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Kurdish name on Turkish ID card
27.10.2009
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October
27, 2009
ANKARA,
Turkey, — The Population Registry
Office in the Çankaya district of Ankara has allowed
a father to give his daughter a Kurdish name written
with letters in the Kurdish alphabet, according to
the daily Hürriyet.
The officer in the registration office wrote the
baby girl’s name, Hêvî Jiyan, by using letters î and
ê, which are not in Turkish alphabet.
“Hêvî means hope and Jiyan means life. When I went
to the register office to give a Kurdish name for my
daughter, if there had been any problem, I would
have left the name part empty,” said Kenan Kırkaya,
the father of the baby. |
The officer in the registration office wrote the
baby girl’s name, Hêvî Jiyan, by using letters î and
ê, which are not in Turkish alphabet. |
“My
wife’s name is Newruz and they did not write her
name with a ‘w’ at the time. Hers, instead, was
recorded as ‘Nevruze.’”
Kurds for years have been complaining that they
cannot name their children as they wish. Several
changes in relevant laws have been made but there
are still difficulties in giving children Kurdish
names. An anonymous official from the Interior
Ministry told Hürriyet that it is impossible to
write the letters w, q, and x on identity cards
without a change in laws,www.ekurd.netbut
it is possible to use â, î, and û although ê is not
used.
The registry official in Çankaya, however, made some
phone calls after the father presented his request.
After a short while, the official agreed to allow
the name Hêvî,www.ekurd.netKırkaya
said. “I don’t know who he talked to. I am surprised
and so happy. I showed him how to type those letters
on the keyboard. I’m glad my daughter did not suffer
the same fate as her mother,” he said.
Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population
as a distinct minority. It has allowed some cultural
rights such as limited broadcasts in the Kurdish
language and private Kurdish language courses with
the prodding of the European Union, but Kurdish
politicians say the measures fall short of their
expectations.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media. The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish alphabet has led
to judicial persecution in 2000 and 2003.
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Earlier this year, the government announced that it
was working on a raft of reforms expected to give
greater freedoms to the country's 20 million Kurds,
but it is yet to announce details.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
hurriyetdailynews com | AFP | Agencies
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