The Turkish state continues with the colonialist practices in Kurdish cities.

Attacks against the Kurdish language and Kurdish values in usurped municipalities continue. The Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality Trustee Cumali Atilla had had many Kurdish symbols and signs in Kurdish from the streets, and has now removed Kurdish from the street signage on avenues and boulevards.

KURDISH SIGNS REMOVED

The DBP municipality had put up bilingual signage on the main roads, which are now removed and replaced with signs in Turkish alone. Many Kurdish signs have already been removed from the city, and the most recent removal includes the sign of the Yeniköy Cemetery: The sign used to read Yeniköy Mezarlığı (Goristana Yenîkoyê) in Turkish and Kurdish, and now only reads Yeniköy Mezarlığı.

The signs on the Zümrütkent Avenue that read “Mardin (Mêrdîn)” and “Batman (Êlih)”, and the sign that read “Urfa (Riha)” on the 75 Meter Road were also taken down and replaced with signs that read “Mardin”, “Batman” and “Şanlıurfa”. The sign that read “Caddeya Mehmed Uzun” was replaced with the Turkish version, “Mehmed Uzun Caddesi (Avenue)”.

The bilingual signage in many locations throughout the city have been replaced with Turkish signs. Similarly, many Kurdish signs on busy streets like the 75 Meter Road and Elazığ Avenue have been taken down. The bilingual signs were reportedly taken down after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Amed last month.