Teachers from Kobanê have reacted to children in tent cities in Suruç only being given lessons in Turkish instead of support being leant to mother tongue education. They said: “We are not opposed to children learning different languages, but we are opposed to their being prevented from learning to read and write in their mother tongue.”

Thousands of children who were forced to flee Kobanê and take refuge in Suruç on account of ISIS gang attacks want education in their mother tongue. Classes have been set up in 5 camps belonging to the Suruç Municipality. In these classes where lessons are given by teachers from Kobanê there is a need for equipment. In the state-run AFAD camp, however, education is being given in Turkish and Arabic rather than in the mother tongue. In recent days officials have made manipulative statements claiming that: “The people from Kobanê are eager to learn Turkish.”

‘They cannot speak in our name’

Families from Kobanê have reacted angrily to such statements, saying: “We have no problem with learning other languages, but our children should first have education in their mother tongue. We have resisted assimilation for years. In Rojava we have established our own education system after the revolution and we want to continue this.”

Narin Hemo, who was a Kurdish teacher in Kobanê for 3 years and is now teaching Kurdish to children between 6 and 10 at the Arin Mirxan tent city in Suruç, said that Kurdish was the language that children from Kobanê needed to learn first.

‘We are not opposed to different languages’

Hamo said that once the war was over they would return to Kobanê, adding that no one had come to stay. He continued, saying: “Despite hardships we are trying to teach the children to read and write in Kurdish here in the tents.” He said the Turkish officials were lying when they said that children from Kobanê wanted to learn Turkish. “No child has come to me and said: ‘I want to learn Turkish’, he stressed. He continued: “We are not opposed to children learning different languages, but we are opposed to their being prevented from learning to read and write in their mother tongue. Until a certain age the children should learn to read and write in Kurdish. After that they can learn other languages.” He added that they wished children in the tent cities to be educated primarily in their mother tongue.