Turkey stops Kurdish TV broadcasts

Turkish authorities have stopped broadcasts of 10 mostly Kurdish language television channels under state of emergency rules imposed in the wake of the July 15 coup bid, a local official said Thursday.

The channels including Zarok TV -- the first Kurdish children's channel -- stopped broadcasting on Wednesday night and they have been removed from the TURKSAT satellite, the official in the Kurdish-majority southeastern city of Diyarbakir told AFP.

Four of the channels were entirely in the Kurdish language, three more were partly in Kurdish and the three others were in Turkish but considered pro-Kurd, said the official, who asked not to be identified.

He said the authorities also shut down two radio stations broadcasting in Kurdish and Turkish.

The Turkish government imposed a three-month state of emergency after the botched coup seeking to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and blamed on supporters of a group led by US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen.

Turkey's top national security body, chaired by Erdogan, said late Wednesday the state of emergency should be extended when it expires in October.

The measure laid the ground for the government's vast crackdown aimed at removing Gulen's influence, a move which has raised alarm among Ankara's Western allies.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said Wednesday that so far 32,000 suspects had been remanded in custody for alleged links to Gulen.