Multilingual group meeting from DEM Party: Our language is our redline

img
NEWS CENTER - DEM Party held its group meeting in 7 languages on the occasion of 21 February Mother Language Day. Co-Chair Tuncer Bakırhan said: “Our language is not an unknown language, it is Kurdish. Our language is our redline. Kurdish must be the official language."
 
People's Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Co-Chair Tuncer Bakırhan evaluated the agenda at his party's weekly Parliamentary group meeting. Bakırhan made his evaluation in Kurdish on the occasion of February 21, World Mother Language Day.
 
BAKIRHAN SPOKE KURDISH
 
Bakırhan said: “Today, approximately 7 thousand languages are spoken in the world. 90 percent of these disappeared due to the assimilation policies of the states. 100 years ago, 20 languages were spoken in Turkey. However, 18 of them disappeared. A writer says, 'My mother language is my skin and other languages are my clothes.' We also say that our mother language is not only our skin, but also our life and soul."
 
Commemorating Baba Tahir Uryan, Elî Herîrî, Ehmedê Xanî, Melayê Cizîrî, Feqiyê Teyran, Cegerxwîn, Celadet Elî Bedirxan, Musa Anter, Ferhat Kurtay, Mehmed Uzun and other writers who worked for the Kurdish language.
 
'AKP WANTS TO CREATE KURDS WITHOUT KURDISH'
 
Pointing to assimilation policies, Bakırhan said: “The pressures on the Kurdish language have not ended since the founding of Turkey. Laz, Syriac, Circassian and many other languages were eliminated. Turkey has turned into a language cemetery within a hundred years. Still written on the dungeon walls: 'Speak Turkish, speak a lot'. However, with resistance, our language has come to this day.
 
AKP wants to create an alternative Kurdology. It opened Kurdish departments in universities. Students finished school but were not assigned. Elective courses started, they opened a television called TRT Şeş (Six). However, there they insult the Kurdish language. They want to create Kurds without Kurdish.
 
TRUSTEES ARE THE ENEMIES OF THE KURDISH
 
After the trustee coup, attacks on Kurdish increased. Many newspapers, television channels, agencies, magazines, radios, publishing houses and schools were closed. The trustees first attacked Kurdish symbols. They closed down Kurdî-Der and the Kurdish Institute. They removed the names of people such as Celadet Elî Bedirxan and Cegerxwîn from the signs. Trustees are the enemies of the Kurdish language. Erdoğan says, 'Every child should know their mother language against assimilation.' When Kurds say 'our language' they become 'terrorists'. When our friends speak Kurdish in the Parliament, it is recorded as an 'unknown' or 'unintelligible' language. Our language is neither known nor understood. Our language is Kurdish.
 
OUR LANGUAGE IS OUR REDLINE
 
We must speak our language in every aspect of life. We must see our language as our existence. We have local elections ahead of us. When we take over the municipalities from the trustees, we will again implement multilingual municipalism. Our language is our redline. It is our promise; Whatever these tyrants have destroyed, we will do better. We will open Kurdish courses and nurseries.
 
WE ARE NOT AGAINST ELECTIVE COURSES, WE WANT EDUCATION IN MOTHER LANGUAGE
 
We are not against elective courses. But in the 21st century, we feel shame in these discussions. Mother language is a human right. We want Kurdish to be the official language.
 
We will heal our wounds ourselves. Cure is not in AKP. We are the cure. I would like to end my words with a poem by Cegerxwîn:
 
Ez xum xuma avên çeman
(I am the flowing rivers)
Ez çerx u govend u sema,
(I am wheel of the halay and the sky)
Tînim di nav kat û lema,
(For this reason, with my warmth in every field)
"Jîn im, hebûn im, tevger im..."
(“I'm alive, I exist, I'm active”)
 
SYRIACH, GEORGIAN, ARABIC, ARMENIAN
 
Then DEM Party Mêrdîn deputy George Aslan, Syriac; DEM Party Mêrdîn Deputy Saliha Aydeniz speaks in the Kirmançkî dialect of Kurdish; Bereket Kar, Arabic; Zeynep Bayram, Georgian and Laz; Murat Mıhçı made a greeting in Armenian.
 

View More Articles

02/07/2025
16:16 People of Şirnex demand cancel of dam projects
13:45 Delegation from Europe demands immediate and unconditional release of Öcalan
11:44 Attack on Baloch women in Iran: 1 dead, 11 injured
11:12 Abdullah Öcalan sends message to European delegation
10:12 Women to convey demands on process to Parliament
09:27 Occupation continues in Serêkaniyê, Girê Spî, and Efrîn
09:21 Embargo continues in Makhmur: Hundreds of patients unable to access treatment
09:20 Health of ill prisoners worsens in Antalya prisons
09:19 ‘Workers must be the subject of the process’
09:18 Increased Pressure on Kurds in Iran: Demand for autonomy suppressed
01/07/2025
16:17 Details of the draft DEM Party to submit for the commission
15:15 European Delegation Visits DEM Party in Istanbul
15:07 Family of Rozerin Çukur Reacts to Constitutional Court Ruling: We could not find justice
13:09 Delegation from Europe submits petition to meet Abdullah Öcalan
13:00 Fatma Bostan Ünsal: Concrete legal and political steps must accompany peace rhetoric
11:50 Bar Association Chairs urge TBB to form legal monitoring committees
11:10 Seferi Yılmaz: Everyone must work for peace against war profiteers
09:39 Let’s hold firmly to the process says Writer Faik Tac
08:32 Tatvan festival: We women are ready for process
08:27 Operation against CHP members in Izmir: Tunç Soyer detained
30/06/2025
17:00 Amed Ecology Assembly: Let's defend nature with communes
14:54 Women's festival on its second day
14:15 Kerim Boran releases
11:46 Mothers: Unity must be achieved
10:57 People want to meet Abdullah Öcalan to come to Turkey
10:42 Civil society organisations call on government to take steps
10:14 4 years since the Istanbul Convention cancelled: We will not give up
09:26 Presidential pardon for ill prisoner Boran
29/06/2025
15:24 Struggle of the Kurdish people will end in victory says DBP Chair Bayındır
14:21 'Women should be involved in process'
13:48 Labour in Democratic Society Workshop: Let’s be builders, not watchers
12:25 War increases the number of disabled
11:56 According to Constitutional Court, killing of Rozerin Cukur lawful!
10:43 Journalists: Those threatening our colleague must be prosecuted
10:28 The problems of the 'Others' await solutions
09:47 Constitutional jurist Yokuş: The process will succeed with legal guarantees
08:00 Final declaration of Sheikh Seid conference published
27/06/2025
18:04 Call for Freedom of Abdullah Öcalan at UK Parliament
16:26 Rights organisations declare start to work to contribute to process
15:00 Şırnak Journalists Association: We stand by Zeynep Durgut
14:56 Prison report: Even the most basic human rights have been suspended
13:50 Abdullah Öcalan sends message to conference in Brussels
12:12 Families apply to İmralı Directorate
11:15 From Amed to the government: Call to ‘take action and end operations’
09:25 ‘Child detention increases crime rates’
09:25 Meral Danış Beştaş: Developments in the Middle East urge Turkey to resolve its internal issues
09:24 Lost four family members during the conflict: The state must take steps
09:23 Crisis felt in Wan and Qers: The solution lies in peace
09:22 Father of two sons buried under a sidewalk: Only peace can ease our pain
08:37 5 regions declared as 'special security zones' in Şirnex