Ankara  - Turkish state televison (TRT) launched a new Kurdish-language station Thursday evening, in a move that the government hopes will see Kurdish-speakers reject Roj TV, a satellite television station run by the separatist Kurdish Workers Party (PKK).

The TRT 6 station was launched with a live concert in Ankara by Kurdish performers. A pre-recorded message by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was also broadcast with the prime minister saying that the Turkish state was inclusive and belonged to all citizens.

"I wish TRT 6 the best," Erdogan said in the Kurdish dialect of Kermanji, the most prominent dialect spoken by Turkey's Kurds. Turkish media reported that it was the first time that a Turkish prime minister had spoken a sentence in Kurdish on television.

"TRT 6 is an important step for democracy in Turkey ... it will help support peace in the country," Erdogan said in Turkish.

Whilst Turkish nationalists have complained that opening the Kurdish-language station is a small step that could eventually lead to the break-up of the country, the government says it is part of the reform process and is a sign that Kurds are a valued part of the country.

Some Kurdish politicians have welcomed the move but others have said opening the channel is merely a bid by Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) to increase support ahead of local elections in March.

"TRT's Kurdish channel isn't a state project, it is an AKP project. With this the AKP are investing ahead of the elections," pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party parliamentarian Selahattin Demirtas told the ANKA news agency.

Kurdish-language broadcasts on private television stations are limited to just four hours per week and are tightly regulated, with all programmes having to be pre-vetted and broadcast with Turkish subtitles, making it impossible for live programmes to be broadcast.

The result is that the PKK's Roj TV satellite television station is by far the most popular station for those who do not speak Turkish.

Roj TV portrays in a sympathetic light the PKK rebellion that has seen more than 35,000 people killed since the PKK began its fight for independence or autonomy for the mainly Kurdish-populated south-east.

The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States. (dpa)