Women involved in Kurdish language studies and civil society organisations announced the establishment of the ‘Women's Assembly for Kurdish Language’ in Amed (Diyarbakır).

Holding a press conference at the Education and Science Workers' Union (Eğitim-Sen) Amed Branch No 1, the group pointed out the importance of the ‘Call for Peace and Democratic Society’ made by Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan on 27 February for women.

The women stressed that they would fulfil their duties for peace and democracy in this process: “In order to strengthen our organisation, we, as women who love the Kurdish language, declare the ‘Kurdish Language Women's Assembly’. On this occasion, we appeal to the government; the concrete steps pointed out by Mr. Öcalan must be taken as soon as possible.”

Emphasising the Kurdish people's struggle for identity and language, the group said: “The Kurdish people should not forget that language is spirit and life, identity, memory and awareness, honour and pride. Today, the right to multilingual education and official languages is recognised in many countries of the world. There are people with a population of no more than millions who still have the right to education and to have their language officialised, but millions of Kurds are deprived of their most basic human rights. Our silence against this violation of basic human rights and the killing of language is an acknowledgement of the loss of soul and identity.”

Goals

The Women's Assembly for Kurdish Language stated that they would fight against the policies of oppression and listed the following goals:

To defend the right to education in the mother tongue: To work for Kurdish to be a language of education from pre-school to university.

Encouraging women's language production: To increase the visibility of women in Kurdish literature, art, media and academic fields.

To popularise the use of Kurdish in the public sphere: To ensure the free use of Kurdish in official institutions, media and social life.

Raising language awareness: Carrying out awareness-raising activities that encourage speaking Kurdish at home, in the family and in society.

Strengthening international co-operation: Building partnerships with women's movements and peoples' language struggles in other countries.

Call

The Women's Assembly for Kurdish Language made the following call to the Kurdish people and women: ‘We call on every woman to struggle to protect and live her language, identity and culture. Every word of Kurdish is our resistance. If Kurdish lives, our people will live, if Kurdish is free, women will be free.”