Introduction 

Education is a basic human right. It is a pivotal tool for both the individual and the collective. It provides a base for self-fulfilment, self-development, and a brighter future; moreover, it offers [marginalized] communities a medium to preserve their culture, thus language, practices, art, literature, and history. Schooling has become a means of socialization, cultural transmission, and identity formation. Given such functions, however, education may become a propagandistic tool, a medium for an end far away from ethical values. For instance, it may transmit unity messages through a revision of history, like in the case of some Cyprian schoolbooks i Furthermore, education reproduces economic, cultural, and social inequalities; it is a primary mechanism of the network of power used by the State to punish, discipline, and legitimize. This paper focuses on such aspects of Turkey’s education system. In particular, the essay deals with Kurdish linguistic discrimination in Turkish schooling through specific legislative measures. Kurdish is an Indo-European language, related to Persian, and belongs to a different linguistic family tree from Turkish. There are two primary dialects of Kurdish: Sorani and Kurmanj ii. It is the fortieth most spoken language worldwide and the first in Kurdistan, a geo-cultural region divided between four countries ii. 

Methodology 

The essay will start by explaining the history of the Kurdish people. It will mention the first settlements in the area, how Kurds lived under the Ottoman Empire, and the changes that First World War brought. Then, the paper will explore the life of the Kurdish population in Turkey post-Lausanne, and highlight the discriminatory legislative measures taken to ensure internal cohesion. Finally, the essay will explain the consequences of such “linguicide”iii on education.  

The paper is based on academic manuscripts, national newspaper articles, a qualitative interview, and blogs.  

This essay focuses exclusively on discrimination faced by the Kurdish population; however, it is important to mark how other Muslim minorities are negatively impacted by such nationalistic policies.  

A Look At The Past 

Kurdistan has the nickname of “invisible nationiv:” it is there, it exists, but it doesn’t have any tangible geo-political borders. This section will focus on such invisibility. 

Kurdish people have lived in Central Anatolia since the Middle Ages when the first tribe arrived in 1184v.Then, three centuries later, they founded the first large settlement named Kürtler, in proximity to modern-day Ankaravi When the Ottomans reached the region, they formed an alliance with Kurdish groups and the latter worked as local officials and informators during the Battle of Chaldiran. Due to their great involvement in belligerent actions, the Ottoman Empire rewarded the tribes. The Kurds benefitted from fiscal exceptions, and the recognition of a semi-autonomous status, entailing virtual independence and the maintenance of the Kurdish tribal organizative systemviiOttomans and Kurds’ relationship changed in the 1830s with the start of a centralization process, resulting in the weakening of the Kurdish semi-autonomous status and tribal system.  

During the First World War, Kurds’ dissatisfaction with the Empire resulted in a series of uprisings. The relationship with the Ottomans deteriorated as the Kurdish people wanted more autonomy and aimed at the creation of a Kurdish state. They fought the Ottomans encouraged by the British and the Russians who shared the idea of Kurdish independence. When the war ended, the Kurds should have received an independent state, according to the Treaty of Sevrès which promoted self-determination and autonomy for nationalities under the Ottomans. However, the Kurdish population was split into 4 States: Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkeyviii. 

Kurds in Turkey 

The Treaty of Lausanne officialised the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the partition of the Kurdish population. The new Turkish leader, Mustafa Atatürk promised to treat the Kurdish minority equal to the Turkish population. However, the Treaty itself recognized only non-Muslim minorities in Turkish territories: Greeks, Jews, and Armenians ix; as a result, the Kurdish population was left out, without any concrete protectionsxand, despite the promises,  the Turkish President promoted a process of assimilation and homogenization which entailed territorial reforms and the removal of the “Kurds race”xi. The government aimed at canceling any trace of multi-ethnicityxii as it represented a threat to internal unity. Inhabitants of the Dersim region refused the new policies and did not pay taxes; thus, it became Turkey’s “…most significant interior problem…”xiii.The government levied new laws to contain the threat. They involved displacement: Dersim kids were forced to attend schools outside their native region and Dersim authorities were free to resettle the residentsxiv. Moreover, in the Eastern part of the country, Turkish troops led a massacre that killed over 4000 civiliansxv.  

Kurdish: a forbidden language 

“New-born” Turkey made cultural homogenization and assimilation its goal. Everybody must be of Turkish heritage, and, in case this is not plausible, everybody must act like a Turk, marry a Turk, and speak like a Turk. In 1924, the Turkish government banned the Kurdish language, Kurdish dictionaries, and the words “Kurdistan” and “Kurds”xvi. The government also kept the schooling rate low in Kurdish regions in fear of future independence ideas and national consciousnessxvii. Turkish nation-building went through processes of forced standardization, cultural assimilation, and consequent domestic and international legislative measures to legitimize the subordination of non-Turkish languages. For instance, domestically, the Constitution proclaims Turkish as the mother tongue and the official language of the State; internationally, Turkey expressed doubts regarding Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which states that individuals belonging to minorities should not be refused the right to speak their language, perform cultural activities, and profess their religionxviii. Furthermore, it had some reservations regarding articles of the UN Convention Right of Child proclaiming that kids from minority groups have the right to preserve their cultural identityxix. Finally, the country refused to sign the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages which states that minorities have the right to learn and speak their first languagexx. 

