Turkish response, but not very good one because this will hurt their bid to join the EU.
Turkey's Kurdish Language Schools to Close
By SUZAN FRASER, Associated Press Writer
ANKARA, Turkey - The directors of Turkey's eight privately owned Kurdish language schools announced Monday they were closing them due to bureaucratic hurdles and Kurdish demands for the language to be part of the regular school curriculum.
Turkey, working toward membership in the European Union, changed its laws in 2002 to allow limited Kurdish classes as part of reforms demanded by the EU, which is pressuring Turkey to grant greater cultural rights to Kurds.
The change was a major step for Turkey, where until 1991 it was illegal even to speak Kurdish.
The Kurdish language schools opened in 2004. Although welcomed by many Kurds as a first step toward language education, the schools have also been criticized by those who see them as products of a halfhearted government attempt to improve Kurdish rights and win EU approval.
Critics say the classes are too expensive for many Kurds. Some are calling on the government to allow Kurdish language classes in state schools.
"We took this decision because of ...the request for education in the mother tongue at schools," said Suleyman Yilmaz, director of the course in Diyarbakir.
"The Kurdish people do not want to learn their mother tongue the way we teach it, but want education in their mother tongue," Yilmaz said.
He said that while it takes two or three months for most private schools to obtain government permits, it can take up to 18 months for the government to grant permits for Kurdish language schools.
He spoke on behalf of seven directors of private Kurdish language schools and one who is still waiting for a government permit to open a school in Agri province in eastern Turkey.
Turkey is to begin EU membership negotiations in three months, and closure of the schools was seen as a move to pressure the government to take bolder steps toward Kurdish language rights.
The EU has called on Turkey to press ahead with reform and has warned that any backtracking on democracy or human rights could lead to a halt in the negotiating process.
Nazmi Gur, vice chairman of the pro-Kurdish DEHAP political party, said his party first welcomed the opening of Kurdish language schools "because they broke a taboo in Turkey."
"But it is an insult to Kurds to expect them to pay to learn their own language," he said, adding that Kurdish should be taught in schools alongside Turkish.
Officials from the Turkish Culture Ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.
Turkish nationalists have long opposed increased cultural rights for the country's estimated 12 million Kurds, fearing that would embolden separatists. Turkish soldiers have battled Kurdish guerrillas in the southeast since 1984, a conflict that has left 37,000 dead. There has been a recent surge in violence.
link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050801/...rdish_language