VAN - Stating that the oppression and bans against Kurds and their mother tongue started with the Republic, which was built with a monist understanding, lawyer Cemal Demir said: "The struggle of the Kurds against this ban has always continued in various fields."

 

The Kurds are struggling to protect their mother tongue against the oppression and bans that have been going on since the establishment of the Republic (October 29, 1923). While Kurdish was banned with the 41st article of the Eastern Reform Plan announced on September 25, 1925, it was decided to punish the government, municipality and other state institutions and organizations in Kurdistan, as well as those who speak a language other than Turkish in the bazaar and market. Publications in languages other than Turkish were either censored or prevented from being used with fines with the "Letter Law" adopted on November 1, 1928. The use of any language other than Turkish was prohibited with the Law No. 2932 enacted after the coup of September 12, 1980. As a result of the struggle, the 1983 law banning mother tongues other than Turkish was repealed on January 25, 1991.

 

While the bans in the public sphere continued, after being elected as an MP from the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP) in 1994, MPs took an oath in Kurdish in the Parliament, the immunity of Orhan Doğan, Hatip Dicle, Leyla Zana, Ahmet Türk, Sırrı Sakık, Selim Sadak and Mahmut Alinak, who brought the Kurdish issue to the agenda, was lifted. MPs were imprisoned for years just for this reason. In 2001, signatures were given in many universities of Turkey "for education in mother tongue". Most of the students who signed were expelled from the university. Some were arrested. In 2009, the Kurdish defense of thousands of people arrested in operations called KCK was treated as an “unknown language”. In 2012, this time political prisoners started a hunger strike. The hunger strike, which ended at the end of 68 days, had two basic demands; one was the lifting of the isolation on PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, and the second was the recognition of the right to defense in the mother tongue. On January 24, 2013, the "right to defense in mother tongue" was enacted with the law numbered 6411. Those who want to make their defense in Kurdish can make a defense with the law if they pay for a translator.

 

Lawyer Cemal Demir made evaluations about the 100-century mentality and the struggle.

 

KURDISH RIGHT OF DEFENSE

 

Stating that there was a tendency towards the Kurdish language with the attacks launched with the Republic period, which was based on monism, Demir said: "There was a significant number of Kurdish intellectuals in Istanbul during the establishment of the Republic. After the Sheikh Said rebellion, there was a serious trend towards these intellectuals. Many were executed. A significant part of them withdrew to Syria. Mehmet Tevfik Efendi (Bavê Tujo, Haci Ahdi) is one of them. He served as a lawyer in Diyarbakır and was also a member of the Azadi Organization. He was arrested for alleged involvement in the rebellion. Despite all the insistence of the Diyarbakır Independence Court, he defended in Kurdish even though he knew Turkish very well. When asked about his word before the court made a decision, he said again in Kurdish, "Everyone should know that I fought for the rights of my nation, not for any personal rights. Long live Kurdistan”. He was executed with his friends in Diyarbakır on May 27, 1925. We know that between 1970 and 1980, Kurdish defense was made in the trials against some Kurdish structures. In the political trials held in the State Security Courts (DGM) in the 1990s, we witnessed significant support for defense in Kurdish, most recently in Specially Authorized Courts where the community was influential.”

 

Reminding that lawyers demanded defense in their mother tongue during the arrests of Asrın Law Office lawyers in 2011, Demir said: “These lawyers insisted on making their defense in Kurdish. But the court intervened in this. This unjust intervention continued until 2013, when a law was enacted. Afterwards, they had to allow the defenses to be made in Kurdish."

 

CULTURAL GENOCIDE

 

Stating that with the division of the Kurdish lands into 4 parts by the colonial states, the prohibitions against the Kurds and their language began, Demir said: "The development of the Kurdish language was hindered as a result of oppression and bans. Everything about Kurds is denied and banned in Turkey. The first of these prohibitions is the language ban. Due to the struggle of the Kurds, the ban on spoken and written language was lifted during the period; however, the use of the Kurdish language in the public sphere is still prohibited at the Constitutional level. The struggle of the Kurds against this ban has always continued in various fields. For example, after the widespread and mass arrests initiated after 2009, defense in mother tongue was put forward as both a right and a political attitude in specially authorized courts. As a way out, the government has enacted a law for the limited use of the right to defend in the mother tongue. Apart from this, an elective Kurdish course was introduced in schools, but the state did its best to avoid this. It is indisputable that this is completely contrary to the universal law, especially the European law, of which it is a part (Constitution 90th article). The fundamental rights of millions of Kurdish citizens are being usurped. This is also cultural genocide. For this reason, it should absolutely be ensured that Kurdish is the official language and the language of education in public life, that is, in the functioning of the state.”

 

MA / Cengiz Özbasar