MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed – There are millions of Kurds around the world. While the assimilation policies towards the Kurdish language continue for centuries, the number of Kurds speaking their mother tongue is unfortunately decreasing. Last year, Rawest Research Center conducted research titled, “Status of mother tongue among parents and children” in eight provinces and 25 districts of the Southeastern Anatolia Region in Turkey. Their research reveals that Kurdish parents speak Turkish with their children. Mesopotamia Language and Culture Research Association (MED-DER) Co-chair Şilan Elmas Kan spoke to NuJINHA about the decrease in speaking mother tongue among young people. “The number of young people speaking their mother tongue decreases compared to previous years,” she said.

“The education system is used as an excuse”

“The parents think if their children don’t know the Turkish language, they will fail in school and they use the education system as an excuse. For this reason, the parents teach their children Turkish, not Kurdish,” Şilan Elmas Kan told NuJINHA.

“Parents should teach their children their mother tongue first”

Şilan Elmas Kan drew attention to that children move away from Kurdish history and awareness when they don’t know their mother tongue. “Those who carry out works for the Kurdish history and awareness and determine their fate are the people who graduated from Turkish schools. They didn’t know even a word in Turkish when they started school. I am also one of them; I didn’t know a Turkish word when I started school. There were thousands of students like me. But they were all very successful students. We knew both Kurdish and Turkish. We began to speak Turkish better than Turkish people. For this reason, the parents should teach their children their mother tongue first.”

“Our priority should be to protect our mother tongue”

Stating that the people who want to be successful must first know their mother tongue, Şilan Elmas Kan said, “Psychologists and linguists also suggest that. The children who don’t know their mother tongue have problems in their life. Why? Because they don't know their own language, so they can't learn other languages. Our priority should be to protect our mother tongue and society. You cannot be successful if you don’t know your mother tongue. The people who want to be successful must first learn their mother tongue and then learn other languages. Parents first teach their children their mother tongue. The children can be successful only in this way. The children should know the Kurdish language and history.”