ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) on Sunday launched a four-day initiative to promote learning the Kurdish language, with the activity including its MPs speaking in Kurdish in the Turkish parliament.
While the Kurdish language is no longer banned in Turkey, the parliament does not provide translation if lawmakers choose to speak it.
Sinan Ciftyurek, DEM Party MP for Van province, published a video on social media where he appears to stand next to the Kurdistan flag.
“Colonizers, the occupying country of Turkey, started with the Kurdish language,” Ciftyurek said. “For them to succeed in the eradication of the Kurdish people, they have to start with the eradication of Kurdish language.”
He also condemned Turkey for attempting to assimilate its Kurdish population for the past 100 years - an attempt he called unsuccessful.
“We cannot live without our language,” he stressed.
Several DEM Party MPs have also decided to wear to wear traditional Kurdish clothing in the parliament.
In December, DEM Party MP Beritan Gunes of Mardin province spoke in Kurdish and provided Turkish subtitles printed on papers she had brought to the parliament podium.
“Our language is our identity, our language is our history, our language is our culture, our language is our honor, we will always protect our honor,” she said at the time.
On Sunday, the party said that the campaign includes public marches, concerts, and lectures on the Kurdish language to commemorate the International Mother Language Day, held annually on February 21.
The party’s promotional video in Kurmanci and Zazaki – two dialects of the Kurdish language – said they plan to “turn every corner into a university for the Kurdish language.”
“We call for recognizing Kurdish as an official language, and also for it to become the language of education,” the video said.
The party’s members also plan to write in Kurdish on social media, and to play Kurdish songs on the streets.
Children in Turkey study in Turkish across the country while the Kurdish language is limited to an elective subject.
The hashtag for the campaign on social media is #ZimanJiyane – Kurdish for “language is life.”
Several people who joined the campaign speak in Kurdish and many have used a Kurdish song about the language in the background. The song, called “Zimane Kurdi” or Kurdish language, is by Aram Tigran.
“Everywhere and every time we speak Kurdish, read in Kurdish, write in Kurdish, and live in Kurdish,” the party’s promotional video said.
“Now is the time of the Kurdish language. Stand up for the Kurdish language,” it added.
Over the weekend, a Kurdish play was banned in Istanbul. The organizers said they were not given a reason for the ban, instead blaming authorities for not allowing the play in Kurdish.
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