YXK and JXK open Kurdish language course in Basel

Jinên Xwendekarên Kurdistan (Female Students from Kurdistan) and Yekîtiya Xwedenkarên Kurdistan (Kurdistan Students Union) opened a language course in Basel in order to promote the Kurdish language against assimilation and bans.

Students started to take Kurdish language lessons at the Basel Democratic Kurdish Community Center.

In a statement, JXK and YXK activists said that the language course they started with the aim of promoting the use of the Kurdish language will not be limited to the city of Basel, but will spread throughout Switzerland.

Stating that the course will be given to young people and families in particular, the students added: “None of us knew Turkish before, we all learned it in schools. Now we speak Turkish better than Turks. Because we have always been told that the Kurds are uneducated, we had to prove something and studied more than others.

It is thought that the Kurdish language has not existed for nearly a hundred years. Along with the language ban, the Kurdish people themselves were also banned. In addition, exile and oppression are among the reasons why the Kurdish language has difficulties in its development and is not used in society.”

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The students added: “The Kurdish language has been rendered vulnerable by the alienation of the people from their natural environment. With the migration to the cities, the Kurds and their mother tongue have also begun to fade away. Even speaking Kurdish was seen as shameful. However, Kurdish is a very rich language. But since Turkish is the language of education and administration, the Kurdish language is in danger of extinction.”

The students said: “Kurdish is no longer denied as it used to be, but more engagement is needed. Acting with a national consciousness preserves and develops the language. Without such awareness, language has no chance of survival. For this reason, we are working to preserve the Kurdish language, and we see that this work has had a positive impact on Kurdish politics. A political movement fighting for the rights and freedoms of the Kurds should express itself in Kurdish. What is particularly important here is that the Kurdish language gains an official dimension in all institutional structures and is used in daily life as well.

That’s why we say: Zimanê me rûmeta me ye!”