Campaign to make Kurdish an official language in Turkey

* Photo: KTV

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

On the occasion of February 21 International Mother Language Day, the Kurdish Language and Culture Network and Kurdish Language Platform have launched a petition campaign to make Kurdish an official language* as well as a language of education in Turkey.

The campaign has been announced to the public with a press conference held in Diyarbakır province with the participation of several linguists, associations and writers working in an on Kurdish as well as People's Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Mithat Sancar and Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Co-Chairs Keskin Bayındır and Saliha Aydeniz.

'Remove the obstacles in the way of Kurdish'

The statement for the press regarding the campaign was read out by Şerefhan Cizîrî, the Spokesperson for Kurdish Language Platform, on behalf of the February 21 Platform launching the petition.

Taking the floor after him, HDP Co-Chair Sancar raised concerns that Turkey has been "turned into a graveyard of languages."

Underlining the necessity to recognize the mother language by the laws, HDP's Sancar briefly stated the following about the issue:

"Humans learn how to speak with their mother languages. Mother language must be recognized with laws.

"Today, there is pressure on several languages, primarily on Kurdish. The policies of the government have turned this country into a graveyard of languages. Kurdish must be recognized as an official language and all obstacles standing in the way of Kurdish must be removed.

"Kurdish children must be educated in their mother language at schools and universities. Mother language is not merely a language, it is also its identity and existence. Mother language has a considerable influence on humans' ideas and thoughts. It is the skin of humans. For this reason, humans' lives and thoughts are shaped through their mother language.

"February 21 is the International Mother Language Day. Today is a historic day to struggle for mother language."

The meeting continued with the statements of other guests.

(RT/SD)

* According to the first sentence of Article 3 of Turkey's Constitution, "The State of Turkey, with its territory and nation, is an indivisible entity and its language is Turkish." The Article 4 also stipulates that "the provision of Article 1 regarding the form of the State being a Republic, the characteristics of the Republic in Article 2, and the provisions of Article 3 shall not be amended, nor shall their amendment be proposed."