Ministers had decided on Oct. 12 that Turkey’s Living Languages Institute would be established at Mardin Artuklu University in response a request by the Ministry of Education on Oct. 7.
The living languages department will educate only postgraduate and doctoral students. The establishment of the institute disappointed parts of the academic world, pro-Kurdish circles and defenders of rights, who expected a Kurdish language and literature department to be established at the undergraduate level.
The institute will teach Kurdish and other regional languages, including Persian, Arabic and Aramaic. Mardin Artuklu University had applied to the Higher Education Board (YÖK) for permission to establish a Kurdish language department and had prepared the infrastructure for it, including the course schedule for both undergraduate and graduate levels.
Mardin Artuklu University President Serdar Bedii Omay had said the establishment of Kurdology departments would have positively contributed to peace in society.
Speaking Kurdish was banned in Turkey until 1991. Prodded by the European Union, which has been pressing Turkey to strengthen Kurdish rights, the country has allowed private language schools to teach Kurdish and some Kurdish-language radio and TV stations to operate. In January, the government launched a 24-hour state-run Kurdish television station. In a gesture of goodwill to Kurdish citizens, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also uttered a few words in Kurdish on the day the station was launched.
Benzer Haberler 
National
