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Article · Journal article · Kurdistan
By Anu Leinonen · Kurdish Studies, Vol. 10, No. 1 · 2022 · 40 min read
Published by Kurdish Studies, Vol. 10, No. 1. Opens on doi.org.
Drawing mainly on interviews with Kurdish language activists, Anu Leinonen investigates Kurdish language-in-education policy in Turkey from 2004 to 2020, a period that saw private Kurdish courses, optional Kurdish lessons in state schools and Kurdish departments at universities, alongside renewed repression after the peace process collapsed.
She asks what these educational efforts have achieved in reversing the shift from Kurdish to Turkish. Her answer is that their most important contribution has been at the elite and academic level, widening the circle of Kurds who can read and write their language, while the wider language shift towards Turkish continues. The article places this in the context of a state that has long treated Kurdish as a threat and still bars mother-tongue education. It is open access.
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