Linguistic homogenization aims to awaken a sense of nation, identity, and community within people living in the same State. Such a strategy is implemented through education; thus, it is no surprise that Turkey follows a one-language instruction policy, prohibiting public schools from teaching Kurdish as a native language. As a matter of fact, Article forty-two of the Constitution states that “no language other than Turkish may be taught as a mother tongue to Turkish citizens at any institutions of training or education.” Moreover, in 1980, following the military coup, the government banned the usage of Kurdish in public and private life. Despite the prohibitions, teachers unofficially and secretively still used Kurdish in madrasah institutionsxxi. The ban on domestic usage would be lifted in 1991xxii. Turkey implemented positive education reforms in the following decades, attentive to minority rightsxxiii. For instance, the first Kurdish language class is organized at the University in Mardin. Moreover, fourth-grade-and-up schools offered Kurdish lessons as electivesxxiv.  

The status of the Kurdish language changed after the 2016 military coup when Kurdish media programs were terminated, and Kurdish cultural institutions, and NGOs were shut down. Furthermore, the government closed private schools teaching in Kurdish and language departments of universitiesxxv. Such legislative and governmental adversity towards the Kurdish language led to popular aggressions. In 2019, an elder couple was expelled from an hospital after they spoke Kurdish to each other; in 2020, several seasonal workers were killed because of “kurdophobia” a couple of years prior, an elementary school kid was beaten up for speaking his language with their family on the phone xxvi. 

Education, Employment and Language 

The consideration of the Kurdish language held by the Turkish State “…as a divisive, existential threat rather than an instrument of unity…”xxvii has terrible effects on the realm of education. 

Kurds do not have the right to learn their native language as a subject or employ it as a medium to study other educational topics. In some Eastern parts of Turkey, like Diyarbakir, parents oppose the governmental policies and encourage their children to “academically” learn Kurdish. For instance, a human-right activist from that area sent his child to a Zarokistan preschool xxviii. Moreover, in the Eastern and Southeastern parts of the country, where the majority of the Kurdish population resides, people still speak the vernacular at home. Researchers identified several issues connected to the erasure of the Kurdish language in schoolsxxix. Firstly, a linguistic -and legislative- barrier separated Turkish-speaking teachers and Kurdish-speaking pupils. They do not understand each other, forcing the former to stay quiet in class as they could not express themselves in the correct languagexxx. Secondly, Kurdish students usually learn how to read and write and develop literary skills, and comprehension later than their counterparts xxxi. They are generally made to fail and, thus, repeat the grade. Those who have to repeat several years tend to develop a negative view of schooling and drop outxxxii. According to Balkan and Cilasunxxxiii, Kurds have a lower rate of finishing high school studies than their Turkish counterparts, and even less probabilities of achieving a bachelor’s degree or higher education. Quitting school before completion leads to unemployment and poverty, hence “uneducated” people are employed as “low-skilled,” unspecialized workers. My interviewee identified two different job paths for Kurdish and Turkish people. The latter tend to work in more mentally draining fields; whereas, the former are employed in physical fields such as construction, and agriculture. Another disadvantage that Kurdish people face is their place of living as location correlates with employment: people living in urban areas experience better labour market outcomes. Turkish urban areas tend to be populated by Turks, whereas the Kurdish population tend to reside in rural locationsxxxiv. Education and location come together and created disadvantageous circumstances for the Kurdish people in the workplace Kurdish people tend to be unemployment longer than their Turkish counterparts xxxv.  

The subordination of the Kurdish language leads to catastrophic consequences in the educational dimension. As a matter of fact, such linguistic -and cultural- discrimination measures create a hostile learning environment, and the school becomes an oppression site, instead of a liberation force. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims that “everyone has the right to education” and the Turkish Constitution declares that “no one shall be deprived of the right of education;” however, various factors interfere between Kurdish students and the achievement of education. The Turkish nation-building project stand on “othering” processes, thus on dividing citizens with Turkish heritage from citizens belonging to ethnic minorities by implementing strategies to standardize the former and forcing the latter to adjust their language and culture to the finely crafted norm. Ethnic minorities, including Kurdish people, hence, become an obstacle to a strong national sentiment, and education becomes a weapon, another mechanism through which dissolving multi-ethnicity by reproducing the language everybody must speak and the culture everybody must adhere to. Schooling, however, should not be an aggressive weapon, but rather an emancipation tool for the individual and the community. Kurdish people do not benefit from education and do not have the same access to higher studies as Turkish people. It is important to implement policies that will positively impact marginalized groups’ schooling rates which will, eventually, lead to a betterment in future opportunities.  

