The Kurdish Research Association, an important alternative for those who want to learn Kurdish against systematically assimilation, is also striving to maximize the use of Kurdish language in everyday life.

While assimilation policies continued, Kurdish children, began to reclaim their rights to learn and study in their mother tongue like other children.

Founded in 1992 under the leadership of Musa Anter and closed in 2016 by the law called KHK (Decree Law) the the Kurdish Research Association opened after the Kurdish Institute and began to give lessons in Kurdish.

In the first, second and third grades of the education program, in spring, summer, autumn and winter, a total of 800 students study in Kurdish. The Kurdish Research Association is an important alternative for those who want to learn Kurdish against systematically assimilation.

Promoting spoken Kurdish

Seyid Ahmed, one of the teachers of the Kurdish Research Association told ANF that it was important to have a unity of discourses and actions against the heavy assimilation imposed on the Kurdish language.

Ahmed recalled that the Kurdish language has undergone various challenging processes throughout history and this process has continued in some way.

About the research and goals of the institution he said: “We give lessons here and our students use Kurdish in their daily lives. They spread this to their families and now their families speak Kurdish. Thanks to our students, their families become more united as they all speak Kurdish. On the other hand, we have a teaching course at the end of our language courses. When students take this course, they graduate as Kurdish teachers. By conferring in a way to teachers the status of Kurds, we are filling a void. This is our goal. This institution is very important for Kurdish."

Discourse and action go together

Ahmed also spoke about the closure of the Kurdish section of the Artuklu University in Mardin and said: "The Department closed, and people said a few words in protest instead of taking an active action. There is a gap between the discourse and the action. During the process of solution, people were coming and trying to learn, but at the moment the number has decreased considerably. A trustee was appointed to three municipalities and Kurdish was removed even from the signs. People are quite responsive and rightly so, but they don't show interest when it comes to learning. Discourse and action do not coincide."

Spreading Kurdish language to all sections of life

Ahmed noted that those who receive education in Kurdish will also affect the environment they live in. Ahmed also stated that those who wrote and presented Kurdish news also benefit and help the environment. "The discourses about the Kurdish language should turn into actions. We need to support the Kurdish language with our discourses and with our action. It should not only remain in discourse. There is a Kurdish educational institution here and people can come and learn here. On the other hand, they should speak Kurdish with their children. Only such an attitude can really fight assimilation."