The Bêrîvan primary school in Cizre, chosen as a pilot area for mother tongue education, has opened at a ceremony attended by thousands of people.

Today in Cizre the bell rang for the start of the school year in a Kurdish school, not in the state schools. Thousands of people who did not send their children to state schools marched from the Cizre branch of Kurdi-Der to the Cizre office of the Turkish National Education Directorate. The march took place to musical accompaniment and was joined by HDP Şırnak MP Faysal Sarıyıldız, DBP and HDP Şırnak provincial and district executives, Cizre municipality co-mayors Leyla İmret and Kadir Kunur and representatives of many trade unions and NGOs.

Kurdi - Der Cizre branch official Abdurahman Aşkın spoke at a press release outside the Education Directorate, saying the banning of a language implied the banning of a people, adding: “a language is a people’s identity. A people that loses its language has also lost its culture and its honour.” He said that they wanted Kurdish to be recognised as an official language, adding that they were boycotting state schools for a week. Following the reading of the press release the people went to the Nur neighbourhood to inaugurate the Bêrîvan primary school.  

Cizre co-mayor Leyla Imret spoke before the opening, saying: “at last we have our own schools. Our children will receive education in their mother tongue. Kurdish children do not have to receive education in a language they don’t know. We will do all we can to support this school. May it be auspicious for all our people.”

HDP Şırnak MP Faysal Sarıyıldız stressed that the Bêrîvan primary school was something won by the struggle waged by the Kurdish people.

Following the speeches, the Bêrîvan primary school was opened with great joy and excitement. The people looked around the classes and sat in the rows where their children will receive education in Kurdish for the first time.