If Penélope Cruz could break out in Spanish in front of a billion or so television viewers while accepting the Oscar for Best Actress, why couldn't Ahmet Turk, a Turkish-Kurdish legislator, not break out in Kurdish while speaking in Parliament to members of his own political party (and a slightly smaller television audience than that of the Academy Awards)? Feb. 21 was, after all, the United Nations' International Mother Language Day (and 2,500 of the world's 6,000 languages are endangered, although Kurdish is not one of them).
Because for one, it's illegal for Turkish officials to speak anything other than Turkish in Parliament or in parliamentary committee meetings. Just as it's illegal to say something critical of Ataturk, the magnificent, sublime, incomparable, infallible, aromatic and handsome founder of modern, secular Turkey (so I'm not sure if my little punning headline and the colorful flag-waving in Ataturk's face at the top of this post will forever have me on Turkey's black list if I apply for a visa).
Just as it's illegal to "insult" Turkish identity--a very vague, very broad prohibition that can extend to individuals claiming, for example, that Turkey massacred Armenians after World War I or Kurds in the 1980s and 90s, as it in fact did with genocidal lust, though official Turkish history loves its blind spots on that score.
Which brings us back to Ahmet Turk , who deserves a Hagia Sophia-sized attaboy for what he did today. He's the leader of Turkey's Democratic Society Party, or DTP as it's known there. He took to the floor during a committee meeting, which was televised on TRT, the state channel. He started speaking in Turkish. A wonderful language, to be sure. But not the only language ever to grace the tongues of Anatolia.
"Turkey must save itself from the shame of banning a tongue in this era," he said in Turkish. "Everyone should understand that requesting an end to the ban on Kurdish is an extremely natural request," he added. "We have no objection to Turkish being the official language, yet we want our demands for the lifting of the ban on Kurdish language to be understood as a humanitarian demand."
Then he switched to Kurdish--in recognition, he said, of the UN's language day.
What's wrong with that? Nothing at all. Except in Turkey (and parts of Iran, where Kurds are also scorned. They've been luckier in Iraq of late. They've established their own quasi-country up north).
So Turk's tongue, so to speak (or not), was cut off. A TRT announcer said: "Since no language other than Turkish can be used in the parliament meetings according to the constitution of the Turkish Republic and the Political Parties Law, we had to stop our broadcast. We apologize to our viewers for this and continue our broadcast with the next news item scheduled."
Until 1990 Kurdish was entirely banned in Turkey, and its public use today is still banned. Turk now may face criminal charges. His party may face sanctions, ostensibly because of its suspected ties to separatist Kurdish militants. How convenient: Turkey's municipal elections are coming up on March 29, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party are competing with Turk’s DTP for votes. How timely it would be for Erdogan's fans to sideline the party, at least until a little after the spring equinox.
Comments
hey brother ,
if penelope’s people formed an organization which would kill thousands of american soldier in 30 years we probably would not even see her face. So this wound between turkish and kurdish people is still bleeding. It is gonna take some time to heal. Please think before comment
For it to heal, Turks would have to stop treating Kurds like second-class citizens, don’t you think?
Turkey is a disgrace. I can’t believe the world still hasn’t opened their eyes to the brutal suffering being done to “ethnic minorities” such as the Kurds, all because Turkey wants to hide the fact Turkey and 3 other countries have taken over what is rightfully KURDISH land, and forcing them and brainwashing them into becoming a citizen of Turkey.
It is appauling and no one will do anything about it… The PKK are partly to blame due to their political status (communists) so the West automatically think giving independence to Kurds is like a loss in their eyes… But what they don’t realise is that most Kurds are democrats and have proven to run a successful “country” in a sense, just look at North Iraq’s prospering and booming economy.
I appreciate the sentiment, and the anger, Anonymous. It’s justified. Tolerance isn’t enough. Not when it’s wrapped in the condescension of overlords.
While I believe that it is your right to publish your opinions and outlooks, as a turkish american person, I don’t appreciate your generalizations of Turkey. Not all turkish people share the view of the government, and your blog doesn’t seem to portray that at all. You came off as hurtful, offensive, and biased.
Anon., you criticize me for generalizing, but provide nothing but an ad hominem attack on the post. I’d be interested in seeing you address the post in specifics–what do you find “hurtful” or “biased” etc., and why–specifically. I’d be happy to go from there.