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Turkey bans coverage of Tatar nationalists

May 14, 2009

ANKARA – Turkish state media have stopped printing and broadcasting interviews with Tatar nationalists after an official protest by the Russian Embassy in Ankara, RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service reports.

Last week, Turkey's pan-Turkic Turk Ocaklari Foundation held a panel discussion in the Turkish capital, Ankara, where the subjects of human rights and democracy in Russia's Tatarstan and Bashkortostan republics was discussed.

The panel was attended by activists of the so-called Tatar government in exile, which was established by the unofficial pan-Tatar parliament the Milli Medjlis. It demands independence for Tatarstan, something Moscow fiercely opposes.

Turkish state media stopped covering last week's panel discussions after Russia's official protest, RFE/RL's correspondent reports from Istanbul.

Earlier this year, some Tatar activists were charged with igniting interethnic hatred and their apartments were searched by police.

Link to original story on RFE/RL website

Topics: Freedom of expression, Tatars,