Kurdish language declining among youth in northeast Turkey

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish language is in decline among the younger generations of Kurds in northeast Turkey, where education is primarily conducted in Turkish.

“I understand Kurdish but cannot speak it,” said Zeynep Ada, a student from Mus.
While older generations and rural areas of northeast Turkey continue to use Kurdish in daily life, the situation is different in urban centers like Mus, where fewer young people are fluent in their ancestral language.

The decline of Kurdish among youth is largely due to the absence of a Kurdish educational system, as well as the growing dispersion of Kurdish in cities where Turkish dominates.

Many students expressed to Rudaw a desire to learn their mother tongue.

“I understand Kurdish but cannot speak it. I want to learn it. The first thing I was to do is take Kurdish lessons, and after that, I want to learn to play musical instruments like the piano,” said Adem Altin, another student.

Kurdish is no longer banned in Turkey, however Turkish remains the country’s sole official language. Following the local elections, held in March last year, the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), which won the majority of municipalities in Kurdish regions, began promoting Kurdish and non-Turkish languages.

The Kurdish language was banned throughout much of the 20th century, following the establishment of modern Turkey. Public use of Kurdish, including speaking, publishing or singing, was prohibited.

Turkey’s current constitution, ratified after the 1980 military coup, designates Turkish as the country’s official language. While not entirely prohibiting the use of Kurdish, successive Turkish governments have imposed restrictions on speaking it.