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Kurdish language teachers in Turkey begin
hunger strike
27.8.2014 |
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August 27,
2014
MARDIN, Turkey's Kurdish
region,— Over a dozen graduates from a Kurdish
program here have begun a hunger strike to protest
the lack of appointments for Kurdish language
teachers.
Graduates of Artuklu University’s Kurdology
Institute in Mardin province, southeastern Turkey,
say the Turkish government has not followed through
on its historic pledge to open up jobs for Kurdish
language teachers.
More than 1,000 Kurdish teachers are waiting to be
assigned to schools in Turkey, where they will be
teaching children in Kurdish. In a major feat for
Kurdish rights, the government — which had banned
Kurdish and other languages for decades — two years
ago legalized Kurdish elective courses in public
schools and Kurdish schooling in private
institutions.
Yet the teachers are still without jobs.
"Unfortunately, the Turkish government's promises of
granting more rights for Kurds are only words. We
are unhappy with that," said Yunus Aslan,www.Ekurd.net
one of the 15 graduates who are carrying out the
hunger strike.
Aslan said the teachers are prepared to push their
case in the capital, Ankara.
Another graduate, Omer Oncel, said, "Despite the
promises, the teachers aren’t being appointed. We’re
protesting here to call attention to our case and we
will continue until we’re certain about the future,"
Oncel told Rudaw.
According Ahmet Alis, an historian from Bogazici
University in Istanbul, the delayed appointments of
Kurdish teachers is a reflection of Turkish
bureaucracy rather than discrimination against
Kurds.
"The Turkish bureaucracy generally works slowly,
even with ethnic Turkish teachers. They also wait a
very long time to be appointed," Alis told Rudaw.
Aslan does not agree with Alis, however.
"We are being discriminated against. As long as the
Kurdish language isn’t constitutionally guaranteed,
we will have this problem," he said.
Kurdish language teachers last month launched a
campaign via the Turkish Change.org website calling
on the government to appoint Kurdish language
teachers.
The Turkish government has not yet commented on the
hunger strike. However, Education Minister Nabi Avci
and Huseyin Celik, spokesman for Turkey's ruling
Justice and Development Party (AKP), have promised
that teachers will be appointed.
The Kurdish language initiative is facilitated by
the Artuklu University and the Ministry of
Education.
By Deniz Serinci - Rudaw
Copyright ©, respective
author or news agency, rudaw.net
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