KurdishMedia, UK
Jan 27 2005

Kurdish language being taught in Siberia

27/01/2005 KurdishMedia.com (Translated)
By Pir Dima

Tbilisi – In Primary School Number 77 in the city of Novosibirsk
(Russia), special beginners’ groups for Kurdish children (most of
whom are of the Yezidi faith) have been opened. The mayor of
Novosibirsk, Vladimir Gorodetski, has approved this decision.

Approximately a quarter of the pupils of School 77 are Yezidi Kurds.
The parents of the children, supported by the national intellectual
and social organization `Shems’, had submitted a petition to the
municipality of the city of Novosibirsk for Yezidi children to be
able to learn their native language, Kurdish. Their request was
accepted, and now a special group has been formed. According to the
project underway, each such group will be comprised of 12 children.

As is known, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many of
the Yezidi Kurds living in Armenia and Georgia left their homes due
to the social and economic situation and migrated to Russia and the
countries of Europe. A portion of these also settled in Novosibirsk.

Translated from Kurmanji Kurdish by KurdishMedia.com