Kurdish pupils denied language lessons in Turkiye amid wider curbs, families say

Kurdish pupils denied language lessons in Turkiye amid wider curbs, families say
Nevzat Yesilbagdan and his seven-year-old son Muhammed Mesrur, with an anthology of children's stories in Kurdish in the foreground, are seen during an interview with Reuters at their home in Istanbul, Turkey, September 4, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 04 December 2024
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Kurdish pupils denied language lessons in Turkiye amid wider curbs, families say

Kurdish pupils denied language lessons in Turkiye amid wider curbs, families say
  • Since 2012, pupils can ask for two hours of Kurdish lessons
  • Teachers’ union says families fear stigmatization if they ask
  • Some parents say requests not met, schools can’t find teachers

ISTANBUL: A Turkish government proposal to end a decades-long conflict with Kurdish militants has put Kurdish rights back in the spotlight, at a time when Kurdish leaders say repression is rife and freedoms won more than a decade ago have eroded.
One of those is the right to receive two hours of Kurdish language education in school, a move introduced by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in 2012 as an “historic step” in a country which once banned the Kurdish language outright.
More than a dozen parents, Kurdish politicians and education experts told Reuters their children today could not receive the language classes even in Turkiye’s largest cities, and not all Kurdish families knew of the right to ask for them.
Turkiye’s Kurds make up about a fifth of the population, numbering an estimated 17 million. Kurdish is the mother tongue for most and the right to education in Kurdish is one of their main demands.
The constitution however states, “no language other than Turkish shall be taught as mother tongue to Turkish citizens.”
“The Kurdish people’s right to education in their mother tongue is essential for the expression of their cultural identity and social equality,” said Gulistan Kilic Kocyigit, chairperson of the pro-Kurdish DEM party in parliament.
“Education in mother tongue is essential for peace, equal citizenship and the protection of cultural rights.”
Erdogan’s key ally in his ruling alliance made a shock proposal in October that jailed Kurdish militant PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan end his group’s insurgency in exchange for the possibility of his release.
Previously, a peace process with the militants was started in 2012 but collapsed in 2015 and was followed by fresh violence and a crackdown on the pro-Kurdish political movement.
“Optional Kurdish classes have become invisible in schools since the end of the peace process,” said Remezan Alan, a lecturer within the Kurdish Language and Culture department of Artuklu University in Turkiye’s southeastern Mardin province. The department was formed in 2009.
Two of Alan’s children were unable to access Kurdish class in Diyarbakir, a city of 1.8 million in the mainly Kurdish southeast. “There were enough requests, but a teacher was not available,” he said.
Asked about the classes, Turkiye’s ministry of education, which speaks for schools, said, “it is possible for a course to be taught if at least 10 students are enrolled.” It did not comment on the situation in individual schools.
Education Minister Yusuf Tekin last month denied that the state was ignoring requests from parents for the lessons or discouraging them from asking for them. If there were not enough students he said, it was because of a 2012 boycott of the lessons by DEM’s predecessor party, which said two hours were not enough.
Parents want children to learn Kurdish in school so they can read and write in the language, they say.
Hudai Morarslan, a member of teachers’ union Egitim-Bir-Sen which campaigns for teachers’ rights and educational rights, says pupils have access to optional Kurdish classes in only 13 cities across Turkiye. He is campaigning for them to be available in Bingol, a town in the mainly Kurdish southeast region.
“Everyone is afraid to ask,” he said, adding that there is a constant fear of being stigmatized by the state and linked to the PKK, designated as a terrorist group by Turkiye, the United States and the European Union.
In November, Turkish authorities detained 231 people and replaced six pro-Kurdish mayors over suspected PKK ties. The DEM Party said those detained included its local officials and activists.
Earlier, dozens of people singing and dancing to Kurdish songs at weddings were detained on charges of “spreading terrorist propaganda,” which the DEM party said showed “intolerance toward Kurdish identity and culture.”
Government officials said the songs were an expression of solidarity with the PKK and a threat to national unity.

