdish party leader Selahattin Demirtaş.
The official announcement on Twitter was retweeted by Ebubekir Şahin, the chair of the regulatory body, Radio and Television Supreme Council.
The announcement said, “An investigation in accordance with the Act numbered 6112 has been initiated due to the remarks by Başak Demirtaş, a guest at a show broadcast on Fox today.”
While it wasn’t made clear which remarks in particular sparked the investigation, the deputy co-chair of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) had earlier expressed fury over a remark by Başak Demirtaş that neither Selahattin Demirtaş nor anyone from the family had ever felt any remorse for his being in prison.
She had also expressed some criticism of the way in which people from the opposition, and especially the Kurds, were treated in Turkey. “This is the way it is in Turkey. If you’re Kurdish and you’re in opposition, it has a certain cost. Our whole history is like this. Unfortunately, this is the way it is. I wish it wasn’t,” she simply said.
She had also added that she and her two daughters weren’t able to meet with Selahattin Demirtas in open visits for 19 months, and that the officials justified the restrictions on the grounds that these were preventive measures for the pandemic.