ŞIRNAK - Drawing attention to the pressures on the Kurdish language, MYD Director Bahadin Robar said, "Turkey's laws and administrators forbid the language of the Kurds, whom they claim they consider to be their brothers."

 

In 1999, February 21 was declared as World Mother Language Day by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). According to UNESCO's research, while there are 7,000 mother tongues in the world, one of these languages ​​disappears into non-existance every two weeks. The Kurdish language used by the Kurds, one of the oldest peoples of the Mesopotamia region and whose lands were divided between the states of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria after the First World War, is also used by almost 40 million people today. While Kurdish is used as the official language in Iraq, the Federated Kurdistan Region and the Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria, the language still faces oppression in Turkey, where the Kurdish population is most crowded than the rest.

 

Bahadin Robar, the Director of the Mesopotamia Writers' Association and a teacher of the Birca Belek Language and Culture Association, living in the Cizre district of Şırnak, drew attention to the obstacles that the Kurdish language faces.

 

LANGUAGE IS THE INHERITANCE OF THE SOCIETY

 

Stating that mother tongue is very important for all peoples, language is a great heritage for societies. Stating that a bridge has been built over language from the past to the present and from the present to the future, Robar stated that every mother tongue is an asset for the people. Reminding that millions of Kurds shared the same history with Turks for centuries on the borders of Turkey, Robar said: "Turkey talks about the brotherhood of Turks and Kurds all the time. They emphasize a common past but the governments of Turkey has a long history of banning the language. It is both against the law and ethics." 

 

SIGNBOARDS

 

Referring to the prohibitions on the Kurdish language, Robar said, "In Cizre a lot of signboards to touristic places like Birca Belek, Mem û Zîn Cemetery, Red Madrasa were changed into Turkish. They are written in Turkish, English but not Kurdish. There is no information on any signboards in Kurdish about these touristic places. Most of the population here is Kurdish, and they speak Kurdish so the signboards should include Kurdish. This is a state policy. This is a shame."

 

KURDISH INSTITUTIONS WERE CLOSED

 

Noting that the state says there is no oppression on Kurdish, but the steps taken actually reveal the truth, Robar said, "Politicians in Turkey uses Kurdish from time to time during elections to lure Kurdish people into voting for them or to propagandise their own ideology while banning the language to its users as a state policy. They don't want the people to speak their mother tongue. Before the coup attempt in 2016, there were hundreds of institutions working on Kurdish culture and language. However, all institutions working on the Kurdish language were closed under the using the coup attempt as an excuse."

 

NOT BEING ABLE TO SPEAK YOUR MOTHER TONGUE IS LIKE NOT HAVING A HOMELAND

 

Noting that the Kurds have been fighting for the liberation of their language for a century, Robar said that the state has not taken any visible steps to this day. Emphasizing that Kurds should voice their demand for their language to be official, Rorbar said, “We both provide education on reading and writing in the Kurdish language and conduct research on Kurdish culture and language within the body of Birca Belek Language and Culture Association. We are working in many fields such as proverbs, idioms and dengbejs. Studies on Kurdish culture and language show that our language has such a rich heritage like an unplowed field. Every day, more and more new information is revealed.” 

 

Emphasizing that a language is everything to society, Robar underlined that for this, Kurds should stand up against all oppression and prohibitions and raise their demands for their language to be the official language. Emphasizing that mother tongue is also the homeland of people, Robar said, “Not being able to speak your mother tongue is like not having a homeland. Language is existance. This should be our main approach to our mother tongue."

 

 

MA / Omer Akin