There are more than 50 million people whose mother language is Kurdish but speaking freely is not an easy task for many. Kurdish people live under heavy assimilation policies, especially in Turkey and Iran, and must struggle against these policies to protect their language.
The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has released a written statement explaining that even though Kurdish is one of the ancient languages of Mesopotamia, it has been kept away from the public sphere and all areas of daily life.
“Kurdish has been recorded as an unknown language in the Turkish Parliament”, said the HDP. “We celebrate 21 February, International Mother Language Day, and reiterate our call for an end to the prohibitive policies against the Kurdish language”.