Piran Medya, born and raised in East Kurdistan, studied 11 years at the schools of the Iranian regime. Because he was denied his mother language in his own homeland, he began to struggle for the language. This struggle led him to learn also a variety of other languages in order to expand his horizon. Piran Medya acquired knowledge of the languages Kurdish, Turkish, Arabic and the Kurdish dialects Soranî and Dimilkî. After joining the guerrilla ranks in 2015, he increased his quest of attaining deep linguistic knowledge.

Medya pointed out that the banning of the Kurdish language is grave disrespect towards the history and those who prohibited the language are trying to wipe out the future and history of an entire people. He stated: "As the Kurdish language entails great historical importance, its banning implies harsh disrespect towards history itself. Kurds were always subject to pressure and force, in order to hinder the Kurdish people from speaking their mother tongue and taking a stand for their own identity and culture. Our people are calling out today 'I am a Kurd', as the result of an enormous struggle they fought. But despite all that, they are still prevented from speaking their mother language at heart’s will due to fascist practices imposed on them. When a person says, 'I am a Kurd, I was born with this identity, I grew up with this identity', but cannot express themselves with their mother tongue, it creates a dramatic situation. Like other nations too, we are known for the wide range of our language in the Middle East as well. Colonial powers have nevertheless constantly imposed bans and prohibitions on us in the course of history."

MOTHER TONGUE OF THE KURDS BANNED

HPG guerrilla Medya stressed that there is no difference between the Kurds and the Arab, Persian, Turkmen and the other peoples living in the Middle East and said the following about the bans on the Kurdish language: "Those nations live in the Middle East and they can use and speak their mother language and live their own cultures to their heart’s content. However on the Kurds always oppressions were enforced and dark powers that meddled in the Middle East nonstop exerted violence against the Kurds all the time. Therefore the use of our language could not be intensified that much. Also in these current days those fascist approaches continue in form of a wide range of different policies."

Medya recalled that despite the coexistence of the Azeri, Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic and Persian peoples, the only language that gets banned is each time Kurdish only, saying: "In order to be able to communicate and understand each other, we learn as a matter of fact each other’s languages. Coexisting people can contribute to each other’s rich qualities with the respect they bear for all the different traditions and cultures. Kurdish people's Leader Abdullah Öcalan says 'not speaking one's own mother tongue is a shame, but speaking other different languages is not a shame at all." We studied at the schools of the Iranian regime. Learning a language is of great value. Because our mother tongue is banned, this value turns out to become fascism. All the peoples living in the Middle East are free to learn aside from their own mother tongue also every language they desire. It is possible for people to live side by side without assimilating and plundering each other's cultures."

CULTURAL RICHNESS IN THE RANKS OF THE PKK

Medya, who is himself multilingual and found himself after joining the ranks of the PKK surrounded by people of many different nationalities, undertook great efforts to boost his knowledge of his mother language. Regarding his relations with his comrades of other ethnicities, Medya said: "When we gather with our comrades and converse, but face some difficulties to express ourselves, we communicate in each other’s respective languages. This also shows the abundance of the cultures and languages inherent in the PKK ranks."

KURDISH IS A LEADING AND PROGRESSIVE LANGUAGE

Medya pointed out that in history peoples always used to fight big struggles for their defence and culture, and stated that the Kurds are still continuing this struggle of theirs. He added: "The efforts of the colonial powers to estrange the Kurds from their identity and language have always been persistent. Archaeological finds in our geography prove how rich our language in fact is. And this implies how leading and progressive the Kurdish language truly is."