SLOW PROGRESS
Turkiye’s ban on the Kurdish language was lifted in 1991. Seventeen years later, state broadcaster TRT began a Kurdish TV channel, which some Kurds boycotted and criticized as government propaganda.
Nevzat Yesilbagdan, 43, lives in Istanbul’s Bagcilar district with his family. He says three of his children’s requests to learn Kurdish have been denied by the school due to a lack of teachers or an insufficient number of students.
“Our main demand is to be educated in our mother tongue, but an optional course is an important step toward that goal.”
A study released by Rawest Research, a think tank focused on Kurdish issues, found in 2020 that only 30 percent of some 1,500 parents were aware of the optional Kurdish courses.
Ihsan Yildiz, 42, who works in the construction sector in Istanbul, said his 15-year-old daughter Meryem received no response to her request for Kurdish class from her Islamic Imam Hatip school. She then stopped asking.
His children understand some Kurdish but can’t read it.
“My mother who lives with us does not speak Turkish. I translate when my children talk to their grandmother. This is so sad.”


Turkiye replaces pro-Kurdish mayor in east with state official, ministry says

Turkiye replaces pro-Kurdish mayor in east with state official, ministry says
Updated 16 sec ago
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Turkiye replaces pro-Kurdish mayor in east with state official, ministry says

Turkiye replaces pro-Kurdish mayor in east with state official, ministry says

ANKARA: Turkiye on Saturday removed another elected pro-Kurdish provincial mayor over convictions on terrorism-related charges and appointed a state official in his place, the interior ministry said.
The local governor replaced Abdullah Zeydan, a member of the pro-Kurdish DEM Party and mayor of the eastern province of Van because of his recent conviction for “assisting an armed terrorist organization,” the ministry said in a statement.
Eight DEM Party-member mayors and two main opposition CHP-member mayors across Turkiye have been removed from their posts over terrorism-related charges since March 2024 local elections. Another CHP-member mayor has been under arrest over tender-rigging charges.
DEM, which has 57 seats in the 600-seat parliament, said the trustee appointment to the Van municipality was “a blow to people’s will,” and it will not “bow to this unlawfulness.”
Opposition politicians have faced a series of legal probes, detentions and arrests in what critics say is a government effort to muzzle dissent and hurt their electoral prospects.
Turkiye’s government dismisses accusations of political interference in the cases and says the judiciary is independent.
On Friday, a legal probe into a top official at Turkiye’s main business group TUSIAD was launched over his criticisms on the recent judicial crackdown on opposition leaders, mayors and journalists.
The European Parliament on Thursday condemned the legal actions against opposition mayors as a “disregard of the rule of law and the government’s violation of the fundamental principles of democracy.”
Saturday’s move also comes amid talks, supported by the government, with the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, to seek an end to a 40-year conflict between the PKK and Turkish state.


Hamas set to free 3 more Israeli hostages after dispute threatened to reignite war in Gaza

Hamas set to free 3 more Israeli hostages after dispute threatened to reignite war in Gaza
Updated 10 min 58 sec ago
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Hamas set to free 3 more Israeli hostages after dispute threatened to reignite war in Gaza

Hamas set to free 3 more Israeli hostages after dispute threatened to reignite war in Gaza
  • The truce that began nearly four weeks ago had been jeopardized in recent days by a tense dispute that threatened to renew the fighting

KHAN YOUNIS: Three more Israelis held captive in the Gaza Strip are on the verge of being freed Saturday as part of a shaky ceasefire deal that requires Israel to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange.
The truce that began nearly four weeks ago had been jeopardized in recent days by a tense dispute that threatened to renew the fighting.
US President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal to remove more than 2 million Palestinians from Gaza and settle them elsewhere in the region has cast even more doubt on the future of the ceasefire.
But Hamas said Thursday it would move ahead with the release of more hostages after talks with Egyptian and Qatari officials. The group said the mediators had pledged to “remove all hurdles” to assure Israel would allow more tents, medical supplies and other essentials into Gaza.
It will be the sixth swap since the ceasefire took effect on Jan. 19. So far, 21 hostages and over 730 Palestinian prisoners have been freed during the first phase of the truce.
As with previous exchanges, dozens of masked, armed Hamas fighters lined up near a stage festooned with Palestinian flags and the banners of militant factions while music blared from loudspeakers.
The militants are expected to parade the hostages before crowds and cameras onto the stage, which has been set up near a heavily damaged multistory building, before handing them over to the Red Cross. The humanitarian organization will then transport them to Israeli force.


