Results of the Conference of the Language, Culture and Education Commission of the KNK
Language is a natural and social tool that consists of sounds and is used for expression. People use this tool to talk to each other, understand each other and carry out negotiations. Language is related to the life of society and remains in constant symbiosis with the life of society. Keeping language alive can only be continued through “speaking, writing and interacting with everyday social life”.
As it is known, every people and nation create their own culture and life in their mother tongue. Mothers teach their children language and this forms the basic nature and the basis of the child’s personality. Language is the basic tool of speech, communication and social interactions. Culture, language, folklore, consciousness, civilization, economy, science is created through the use of language. This creativity raises and enriches the level and condition of the language and moves it forward. That’s why language is a vital reality for every people, nation and group – it determines their presence and absence concurrently. It can be said that the tool that makes a society a nation is the language itself.
Occupation- and oppression-oriented states in the Middle East have a wish to eliminate the Kurdish language and the Kurds by suppressing, slandering and disparaging them. Even though the Iranian state does not deny the existence of the Kurdish people, it does not take any steps to teach the Kurdish language in schools and institutions, and in practical process and policy, wants to seclude and destroy the Kurdish nation through killing, intimidation and execution.
On the other hand, because the Turkish state posits its existence in the very absence of the Kurds, in 1925, with the 13th, 15th and 16th articles of the “Eastern Settlement Plan”, it banned the Kurdish language and from the beginning of the twentieth century until today, the names of all cities, districts, towns, villages, neighborhoods, mountains, plains, springs, streams, rivers, valleys, swamps and settlements have been changed and Turkish names have been placed on them. The Turkish state also commits genocide against the Kurdish people through armed conflict. It prohibits language, culture, folklore, satire and music, cinema and theater in the Kurdish language and by way of this wants to seclude and eliminate the Kurdish nation.
In the metropoles of Turkey, mobs attack people who speak Kurdish, kill artists and people who speak Kurdish with their families. Those who get away with murder are sent to prison through politically partial courts. By way of this, the dishonourable politics of corruption is practised on the Kurdish people.
In western Kurdistan (Rojava), in the occupied areas, such as ((Efrîn, Girê Spî and Serê Kanîyê), education in the Kurdish language is prohibited. The demography of these regions is changing through mob intervention.
It is on this basis that:
As the Language, Culture and Education Commission, we held a wide-ranging conference on the Zoom network on September 7, 2024. As a result of discussions, we have agreed on the following points:
1. Native languages do not have any class, group, political or civil organization. Language is the basic element of peoples and nations. All political, civil and professional organizations should protest against policies of genocide and exploitation.
2. As part of the former notion, the Language, Culture and Education Commission should work as an institutional agency and establish the foundations of national language and education unity.
3. It is necessary to establish a specialized commission to coordinate academics, educators and linguists. In this coordination, experts and specialists from all Kurdish dialects should be present and take place.
4. It is necessary to organize families in the regions along with language and education institutions.
5. In order to eliminate violence, all homes in Kurdistan should be organized as fundamental spaces of Kurdish language learning.
6. In order for children to receive Kurdish language education in schools, they should only accept the option of Kurdish language and no matter what, they should be denied education on other options.
7. It is necessary for the Commission to establish research teams of linguists, pedagogues, anthropologists and sociologists in Kurdistan to enrich language and existing dictionaries by collecting new and modern words among people.
8. It is necessary for the Commission to register books and learning materials of the Kurdish language that are available and to prepare and publish joint materials along with the views of the relevant institutions.
9. It is necessary to prepare pedagogical television programs for families and to train families to use their mother tongue. A series and cartoons for children will be prepared and published on this topic.
10. It is necessary to do concrete work and diplomacy in the diaspora in all countries for education and learning in the mother tongue. For this, all political, social and civil organizations should put aside their ideological problems and work together.
11. Research teams should be formed from academics to collect documents and works done on the Kurdish language. On this issue, relations with universities should be established as much as possible.
12. Speaking in the Kurdish language should be mandatory in all political, social and civil institutions and organizations.
13. It is necessary to gather writers from all four parts of Kurdistan under the supervision and umbrella of KNK and hold literary festivals, congresses and conferences.
14. In northern Kurdistan, all municipalities should use their administrative and legal opportunities in terms of learning and teaching the Kurdish language and take leadership for this purpose.
15. In order to further develop and serve the Kurdish language in southern Kurdistan, the government of the Kurdistan Region needs to have a comprehensive language policy and plan.
Language, Culture and Education Commission
of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK)
07.09.2024
