Newly appointed NATO chief, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, says Denmark-based Roj TV station could be closed down if its connections with PKK are proved.

"If Danish investigators find any relations between Roj TV and the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) then the network will be closed down," Rasmussen said at an Istanbul summit of the Alliance of Civilizations on Monday, Hurriyet daily reported.

Rasmussen said Danish police and prosecutors are investigating two issues. Firstly whether there are any economic ties between Roj TV and the PKK, and secondly whether the network broadcasts in anyway incite terrorism.

The incoming Danish head of NATO stressed that Denmark is strongly committed to the fight against terrorism and terror related activities, reminding that his country was one of the first to recognize the PKK as a terrorist group.

The Roj TV station has its newsroom and production facilities in Belgium, but transmits its satellite signal to Kurdish viewers via Denmark because it does not have a Belgian broadcasting license. Danish-Turkish relations have long been strained over Kurdish groups based in Denmark.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Fogh Rasmussen said he will pay close attention to religious sensibilities when he becomes NATO secretary-general in August.

"I respect Islam as one of the world's major religions as well as its religious symbols," Rasmussen said.

He added, "I would never myself depict any religious figure, including the Prophet Muhammad, in a way that could hurt other people's feelings," the former Danish prime minister pointed out.

Rasmussen's remarks came as Turkey had earlier opposed his bid for the top NATO post, citing his stance during the 2006 crisis over a Danish newspaper's publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.

In 2005, twelve cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad were published in Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. The drawings triggered massive protests across Muslim world in early 2006.

Throughout the crisis, Fogh Rasmussen distanced himself from the cartoons but resisted calls to apologize for them on the grounds of free speech.

MP/MMA