Students of Qamishlo set up sit-in tent in front of UNHCR office

Students in the city of Qamishlo set up a sit-in tent today in front of the UNHCR office in the Tourist (al-Siyahi) neighborhood, with wide participation from students, in protest against a decision by the Ministry of Education in the Syrian transitional government to limit Kurdish-language instruction to only three classes per week.

The sit-in tent is part of a series of protests and demonstrations taking place across the Jazira region since Decree No. 13 was issued in late August, limiting the teaching of Kurdish in schools to only three classes per week.

The sit-in is being held under the slogan, “Our Language, Our Identity: We Demand the Right to Education in Kurdish.”

During the sit-in, students held up several banners bearing slogans including: “Protect Your Language, It Protects Your Identity,” “There Is No Life Without Language,” “The Mother Tongue Is the Soul of the Nation,” “A People Without a Language Has No Identity,” “It Is My Right to Learn in My Language,” “Language Proves the Identity of Peoples,” and “Our Language, Our Identity and Our History.”

The sit-in began with a statement to the public delivered by student Slava Ali, who said: “As a Kurdish people, Kurdish students and young people in this society, we stand against and reject this decision targeting the Kurdish language from its roots. This decision is devoid of justice and fairness and does not respect the Kurdish people. Allocating only three classes does not meet the aspirations of the Kurds after years of full education in Kurdish in our schools.”

The statement added: “We are not against teaching other languages. We are protesting the reduction of our rights and those of our language, because our language is not merely a language; it is our voice, our color, our memory, our culture and our identity. Unfortunately, our voice has not been heard so far and continues to be ignored.”

The statement said that since the first day the Ministry of Education issued the decision, students have been subjected to beatings and prevented from speaking Kurdish inside schools. It added: “Today, they are once again saying that male and female students should be separated. For us Kurds, this is humiliating segregation because we believe in the principle of gender equality.”

The statement concluded: “We hope that our demand will be implemented, that the efforts of Kurdish students will be preserved, and that the language watered with the blood of martyrs will be protected.”

The students continued their sit-in inside the tent, chanting slogans demanding their linguistic rights and reaffirming their rejection of the ministry’s decision, which they described as an infringement on a historic and fundamental right of the Kurdish people.

The sit-in tent is scheduled to remain in place for two days, with students continuing to arrive to take part.

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ANHA