The citizen’s name is Memduh Çalışan. He arrives at Istanbul airport to meet his mother. His mother is an elderly Kurdish woman. She doesn’t speak Turkish. Her mother tongue is Kurdish. The airline is responsible for escorting the elderly woman off the plane in a wheelchair, having her baggage collected by authorised staff and accompanying her to the exit. This service is included in the fare. However, because the elderly woman does not speak Turkish, this service is delayed and she is unable to leave the airport for approximately two and a half hours. The citizen Memduh Çalışan gets angry about this situation and makes the following statement:
“Look, I’ve been here at Istanbul Airport, they call it the third largest airport in the world, and I haven’t been able to explain my poor mother’s situation to anyone and get her out for two and a half hours, because she can’t speak Turkish. The crew of the plane, for whom I have paid taxes in this country, didn’t anything to help. My mother was held hostage inside for two and a half hours. They speak Arabic, Azerbaijani and English. They don’t speak my mother’s language [Kurdish]. She couldn’t explain herself. This is the shame of Turkey. You know, they’re going to ask for our votes. They’re going to call us brothers…”
The citizen’s reaction generated a lot of interest on social media. In response, the Istanbul Governor’s Office issued a statement. The statement uses expressions such as “the video is malicious, it has no other purpose than to propagandise against the state”. Then Memduh Çalışan was arrested. He gave a statement to the public prosecutor and was released in the late hours of the night.
The reason for all this is that the elderly woman could only speak her mother tongue. In other words, Kurdish.
Today is 21 February. The United Nations proclaimed this day “International Mother Language Day” in 1999. Since 2000, 21 February has been celebrated worldwide to promote multilingualism and cultural diversity. Various activities are organised. The civilised world allocates budgets to help endangered languages survive by establishing language schools, institutes and university faculties.
In Turkey, however, a shameful policy of denial and assimilation, a cheap nationalism clinging to idols and a despicable colonial logic still hold sway.
But the situation is different for Christian minorities.
I learnt Armenian at school. There are dozens of Armenian schools in Istanbul. If these schools provide six hours of Turkish lessons per week, they also provide six hours of Armenian lessons. All education except for subjects such as history, geography, literature and national security, which are taught by teachers appointed by the Ministry of National Education, can be conducted in Armenian. Christianity is taught in these schools as part of religious education. These schools are closed during our religious holidays such as Easter and Christmas. They are also closed during the national and religious holidays of the country. The curriculum of these schools is the same as that of the Ministry of National Education. Republic Day is celebrated on 29 October in these schools as well as in Taksim Atatürk Primary School.
For 100 years, Armenians, Greeks and Jews have had the right to education in their mother tongue in this country. This right is written in the founding text of the Turkish state, the Treaty of Lausanne, and has been continuously implemented. (The Assyrians* fell outside this agreement and were subject to very severe pressure).
So, friends, the Turkish state has the experience of knowing what mother tongue means, of developing an ideal model of mother tongue education for its citizens and of implementing it smoothly. It also has the experience of hundreds of thousands of students who have graduated from these schools and reached valuable positions in society.
The Republic of Turkey is one of the most experienced countries in the world in the field of mother-tongue education. It is setting an example with the method it has developed and implemented for a full 100 years. In the world of 2024, unitary states no longer have problems such as mother tongue education. In many countries, languages are preserved in various ways.
The reason why the state mistreated an elderly woman at the airport and detained Memduh Çalışan is due to hostility to Kurds. This is one of the mediocre delusions of a society that is sick of saying that there are no Kurds, there is no Kurdish. It is malice, lies and deceit.
The Republican People’s Party is also guilty of this. Some Kemalists who say that the country will be divided if the Kurds learn their language are not the bright face of this country. Their outdated nationalist rhetoric is the same as the rhetoric of fascist parties in Western politics.
Kurds exist.
Kurdish exists.
Education in the mother tongue is a right.
Activist, writer and journalist Hayko Bağdat was born in Istanbul in 1976 to a Greek mother and Armenian father. He began his career as a journalist in 2002, focusing on minority issues in Turkey. Bağdat has written books reflecting on the experiences of Armenians and others in Turkey. He has been continuing his work as a journalist in Berlin since 2017.
