As debates over language rights continue to unfold in Turkey on International Mother Language Day, a member of parliament from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party was silenced as she attempted to speak in Kurdish during a session of the Turkish parliament.
DEM MP for Mardin (Mêrdîn) Beritan Güneş Altın had begun to address the assembly in Kurdish on Wednesday when her microphone was switched off by the session’s chairman, Celal Adan of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), citing “the indivisibility of the Turkish state and nation” as stated in Article 3 of the Constitution.
Responding to the interruption, Güneş Altın questioned what she perceived as double standards, asking whether the celebration of World Mother Language Day was considered to be propaganda by the parliamentary leadership. She pointed out the hypocrisy of being prevented from speaking Kurdish while candidates from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) were allowed to use Kurdish in their campaigns in predominantly Kurdish regions such as Mardin, Diyarbakır (Amed) and [Şanlı]urfa (Riha).
Güneş Altın explained that she wanted to celebrate the languages of the world’s peoples in Kurdish. She made a second attempt to do so, but her microphone was turned off for a second time, highlighting the treatment of the Kurdish language in the political sphere in Turkey.
The incident quickly sparked a wider discussion about the right to linguistic expression within Turkey’s political institutions and the ongoing struggle for Kurdish language rights. The subsequent remarks made in Turkish to the Assembly by DEM party group chair, Sezai Temelli, reflected deep-seated questions about national identity, unity and the place of minority languages in Turkey.