The state-owned Turkish broadcaster TRT plans to launch an English language channel in 2011, TRT General Manager Ibrahim Sahin has said according to the Turkish World Bulletin news service.
Speaking to the Anatolia news agency, Sahin talked about TRT’s plans for next year. Having announced that they will have a new education channel by January, he noted that they would focus on launching a separate channel in English, which, he added, is akin to a “national duty” for them.
“This is because Turkey has grown so large and become an effective power in its region. We, however, cannot publicize that because promoting it to non-Turkish speakers can only be in English. It is a universal language now. Everyone understands at least a little of it. We can now say all countries have established a channel [in English] and started promoting it like that. I think we lag a little behind in that regard,” ?ahin said.
During the past two years, TRT also launched channels in Arabic and Kurdish.
