Secondary schools for Turkish immigrants in Germany ? But not one single school for 15 million Kurdish “native inhabitants” in Turkey!
Merkel must speak out energetically to Erdogan for Kurdish to be a language of instruction
On the occasion of the impending visit of the German Chancellor to Turkey the Society for Threatened Peoples STP (Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker GfbV) urged Angela Merkel on Thursday to speak out energetically for the introduction of Kurdish as a language of instruction in Turkish Kurdistan. “It is quite absurd for a Turkish prime minister to demand senior schools for Turkish immigrants in Germany and at the same time to permit not one single school for 15 million indigenous Kurdish citizens in their mother tongue”, said the STP chairperson, Tilman Zülch, in Göttingen. “And in the last instance it is disgraceful that Kurdish mayors are to the present day being taken into custody for using in official acts the mother tongue of their voters.”
Merkel must urge Turkey to put European nationality policies into practice and follow the example of Spain, said Zülch. In all schools of Catalonia Catalonian has been introduced as a language of instruction or second language for its six million inhabitants. The Charta of Regional and Minority Languages of the European Union provides for the protection of indigenous language minorities. For this reason North-Frisian and Sater-Frisian in the north-east of the country, Danish in South Schleswig, Sorbian in the Upper and Lower Lusatia and Romany for the German Sinti and Roma are recognized languages. Their schools and culture institutes are subsidized by the government.
“The Kurds living in Germany , who number almost 800,000, will be watching very closely the visit of the German Chancellor to Turkey ”, said Zülch. The Kurds have in their main settlement area been suppressed or persecuted since the accession to power of Kemal Atatürk.
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Für Menschenrechte. Weltweit. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker / Society for Threatened Peoples P.O. Box 20 24 – D-37010 Göttingen/Germany Nahostreferat/ Middle East Desk Dr. Kamal Sido – Tel: +49 (0) 551 49906-18 – Fax: +49 (0) 551 58028
E-Mail: [email protected]
