The Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Co-chair Leyla Güven sent a letter from Elazığ Closed Women’s Prison to support the launched petition demanding the Kurdish language to be recognized as an official language and the language of education in Turkey.

News Center- On February 22, the Kurdish Language Platform and Kurdish Language and Culture Network launched a petition demanding the Kurdish language to be recognized as an official language and the language of education in Turkey. The petition has already gained tens of thousands of signatures and it will be available online until March 15. The Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Co-chair Leyla Güven sent a letter from Elazığ Closed Women’s Prison to support the petition. In her letter, Leyla Güven calls on people to support the petition.

The letter sent by Leyla Güven is as follows;

“I am sending you my warm greetings from Elazığ;

I hope everyone is fine. Undoubtedly, we are under harsh conditions and it is not easy to be fine. However, it is the reality of the Kurdish people who have been under pressure for centuries, and therefore we always say ‘Living is resisting’. My dear comrades, as eight women, we stay here (in a cell). I don't feel any need to explain the conditions in prison. Everyone already knows the conditions. Prisons have become a space for resistance and struggle for 40 years. Prisoners of freedom have been on a hunger strike for more than 100 days. We hope their demands to be accepted.

Dear volunteers for Kurdish, we have faced difficulties in receiving news and being in communication with people. For this reason, we have had trouble getting news from outside. We learned from the Parliament TV channel that you launched a petition for the International Mother Language Day held on February 21. We are very happy about this important work. We would like to congratulate you on this petition. The Kurdish language has been protected from assimilation thanks to Kurdish mothers. But we cannot stop working because the dirty policies against the Kurdish language have never stopped. The Kurdish language has reached such a stage that it is in danger of disappearing due to the assimilation policies. The main reason for this is hostility to the Kurdish language.

Wherever the Kurdish language is spoken, it is recorded as 'X' language. Wherever the Kurdish language is spoken, there is a massacre, there is cultural genocide, and there is a neglect of people. Despite all attacks, the Kurds never stop speaking in their mother language. Despite these policies, we don’t forget the Kurdish language; we don’t allow the Kurdish language to be forgotten. We will always keep speaking by struggling. The Kurdish language has been kept alive today by resisting. We support your petition, we wish you success in your work.”