As demographic change continues, Turkish government changes names of Kurdish villages in Mardin

The Government of Justice and Development in Bakur Kurdistan and Turkey continues, with its violations and hostile practices against the Kurdish people, to bring about demographic change, the criminality against the Kurdish language, and the policy of obliteration against the Kurds, as the municipality in Mardin State, Bakur Kurdistan, changed the names of Kurdish villages.

The Arabic "Sky News" website published that the municipal authorities in "Artuklu" of the state of Mardin changed the names of Kurdish villages, especially in Mardin, north of "Bakur Kurdistan".

The municipality of the Justice and Development Government replaced the Kurdish letters “X (pronounced as Kh)”, “W” and “Q” used in the Kurdish language with the letters “H”, “V” and “K” respectively.

This criminal policy against the Kurdish language was met with angry reactions which called for reforming the change and restoring the names to Kurdish letters as before.

Artuklu council member Muhammad Ali Amak said that the Democratic Peoples’ Party (HDP) will take steps to ensure that the Kurdish names are restored.

Of note, the Justice and Development Government criminalized and banned the use of the Kurdish language in public places, after the 1980 coup in Turkey and Bakur Kurdistan.

Publishing houses and research institutions in the Kurdish language are closed, and prisoners are not allowed to send or receive messages in the Kurdish language, in addition to agencies, websites and satellite channels that broadcast in the Kurdish language.

J.O