LOOK EVERYWHERE BUT THE BACKYARD
Hurriyet
Jan 13 2009
Turkey
ISTANBUL – The below ‘classified ad’ is entirely imaginary, but
its elements are not. These are the realities many experts of the
Kurdish language point to in the wake of an argument by the head of
the university watchdog that there are too few experts in Kurdish
literature in Turkey
Finding experts in Kurdish language and literature will not be
difficult for Turkey, where many amateurs have passionately enriched
their knowledge of their mother tongue and are eager to contribute
to creating Kurdish departments in universities.
While many Kurdish language experts in Turkey do not have academic
titles, they have battled bans and peer pressure to develop their
knowledge of their mother tongue, refuting the comments made by Higher
Education Board, or YOK, President Yusuf Ziya Ozcan who said on Sunday
Turkey had too few experts in Kurdish language and literature.
"As there is no education in Kurdish, there is no opportunity in
Turkey to have a registered academic career in Kurdish. Only those
people studying other fields can transfer their knowledge if they are
competent in Kurdish," said Sami Tan, the head of Istanbul Kurdish
Institute, which was founded in 1992.
The institute has undertaken serious work on the Kurdish language
and culture, such as preparing dictionaries and grammar books. "Those
friends who study Kurdish, they are self-educated and Turkey has great
potential in this regard. If the state wants to benefit, then it can,"
Tan said.
While experts were not against the idea of having Kurdish academics
coming from abroad, they had concerns relating to the need to
understand the political and linguistic intricacies of Turkey’s
Kurdish culture and population.
"Turkey has had people and institutions that taught Kurdish for many
years now. The statements of Ozcan are about employing academics who
think the way he does. The general aim is to prevent the involvement
of the Kurdish political movement in this process," said Bulent Ulus,
the news editor of the Kurdish language culture journal Tiroj.
Linguist Necmiye Alpay also said she was concerned about the hesitation
of the state to recourse to existing potential about the issue for
political reasons.
"I cannot understand why they do not ask for help from the Istanbul
Kurdish Institute. If this is because they do not like its political
stance, politics should not be involved in issues of language,"
she said.
Ozcan in his statement said YOK could benefit from the Kurdish
Institute in Paris and universities in northern Iraq.
The Istanbul Kurdish Institute should not be excluded from that
process, according to Kurdish author Muhsin Kızılkaya.
However, Kızılkaya also said the number of people who are equipped to
teach Kurdish is very few. The situation is not like the one abroad,
he said, pointing out well-established Kurdish studies departments
in universities like Sorbonne in France and Uppsala in Sweden. It is
natural to benefit from experts abroad who have studied where Kurdish
studies is so well developed, especially in places where the Kurdish
diaspora lives, mostly in Sweden and in former Soviet countries and
Armenia, Turkish studies expert Mehmet Bayrak said.
However, it would be more correct to benefit from domestic potential
first and then look abroad, said Bayrak, whose first book, which was
about Kurdish folk music, was banned. Using this internal potential
shows the sincerity of the state, the government and YOK on the issue,
Bayrak said.
Tan said it would be more correct to solve this problem by depending
on internal sources, adding that in the last three years more than
300 books in Kurdish were published.
"When the official Kurdish language courses opened, we trained teachers
who would teach Kurdish in these courses. My books on Kurdish grammar
are used in these classes," said Tan. However, Tan himself had to pass
the official test of the courses to document that he is in command
of Kurdish. "The debates should include Kurds," he said, although he
is regarding all these latest debates as positive developments.
Dialect matters Another issue about foreign support for the Kurdish
language is differences about dialects.
Some experts hesitate about any academic support from northern Iraqi
universities. "The education language in northern Iraq is in the
Sorani dialect and they use the Arabic alphabet. However Kurds in
Turkey use the Kurmanji and Zazaki dialects," said Tan.
Alpay also highlighted that the use of Sorani would not be helpful
for Turkey. However, according to Kızılkaya the dialect difference
would not matter that much. "Academics in northern Iraq are well in
command of both Sorani and Kurmanji dialects," he said. "Academics
in Selahattin University are also working on uniting the two dialects
to make a single one."
Meanwhile, Joyce Blau from the Kurdish Institute of Paris said there
had been no official contact with the Turkish government yet for any
kind of support they could offer.
However, Blau said the institute would be very happy to put all their
resources at the disposal of the government for university-level
Kurdish programs.
–Boundary_(ID_r9W7Br9L6C9R8fag7n3gAQ)- –
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
