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December 30, 2010 : Kurdish will not become an official language in Turkey, reports Canadian daily « Metro ».
The Canadian version of free newspaper “Metro” is one of the few newspapers that have published this information from the Associated Press. Interviewed during his visit to a predominantly Kurdish area in southeastern Turkey, President Abdullah Gul dismissed the idea of using the Kurdish language in the administration. His words amount to a flat refusal of pleas increasingly voiced in recent months by Kurdish militants and politicians for the official use of their language and greater regional autonomy.
Osman Baydemir, mayor of the largest Kurdish-majority city in the country (Diyarbakir) and fervent advocate of more rights for the Kurdish, has demonstrated his sense of humour by giving a Turkish-Kurdish dictionary to the Head of State during his visit. Incidentally, he reminded him that Kurdish and other minority languages are an integral part of the cultural richness of Turkey, and are also safeguarded by the Constitution.
The Kurdish community in Turkey represents between 13 and 20 million people depending on sources, therefore more or less 20% of the population. For the rest, there are also Kurds in Iran (9 to 10 million), Iraq (4 to 5 million) and Syria (about 2 million), besides a few pockets in Armenia and Georgia. Statutorily, Kurds are treated best in Iraq – since the departure of Saddam Hussein who, it is remembered, had gassed an entire village in 1988 – where they now enjoy considerable autonomy with a clean government. In Iran, Kurdistan also exists as a province. It is in Turkey then that the situation is the most difficult: the Kurdish minority is in fact subject to ongoing discrimination since the founding of the Turkish Republic by the kemalists in 1923 and tensions are regularly echoed in the headlines. The existence of a Kurdish people and culture is not recognized by the Constitution and Turkish law still prohibits teaching the language. Last December 30 we also learned that a Kurdish journalist was sentenced to 138 years in prison for pro-rebel propaganda.
In linguistic terms, there are about 30 million speakers of Kurdish in the world, half of which in Turkey. It is an Indo-European language, like French or English, therefore not related to Turkish (Altaic language family), or Arabic (Semitic language family). Only in Iraq does it enjoy the status of official language.
The “Metro” article reminds us that the Turkish government seemed to show some signs of openness, by promoting radio and television broadcasting in Kurdish and allowing Kurdish politicians to campaign in their language. But these thoughtful gestures should not deceive: typically they fit in a seduction strategy vis-à-vis the European Union, which Turkey hopes to join.