ANKARA (AP) – Turkey’s state-run radio and television institution says it has launched Armenian-language radio broadcasts in an apparent goodwill gesture ahead of President Barack Obama’s visit to Turkey.
The TRT says the first 30-minute radio program featuring news, music and culture was broadcast Thursday morning and another will be aired later in the day. The state radio also started Kurdish-language radio programs Wednesday, following the launch of a Kurdish language television in January.
Turkey is asking Obama to block a resolution by U.S. lawmakers that would call the killings of Armenia’s by Ottoman Turks almost a century ago genocide. Ankara says this could harm efforts to improve ties with neighboring Armenia.
Obama is to arrive in Turkey on Sunday.