The Voice of America Wednesday marked its 15th anniversary of Kurdish broadcasts on radio and the Internet.
VOA Director Dan Austin said that the VOA Kurdish service has distinguished itself by providing native speakers in Iraq and other countries with a daily source of accurate, reliable news and cultural programming.
In a recent survey, nearly a third of Kurds interviewed said they had listened to VOA Kurdish in the prior week.
VOA's Kurdish language programming includes interviews with experts and newsmakers, stringer reports, panel discussions and call-in shows. The service also provides a popular children's program, "Shining Star," listener mail and Kurdish and American music.
VOA Kurdish has listeners in the Middle East, Eurasia, Europe and North America. It can be reached online at www.voanews.com/kurdish.
VOA first broadcast on short-wave radio to Europe in 1942. It has since grown into a multimedia international broadcasting service, providing more than 1,000 hours of programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 115 million people.