Turkey’s Kurdish-majority Diyarbakır (Amed) Metropolitan Municipality marked the reopening of its Zarokistan Nurseries and Daycare Centres on Monday, following extensive renovations. The centres, which offer multilingual education, began their 2024-2025 academic year with a ceremony attended by high-ranking officials, parents and excited children.
The nurseries, located in Bağcılar and 450 Evler, had been rendered inactive during a previous administration but have now been fully restored by the municipality’s Social Services Department. The renovations were completed by the Department of Public Works, allowing the facilities to once again serve the local community.
General Secretary Assistants Zerin Türk and Özgür Yıldız, alongside other officials, attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony and toured the classrooms, engaging with children and their families. Demet Ceylan, a permanent council member, expressed her joy at reopening the nurseries after an eight-year hiatus, saying, “Children are our future, and every effort for their wellbeing is invaluable.”
The centres are now serving 360 children between the ages of 3-6, with 160 children at the 450 Evler branch and 200 at Bağcılar. Multilingual education, which had previously been a hallmark of the Zarokistan Nurseries, has been reinstated.
The head of Social Services Serkan Demirkıran stressed the importance of the reopening, stating that these efforts are just a beginning, while there are plans afoot to expand the nurseries in the future.
