📌Beritan Güneş Altın (@BeritanGns), the pro-Kurdish Green Left Party representative for Mardin, caused a parliamentary uproar this Thursday when she delivered her first speech in Turkish, Kurdish, and Arabic.#Kurdishlanguage | #MotherTongueDay https://t.co/jhykTmiKPb pic.twitter.com/tKQMsVrrqE
— MedyaNews (@1MedyaNews) July 15, 2023
Beritan Güneş Altın, the pro-Kurdish Green Left Party representative for Mardin, caused a parliamentary uproar this Thursday when she delivered her first speech in Turkish, Kurdish, and Arabic.
Her multilingual address prompted fellow parliament members to demand intervention from the Deputy Speaker, asserting that the parliament’s sole language should be Turkish.
Altın, elected from the Turkey’s south-eastern Kurdish-majority multicultural city of Mardin, defended her stance by saying, “This is my first address in the Grand National Assembly, and before I continue, I wish to express my gratitude in the languages of the peoples of Mardin, where I was elected.” She added, “I hope that Mardin’s multilingual and multicultural life serves as a model of inspiration for the assembly.”
However, while Altın’s speech was interrupted by protests from fellow parliamentarians, the Deputy Speaker of the assembly chose not to intervene against Altın, but rather addressed the protesting MPs. The Speaker defended Altın’s decision to greet in Kurdish and Arabic, highlighting the diversity and plurality of Mardin, the province she represents.
Challenging the members’ complaints, the Speaker asked, “In this country, English and French can now be languages of education, but you want me to intervene over a simple greeting here?” questioning the double standards at play in their objections.
