. `` We apologize to our viewers for this and continue our broadcast with the next news item scheduled . '' The situation is somewhat ironic because Turkey began a new Kurdish language state television channel , TRT6 , on January 1 . Turk pointed out that paradox in his speech to parliament . `` Despite the Kurdish broadcast on TRT 6 , there is no legal protection -LRB- for the language -RRB- , '' he said . '' -LRB- Politicians -RRB- get punished for speaking Kurdish while Prime Minister -LRB- Recep Tayyip -RRB- Erdogan speaks Kurdish during rallies . Therefore , Kurdish is forbidden to Kurds yet free for -LRB- the ruling party -RRB- and the state . '' The issue comes ahead of hotly contested elections scheduled to be held on March 29 . Political analysts have said Turkey 's ruling Justice and Development Party , known by its Turkish acronym AKP , is trying to gain votes in the Kurdish southeast , which has traditionally been held by the Democratic Society Party , or DTP . Erdogan 's launching of the Kurdish language channel is considered a historic development not only because speaking the language in parliament
ISTANBUL , Turkey -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The head of a Kurdish nationalist party in Turkey addressed his party members Tuesday in the Kurdish language -- which is illegal -- prompting the national broadcaster to pull the plug on the live broadcast . Ahmet Turk began his speech in Turkish before switching to Kurdish . In his address , Democratic Society Party leader Ahmet Turk began his speech in Turkish , addressing the value of a `` multilingual culture '' and decrying the fact that the Kurdish language is not protected under Turkey 's constitution . `` We have no objection to Turkish being the official language , yet we want our demands for the lifting of the ban on Kurdish language to be understood as a humanitarian demand , '' he said . Turk then announced he would deliver the rest of his speech in Kurdish and , at that point , state broadcaster TRT cut the broadcast . `` Since no language other than Turkish can be used in the parliament meetings according to the constitution of the Turkish Republic and the Political Parties Law , we had to stop our broadcast , '' the TRT announcer stated