Turkey’s Kurds revive fight for language rights

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — Kurdish language rights have been a steadfast demand of the Kurdish political movement in Turkey, where many Kurds, especially young people in urban areas, remain alienated from their heritage language. Ankara, which banned Kurds from even speaking their native language until the early 1990s, relaxed the restrictions in the ensuing years, but key demands such as education in Kurdish and the recognition of Kurdish as an official language remain unanswered. Kurdish parties and civic groups have revived efforts on the issue in recent months while encouraging Kurds to learn their heritage language, a cause that has united Kurds of various stripes, from conservatives to secular leftists.

In mid-October, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the standard-bearer of the Kurdish movement in Turkey, held ceremonies at its head office in Ankara and elsewhere for an unusual purpose – to award certificates to party members who had graduated from Kurdish language courses launched as part of the recent campaign.

The campaign was announced in February in Diyarbakir, the central city of Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast, at a meeting attended by diverse Kurdish groups and activists. The participants issued an appeal to Ankara to recognize Kurdish as a language of education and an official language.

The campaign prompted new initiatives by the HDP, which has come under fire by some Kurds for not doing enough to promote the Kurdish language and culture. The party set up a special commission to work on language rights, and the first thing the commission did was to organize Kurdish courses for some 400 HDP members, including figures in leadership positions.