Turkish Cypriot radio silenced ‘if debts not paid’

Turkish Cypriot private radio stations could be taken off the air at the end of the year due to reported unpaid debts accrued over a period of 12 years.

The debt has been accrued following a contract signed between private radio stations and the public broadcaster BRT in 2011, stipulating that the private stations must pay for electricity costs accrued at the Selvili Tepe transmitter in Kyparissovouno.

With the contract now in place for 12 years, BRT has now demanded debts be settled by the end of the year, with back payment of previous unsettled debts and accrued interest included.

Now, just over two weeks remain until the end of the year, and with BRT seemingly drawing a line in the sand regarding the contract, private radio operators are worried.

Sim FM director Ipek Akin told Yeni Duzen on Thursday that as no contract had been signed on the matter since 2011, BRT has “no legal basis” to claim payment of debts accrued since then.

“There is no contract, no invoice, and now we have an unresolved problem,” she said.

She added that private radio stations had come together and sent a written request to BRT to find a solution to the dispute but received no response.

“In other words, the radios will fall silent on December 31, which will be a great loss for democracy,” she said.

Dance FM director Tolga Celebi concurred with Akin, saying the contract signed in 2011 was a product of its time, and that conditions have since changed.

“BRT thought this contract was valid, and, despite our objections, has been constantly increasing the figure it demands by raising it according to the rate of inflation.”

He added that BRT had been demanding money even when there were technical faults at Selvili Tepe, and that therefore radio stations are effectively being charged for energy they did not consume.

“Our objection is generally to this. We are aware that energy is being consumed and we do not avoid this fact, but we are being faced with a contract which includes exorbitant figures and charges us for services we did not receive,” he said.

He added, “there is no invoice, the contract is not valid anyway, and on top of that, they are attempting to apply interest. All these things need to be regulated on a legal basis.”

The matter was also discussed in the north’s ‘parliament’ during discussions regarding the ‘state’ budget, with CTP ‘MPs’ Asim Akansoy and Sami Ozuslu both making reference to it.

Akansoy revealed that private radio stations had been informed of BRT’s debt demands and their potential closure “with a message on WhatsApp” and said BRT had not asked for money “for many years”.

“The matter does not stay here, it ends in court. What is being done is nothing more than the government trying to run roughshod over private broadcasting and bully them financially.”

Ozuslu told the ‘government’, “you can either prevent this or you will go down in history as the government which silenced the radios.”

In response, ‘finance minister’ Ozdemir Berova said that in the event that radio stations cannot pay the debt BRT demands, the ‘government’ can “work on it”.

The Cyprus Mail contacted BRT for comment.