Adventist World Radio (AWR) will start off the New Year airing programs in the Turkish language, which is the result of the combined effort of producers in Turkey and France, said Bert Smit, AWR Europe region director. "Initially, the programs will be available via AWR's direct-to-home Hotbird satellite service in Europe and via a live stream on the Internet," he added. AWR plans to start introducing the programs to local FM stations in Turkey as a public service later in the year.

Broadcasting in a new language is in keeping with AWR's mission, which is to share the gospel with groups that do not have access to the gospel by any other means. This requires the cooperation of AWR and native speakers who can tailor each program to local audiences. AWR helps new studios with equipment, engineering assistance and training for radio production, while overseas church organizations provide space for a studio and find native speakers of the language. Once the programs are produced and supplied to AWR, they are distributed via satellite, shortwave transmitters, AM/FM stations and the Internet.

AWR currently broadcasts in 62 languages, including Arabic, Bulgarian, French, Farsi, Tagalog, Kazakh, Uzbek, Russian, German, Italian and Romanian. Created in 1971, Adventist World Radio is the international radio service of the Seventh-day Adventist church, and is financed by contributions from Seventh-day Adventist church members and other supporters around the world, as well as the world church budget.