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Kurdistan needs a unified language and
alphabet
17.9.2012
By Alan Rashid
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Special to Ekurd.net |
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September 17, 2012
First of all I would like to state that I do not
have much understanding of linguistics nor do I
claim to represent the majority of Kurds. Recently I
have stumbled upon this very interesting subject and
often found myself pondering whether our nation
would be better off with a unified language, and so
I decided to look at the scenario more extensively
to try and analyse whether the lack of a unified
language has indeed hindered the prosperity of our
nation.
My quest led me to several online forums and
websites and after hours of debate with Kurds from
all parts of Kurdistan I realised that there was no
real common ground between the speakers of the
different Kurdish dialects but instead I found that
they each preferred their own respective dialect
over the other; the majority of them admitted to not
understanding the alternative dialects. After many
hours of debate the impression I got was that a
significant amount of Kurds are afraid of their
dialect being dominated by the other; here we must
ask ourselves, is that a sign of a small cut with
the potential of turning into a big crack in the
very foundation of the Kurdish nation?
Most Kurds speak more than one language, sadly
however the overwhelming majority of Kurds do not
have the benefit of a mother tongue education, yet
most Kurds living in Kurdish cities can speak one of
the dialects, and so if a Kurd from Diyarbakir can
speak both Kurmanji and Turkish, what is stopping us
as a nation from learning a new unified version of
Kurdish and any dialect we wish? I will not dare
suggest we scrap our wonderful dialects, no! My
humble request of my beloved people is to work on a
unified language to further enhance the level of
communication and brotherhood between all segments
of the Kurdish nation and thus prosper together as
one.
Without a language that is mutually comprehensible
in all corners of our community we risk our unity
and the chance to prosper together, in fact I
believe that the lack of a unified language has
created gaps between our community and that can be
illustrated in Iraqi Kurdistan; I don’t want to go
into this too much but I hope that my dear readers
are able to overcome the emotional attachment and
realise the importance of a unified Kurdish
language.
While I recognise the importance of a unified
language and the way the lack of it has influences
our history I simply cannot end this article without
pointing out the fact that our neighbours have had a
significant role in our misery. Having said that, we
must have a stable house, and as we all know a house
will not hold without pillars. A unified Kurdish
language is one of the most important pillars and we
must look into it sooner, not later.
The logic behind the setup of two or more opposing
ethnic or religious groups is a common tactic used
by regional and super powers. Regimes can be
manipulated and brought down by supporting one group
over another in accordance with the geopolitical
interests of the parties involved. This logic can be
applied to different dialects as well, it may not be
as significant but in our case it has proven to be
time after time in history and so we can’t risk
taking chances.
I would like to end on this note. There are
revolutionary events taking place in the Middle
East, we must take caution and not fall into civil
war as we may not live to see another chance. We
must not use violence as a mean to achieve our god
given rights to self determination as we will not
receive any sympathy from the international
community, instead we will give those opposing our
determination ways to create diversions and
propaganda. Let us not occupy ourselves with petty
arguments instead we should debate how we can
improve the lives of our innocent people. We must
not allow anything to get in-between our
brotherhood, we are all Kurds! People of the
mountains and that bond shall never be broken.
Alan Rashid is a Mechanical Engineering student
living in the U.K. with interest in the Kurdish
nation. A contributing writer for Ekurd.net.
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© 2012 Ekurd.net. All rights reserved
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