Lebanon’s president condemns attack on UNIFIL convoy in Beirut

Lebanon’s president condemns attack on UNIFIL convoy in Beirut
Updated 15 min 27 sec ago
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Lebanon’s president condemns attack on UNIFIL convoy in Beirut

Lebanon’s president condemns attack on UNIFIL convoy in Beirut
  • The outgoing deputy force commander of the UNIFIL was injured on Friday when a convoy taking peacekeepers to Beirut airport was “violently attacked,” UNIFIL said

CAIRO: Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun condemned on Saturday an attack on a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon convoy in Beirut, saying security forces will not tolerate anyone who tries to destabilize the country, according to a statement by the president’s office.
The outgoing deputy force commander of the UNIFIL was injured on Friday when a convoy taking peacekeepers to Beirut airport was “violently attacked,” UNIFIL said.


Trump backs ‘hard stance’ on Gaza, says he does not know what Israel will do

Trump backs ‘hard stance’ on Gaza, says he does not know what Israel will do
Updated 15 February 2025
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Trump backs ‘hard stance’ on Gaza, says he does not know what Israel will do

Trump backs ‘hard stance’ on Gaza, says he does not know what Israel will do
  • Trump has proposed US takeover of Gaza amid fragile ceasefire
  • UN distressed by condition of released hostages and detainees

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Friday advocated taking a “hard stance” on Gaza, the Palestinian enclave for which he has proposed a US takeover and where a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants is in place.

Trump had said this week that Hamas should release all Israeli hostages in Gaza by Saturday midday or “let hell break out.”

“I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow (Saturday) at 12’o clock. If it was up to me, I would take a very hard stance but I can’t tell you what Israel is going to do,” Trump told reporters on Friday.

A ceasefire went into effect just before Trump returned to the presidency on January 20.Some Israeli hostages have been released by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners have been released by Israel since then.

The UN human rights office has described images of both emaciated Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees released as distressing, saying they reflected the dire conditions in which they were held.

Trump on Friday reiterated his concerns about the appearances of released Israeli hostages without commenting on the state of the Palestinians.

Israel’s military assault on Gaza has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians since October 2023, according to the Gaza health ministry, and led to accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies.

The assault internally displaced nearly Gaza’s entire population and caused a hunger crisis.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Trump has faced international condemnation for his proposal to take over Gaza and permanently displace Palestinians there. Rights experts and the United Nations have called it a proposal for ethnic cleansing.


Top commander with UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon is injured by protesters

Top commander with UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon is injured by protesters
Updated 15 February 2025
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Top commander with UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon is injured by protesters

Top commander with UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon is injured by protesters
  • “We are shocked by this outrageous attack on peacekeepers who have been serving to restore security and stability to south Lebanon during a difficult time,” it said
  • The Lebanese army intervened to disperse the protesters

BEIRUT: The outgoing deputy commander of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon was injured Friday when protesters attacked a convoy taking peacekeepers to the Beirut airport, the force known as UNIFIL said in a statement.
“We are shocked by this outrageous attack on peacekeepers who have been serving to restore security and stability to south Lebanon during a difficult time,” it said.
The Lebanese army intervened to disperse the protesters. The army said in a statement that acting commander Maj. Gen. Hassan Odeh had contacted UNIFIL and promised to “work to arrest the citizens who attacked its members and bring them to justice.”
Demonstrators have been blocking the road to the airport and other roads in the capital to protest a decision by Lebanese authorities to revoke permission for a passenger plane from Iran to fly to Beirut on Thursday, leaving dozens of Lebanese passengers stranded.
The decision to ban the Iranian plane came after the Israeli army issued a statement claiming that Iran was smuggling cash to the militant group Hezbollah via civilian flights.
Lebanon’s civil aviation agency said Thursday that “additional security measures” meant some flights were temporarily rescheduled until Feb. 18 — the same day as a deadline for Israel and Hezbollah to fully implement their ceasefire agreement, including a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon.