content tagged with february 21

As bianet, on International Mother Language Day, we want to explore the state of mother language as we enter the 100th year of the Republic. In this series of articles, we tracked the traces of the policies pursued with regard to language such as Zaza, Georgian, Armenian and Kurdish.

Young Kurdish people remember their first years at school as a nightmare. Tan says, “As we could not spell the words, the teacher held us at school till 9 pm. He was saying, ‘You are gonna learn this language’.”

Dr. Nadire Güntaş-Aldatmaz says, “Children; you are more beautiful when you speak the language of your mother, father, maternal and paternal grandmother.”

“Homshetsi is a special language, Homshetsi is a beautiful language. I would like to sing you a song,” says Lusin Sultan, speaking to bianet on the occasion of February 21 International Mother Language Day.

On International Mother Language Day, the Network for Monitoring, Documenting and Reporting on Language Rights (DHİBRA) released a statement in the mother languages of Turkey and requested the removal of obstacles to mother languages.

Linguists, associations and writers working in and on Kurdish as well as HDP Co-Chair Sancar and DBP Co-Chairs Bayındır and Aydeniz have met in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakır in the wake of International Mother Language Day.

The Şişli Branch of the Health and Social Service Laborers Union (SES) has raised its request for healthcare services in mother language by releasing a statement in six mother languages and English to mark the International Mother Language Day.

On the occasion of February 21 International Mother Language Day, the Network for Monitoring, Documenting and Reporting on Language Rights (DHİBRA) has declared its requests in 19 mother languages of Turkey.