MINELRES: Turkey: first private Kurdish language school 'officially' opened

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Tankut Soykan <soykan@ecmi.de>


THE FIRST PRIVATE KURDISH LANGUAGE SCHOOL IS 'OFFICIALLY' OPENED IN
TURKEY

The legal reforms regarding the expansion of cultural and linguistic
freedoms in the framework of the Copenhagen criteria finally commenced
to give their fruits. The first Kurdish language school of Turkey in
Urfa was opened on December 8, 2003. The school will give the Kurdish
course to 80 students.

Last year, the Turkish National Assembly had passed various laws moving
the legal obstacles preventing the Kurds from using their own language
in education and broadcasting media. However, the implementation of
these reforms remained quite problematic, because of the resistance of
some bureaucratic circles in the country. Many applications for the
foundation of these schools were rejected based on ridiculous reasons,
such as some standards regarding the size of classroom doors. Upon this,
the Turkish government seeking to obtain a date in 2004 for the start of
accession negotiations with the European Union established a Steering
Committee to monitor the implementation of the reforms. This committee
issued several degrees in order to guarantee the right of Turkish
citizens to learn the non-official languages that they use in their
daily lives. For the same purpose, the government made some amendments
on the "Bylaw regarding the Learning of the Languages and Dialects that
the Turkish Citizens use in their Daily Lives." These amendments have
made the instruction of the Kurdish language in private language schools
easier, allowing the general private language schools to provide the
Kurdish courses at their institutions. 

Although many Kurdish NGOs welcome the foundation of the first private
Kurdish language school of Turkey, they point out the fact that the
Turkish law permits the instruction of Kurdish in very limited
circumstances. They state that in public schools the use of the Kurdish
language even as a subject is not allowed. Therefore, in practice most
of the Kurds who cannot afford attending a private language school will
not enjoy this right in practice. They add that since there is no
Kurdish language department at any Turkish universities, it is very
difficult to find adequate Kurdish language teachers. Therefore, they
invite Turkey to take more effective measures to guarantee the right of
Turkish citizens whose mother tongue is other than Turkish to learn and
teach their own languages. 

The Turkish state is part of neither the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights nor the European Framework Convention for the
Protection of National Minorities. Article 14.2 provides that "In areas
inhabited by persons belonging to national minorities traditionally or
in substantial numbers, if there is sufficient demand, the Parties shall
endeavour to ensure, as far as possible and within the framework of
their education systems, that persons belonging to those minorities have
adequate opportunities for being taught the minority language or for
receiving instruction in this language." 

T. Tankut Soykan
Visiting Researcher

European Centre for Minority Issues
Schiffbruecke 12
D - 24939 Flensburg
Germany

Tel. +49-461-14149-63
Fax. +49-461-14149-69