WAN – Young people demanding the removal of all obstacles before the Kurdish language emphasised their demand for education in the mother language. 

 

The actions and activities initiated for Kurdish to be the official and educational language continue. Associations and institutions working for the development of the Kurdish language will organise various actions and events until the beginning of June on the occasion of the Kurdish Language Day on 15 May. Young people in Wan (Van) evaluated the demands for the Kurdish language.

 

Birhat Soydan, young shopkeepers, emphasised that Kurdish should be the official language, said: "This language should be official in hospitals, schools and other institutions. I think Kurdish should be popularised. I am also Kurdish and being assimilated makes me sad. If this country was a democratic country, we could receive education in our own language."

 

Zilan Bayik, one of the young people selling local clothes in the city centre, pointed out that the Kurdish language is facing the risk of extinction due to the lack of a legal status. She said: “The fact that Kurdish is not the language of education causes great losses. We are losing our essence and this affects us very badly. For example, there are no Kurdish menus even in restaurants. Those working in hospitals need to learn Kurdish. The obstacles in front of the Kurdish language must be removed.”

 

Samet Orhan said, “We are gradually losing the Kurdish language and this is very painful. Everyone speaks Turkish to each other. Just as we see Turkish everywhere, we should see Kurdish everywhere. This is only possible with the removal of officialisation and obstacles."

 

Saying that the obstacles in front of Kurdish should be removed, Berfin Karaman added: "We have to speak Turkish in hospitals and schools. Even if we try to speak Kurdish, we do not get an answer. Kurdish education, Kurdish signboards... In short, we want to see Kurdish everywhere. The fact that Kurdish is not an official language makes us lose our culture. I want to live like a Kurd."

 

Lastly Ismail Yilmaz said: “We want to speak in our own language and learn our language. When we started school, they taught us Turkish but made us forget Kurdish. Even now, children do not speak Kurdish and they started to move away from Kurdish. I try to speak Kurdish with my customers as much as I can. We are on the verge of losing Kurdish. But if this process succeeds, we can make great gains.”