Turkey's media regulator has withdrawn a radio station's licence after a guest talked about the "Armenian genocide" on air, officials said Wednesday.
Radio and television watchdog RTUK suspended Istanbul-based Acik Radyo from broadcasting for five days in May for the programme, which it said incited hatred.
The sanction came after a guest on a show in April called the 1915 killings of Armenians in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire "genocide" -- a term many historians agree on but which Turkey disputes.
RTUK board member Ilhan Tasci, from the opposition CHP party, criticised the decision. He said the licence was withdrawn because the station did not suspend broadcasts, though it did pay its fine.
Acik Radyo -- which has been broadcasting for three decades -- confirmed the withdrawal to AFP. It was still broadcasting Wednesday.
The Turkish Journalists' Union said RTUK's decision was a blow to freedom of speech.
"RTUK should be an autonomous institution and should immediately overturn this decision," it said on X.
Armenia says Ottoman forces massacred and deported more than 1.5 million Armenians during World War I between 1915 and 1917.
Around 30 countries have recognised the killings as genocide, a charge vehemently rejected by Turkey. Ankara admits nonetheless that up to 500,000 Armenians were killed in fighting, massacres or by starvation during mass deportations from eastern Anatolia.
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