Conclusion 

The essay delved into linguistic discrimination towards Kurdish people in scholastic environments. Language represents a pivotal tool for creating internal cohesion and a shared identity, and history, thus, the emphasis of Turkish authorities on the realization of linguistic homologation within the national borders. However, the legislative measures taken to achieve such a goal negatively impact learning-age children. As a matter of fact, despite the prohibitions, families still prefer to communicate in Kurdish and kids do not understand Turkish when starting the first grade; as a result, a student with a Kurdish background will face more obstacles than their Turkish counterparts, leading them to develop a negative view of education and quitting school.  

It is pivotal to tackle this issue, internationally and domestically, to ensure that 1) Kurdish-heritage kids have the same opportunities as Turkish-heritage kids and 2) no erasure of the Kurdish language is carried out. 

REFERENCES

i Eriksen, Thomas Hylland. Small Places, Large Issues: An Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology. London: Plutopress, (1995) 2015. 

ii Hassanpour, Amir, Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, and Michael Chyet. The Non-Education of Kurds: A Kurdish Perspective. International Review of Education / Internationale Zeitschrift Für Erziehungswissenschaft / Revue Internationale de L’Education 42 (4): 368. 1996 

iii Idem, 369. 

iv Torelli, Stefano. Kurdistan La Nazione Invisibile. Milano: Mondadori, 2017. 

v Cowen, Katie. The Kurdish Dilemma in Turkey. Washington Kurdish Institute. 2023. https://dckurd.org/2023/01/26/the-kurdish-dilemma-in-turkey-2/. 

 vi Ibid. 

vii McDowall, David. A Modern History of the Kurds. London: I.B. Tauris. 1997.  

viii Ali, Othman. The Kurds and the Lausanne Peace Negotiations, 1922-23. Middle Eastern Studies 33 (3): 521–34. 1997. 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/4283891 

ix LoBianco, Joseph. The Cultural Dimension in the Educational Process (The case of Turkey). Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights. 2016.  https://www.jstor.org/stable/3444908.

xi Cowen, Katie. The Kurdish Dilemma in Turkey. Washington Kurdish Institute. 2023. https://dckurd.org/2023/01/26/the-kurdish-dilemma-in-turkey-2/. 

xii Çevik, Esra. KURDISH LANGUAGE RIGHTS and MOTHER TONGUE in EDUCATION. Civil Rights Defenders, 2. 2019. 

https://crd.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/EUTH-Turkey-Kurdish-Language-Rights-Mother-Tongue-in-Education-Esra-Cevik.pdf. 

xiii ibid.  

 xiv Ibid.  

xv Cowen, Katie. The Kurdish Dilemma in Turkey. Washington Kurdish Institute. 2023. https://dckurd.org/2023/01/26/the-kurdish-dilemma-in-turkey-2/. 

xvi Ibid.  

xvii Çevik, Esra. KURDISH LANGUAGE RIGHTS and MOTHER TONGUE in EDUCATION. Civil Rights Defenders, 2. 2019. 

https://crd.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/EUTH-Turkey-Kurdish-Language-Rights-Mother-Tongue-in-Education-Esra-Cevik.pdf. 

xviii LoBianco, Joseph. The Cultural Dimension in the Educational Process (The case of Turkey). Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights. 2016. 

xix Kaczorowski, Karol. Kurdish Language and Multicultural Education in Turkey. Ez Mafê Xwe Dizanim! I Know My Rights! – Manual on Human Rights Education and the Right to Mother Tongue Education, 57. 2016. 

https://www.academia.edu/48963803/Kurdish_language_and_multicultural_education_in_Turkey. 

xx Ibid.  

xxi Ibid.  

xxii Hassanpour, Amir, Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, and Michael Chyet. The Non-Education of Kurds: A Kurdish Perspective. International Review of Education / Internationale Zeitschrift Für Erziehungswissenschaft / Revue Internationale de L’Education 42 (4): 371. 1996. 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3444908. 

xxiii Aydin, Hasan. Status of Education and Minorities Rights in Turkey. Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. 2020. 

https://gjia.georgetown.edu/2020/12/20/status-of-education-and-minorities-rights-in-turkey/ 

xxiv Ibid.  

xxv Ibid.  

xxvi Editor. Suppression of Kurdish language in Turkey is reflection of general intolerance towards Kurds: community leader. 2021. https://stockholmcf.org/suppression-of-kurdish-language-in-turkey-is-reflection-of-general-intolerance-towards-kurds-community-leader/ 

xxviii Letsch, Constanze. In Turkey, Repression of the Kurdish Language Is Back, with No End in Sight. The Nation. 2017.  

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/in-turkey-repression-of-the-kurdish-language-is-back-with-no-end-in-sight/ 

xxix Çevik, Esra. KURDISH LANGUAGE RIGHTS and MOTHER TONGUE in EDUCATION. Civil Rights Defenders, 4.2019. 

https://crd.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/EUTH-Turkey-Kurdish-Language-Rights-Mother-Tongue-in-Education-Esra-Cevik.pdf. 

xxx ibid.  

xxxi Ibid.  

xxxii Ibid.  

xxxiii Balkan, Binnur and Seyit Mumin Cilasun. ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION IN THE TURKISH LABOR MARKET: EVIDENCE FROM SURVEY AND FIELD DATA. 2018.  

xxxiv Ibid. 

 xxxv Ibid.  

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