Melike Aydın

 

IZMIR - Women who received their certificates from HDP and MED-DER’s Kurdish courses will continue to learn Kurdish. MED-DER Co-Chair Şilan Elmas Kan said that they will continue the struggle for the mother tongue to spread the Kurdish language despite the pressures and difficulties, and added: ‘’Demanding the right to mother tongue is not a political, it is a human right.’’

 

Those who attended the Kurdish language courses initiated by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) with the Mesopotamia Language and Culture Research Association (MED-DER) to teach and develop Kurdish on February 21, International Mother Language Day received their certificates. Participating in the course in Izmir, the party members were given their certificates with the event. MED-DER Co-chair Şilan Elmas Kan, trainees HDP Buca district Co-chair Nurşen Ataman and party member Funda Akbulut talked about Kurdish language education.

 

‘Being able to speak’ Kurdish is not enough

 

HDP Buca District Co-chair Nurşen Ataman stated that being able to speak Kurdish on a daily basis does not mean knowing Kurdish completely, pointing to the importance of taking a Kurdish course. ‘’Our language is our existence,’’ Nurşen said and continued: ‘’I went to the course for four months. I knew a little, but I could not speak fluent Kurdish. I think it will be better in the later on. I speak Kurdish with my children at home. I made inroads in the reading and writing, but I need to learn a lot more.’’

 

Suggestion to read Kurdish publications

 

Nurşen recommends reading written works in Kurdish and said: ‘’Let every Kurd speak Kurdish with their children and friends. The more Kurdish is read, the more Kurdish publications will increase. Now I have started to read Kurdish, I am showing it to my children as well.’’

 

Even being able to greet in Kurdish makes happy

 

Expressing that it is important for party members who carry out a work in the neighborhoods to learn Kurdish, HDP memer Funda Akbulut stated that everyone expresses themselves best in their mother tongue. ‘’I am Turkish, I could not understand what my friend was saying when speaking Kurdish and she did not understand me either. I signed up for a course so that I could at least learn how to greet. We had a very successful course process through Zoom. The labor of our teacher was also valuable and motivated us. I am so happy. When I go to the neighborhood and see the mothers, even when I say how are you in Kurdish, their faces shine,’’ Funda said. 

 

‘Kurdish should be the common language, we live together’

 

Stating that she will continue to take courses in order to understand and speak Kurdish, Funda continued: “We need to understand each other. The Kurds were forcibly subjected to Turkish. In order for us to be able to use the common language, we need to learn Kurdish, and Kurdish should be a common language. Because we live together.’’

 

‘Mother tongue is not a political, it is a demand for human right’

 

MED-DER Co-Chair Şilan Elmas Kan stated that all peoples exist with their mother tongue, and that demanding the right to Kurdish language is a human right, not a political one. Şilan stated that HDP has a multilingual and multi-identity policy in Turkey, where there are not only Turks but also many peoples such as Arabs, Syriacs, Kurds and Armenians. ‘’For example, our wise people, our mothers can express themselves in Kurdish. Their language is Kurdish. If we do not know our language, we cannot do our work. Because we can't go out in public. The HDP and the institutions within it also made suggestions to spread it. Our desire to learn and improve the Kurdish language has met at a common point that they want,’’ Şilan said.