Kurdish Parties reject inference into Kurdish-language education

Political parties and forces in Qamishlo issued a written statement today regarding the Syrian Ministry of Education's decision concerning the teaching of the Kurdish language. The statement said:

“Over the course of twelve years of the Autonomous Administration and the Syrian revolution, the Kurdish people have exercised their natural and historical right to receive education in the Kurdish language. The educational process has been successfully administered at all educational levels, in both scientific and literary branches, as well as at the university level, without any significant linguistic or educational difficulties.

Throughout these years, hundreds of thousands of students and young people have graduated, equipped with knowledge in their mother tongue, demonstrating its full capacity to serve as a medium for advanced scientific and literary curricula.

Today, coinciding with the ‘integration process,’ the authorities in Damascus have come forward with unfounded claims that teaching in the Kurdish language is not possible.

We view this approach as a dangerous step backward and a blatant challenge to the rights of an indigenous people living on their historic land, as well as an open rejection of international conventions, foremost among them the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which guarantees children the right to learn in their own language and culture.

Even more seriously, this decision amounts to a denial of one of God's clear signs, through which the diversity of languages and colors was made a sign of the peoples and communities of the earth.

Based on the above, we, the Kurdish political parties and forces, declare the following:

We categorically reject all partial and circumvention-based decisions that infringe upon the Kurds' right to learn and receive education in their mother tongue.

We demand the reinstatement and continuation of education in the Kurdish language in public schools at all educational levels, in both scientific and literary branches, extending through university education, as was the case in previous years. We regard this as a national and historical right that is not subject to compromise.

Imposing any sudden change in the language of the curricula threatens to deprive hundreds of thousands of students of the ability to continue their education and will push the educational process toward collapse by imposing a language that is not their mother tongue the language in which they were raised and educated.

The mother tongue is an essential part of identity and existence, and we will not accept its confiscation under any political or administrative pretext.

ANHA