The Istanbul Association for Kurdish Studies will be offering courses in the Kurdish languages ​​Hewramî and Kelhûrî from December 7.

The initiative is intended to put a stop to the denial and assimilation policy legitimized by the state ideology, explains Eyüp Subaşı, the association's co-chair. The online lessons with professional teachers will take place on Zoom and last three months. Sorani courses are also available.

"It is the first time that language courses of Hewramî and Kelhûrî are being held in Turkey or North Kurdistan,” says Subaşı, long-time employee and language professor of the association.

Since March 2017 the association has continued its work as Komeleya Lêkolînên Kurdî to promote the Kurdish language, culture and literature. The facility was founded 28 years ago, on 18 April, 1992, as the Kurdish Institute Istanbul (Enstîtuya Kurdî ya Stenbolê). The name change was the result of an association ban imposed by the Erdogan government with the emergency regulation issued in 2016. Except for the name, nothing has changed at the institute.

Subaşı believes that there are “particularly zealous efforts” to isolate the Kurdish population, which is divided into four states. "Basically, - he added - it could be described as a broad program. This inevitably means that the Kurds do not really know each other. With the courses in the dialects Hewramî, Kelhûrî and Sorani, which are spoken in south and east Kurdistan, as well as in the various Kurdish variants in Bakur (north), the association wants to make it easier to get to know each other, but also to arouse interest in science and research in the field of Kurdish language and culture.