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  • Kurdish, A Humanitarian Language

    KURDISH, A HUMANITARIAN LANGUAGE
    By Ferhad Pirbal

    Kurdish Globe, Iraq
    http://www.kurdishglobe.net/displayArticle.jsp?id =99AD1215D4DD8DA7CA9A5700F8AEAACA
    April 30 2008

    A message from Kurdish authors to the European Parliament

    "What we see today is that countries like Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and
    Iran, who always claim to practice the Islamic religion, try to forbid
    the use of Kurdish culture and language in spite of all the sacrifices
    the Kurdish people offered for the sake of Islamic religion!"

    The annual cultural festival was held in Belgium from April 17-19
    under the sponsorship of Belgium's Ministry of Culture, the Kurdish
    Institution in Brussels, and the organization of Het Beschrijif VZW,
    also in Brussels. The mentioned organizations asked me to write a
    message; it was read during the festival on April 19 and it will be
    presented to the European Parliament by those Kurdish authors who
    participated in the festival. The message, also translated into Dutch
    and French.

    I also wanted to publish that message, which concerns the issue of
    saving the Kurdish language and culture in Turkey, Syria, and Iran,
    for The Kurdish Globe readers:

    The Kurdish language is the language of more than 45 million
    people, and it has been jailed. It is distributed throughout several
    countries. The Kurdish language is one of those languages that served
    as a basic structure in the founding and development of Eastern
    civilization, and it served humanity centuries ago.

    The famous book of Anabaz (401 B.C.), written by great Greek
    philosopher Xenophones, is the most ancient documentary data that
    refers to the existence of the Kurdish language; it mentions the
    Kurdish language of a time when Greeks had sent interpreters to
    translate the Kurdish language for them.

    Post Jesus's birth, the Kurdish language held a high humanitarian
    position. It was full of peaceful messages. In prehistoric times,
    it was written in the Pahlavi alphabet, and then in Syriac letters;
    Easterners benefitted from it. After that, under the influence of
    Islamic religion, the Kurdish language was obliged to be written in
    the Arabic alphabet. In 1856, the Kurdish language was practiced in
    written form in the Armenian alphabet and was used to translate the
    Bible from the Armenian alphabet into the Kurdish language in order
    for Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Armenians who lived in Kurdistan to be
    able to read and practice their religion.

    It is true that the Kurds had no country, but they still published
    their first newspaper in the Kurdish language in 1898, as did Persians,
    Arabs, and Turks. The attractive point here is that the first Kurdish
    newspaper was nongovernmental and private, unlike the first Persian,
    Turkish, and Arabic newspapers, which were government-issued papers
    about government activities. The first Kurdish newspaper was published
    by a Kurdish cultural individual who provided for the cost of the
    newspaper without government assistance; he wanted to focus on issues
    like culture, public news, and the rescue of people under the power of
    Ottoman feudalism and totalitarian government. The cultural practice
    of the first Kurdish newspaper (Cairo, Geneva, 1898-1902) is obvious
    evidence that the Kurdish language, from so many years ago to the
    present, strived to explain the meaningful purpose of culture to
    humanity and reached for a humane democratic and peaceful situation,
    which is why the Kurdish language deserves to be proud.

    In the passage of time, such a great offer to humanity has made
    problems for the Kurdish language and has become a victim after
    sacrificing itself for others. The history of great Kurdish ruler
    Salahaddin al-Ayubi (1138-93) tells us that in 1187, his empire decreed
    an order allowing the use of the Armenian language so that Armenians
    could write down their culture and religion and have freedom of
    expression; he didn't decree any decision to encourage his nation (the
    Kurdish nation) to practice the Kurdish language and develop Kurdish
    culture. What we see today is that countries like Syria, Turkey, Iraq,
    and Iran, who always claim to practice the Islamic religion, try to
    forbid the use of Kurdish culture and language in spite of all the
    sacrifices the Kurdish people offered for the sake of Islamic religion!

    What is shocking along with this history is that the Kurdish language
    has been forbidden through means like religion and politics and
    has not been allowed to be expressed freely. Kurdish authors and
    cultural people, historians, and others were obliged to submit to those
    authorities who always conquered their lands, and were forced to write
    in Persian, Arabic, and Turkish to serve human culture. These Kurdish
    authors, thinkers, and scientists who wrote in foreign languages rather
    than Kurdish include Ibn Khallikan (an Islamic sociologist in the 13th
    century); Ibn Sirin (the first Muslim scientist who interpreted the
    psychology of dreams centuries before Sigmund Freud); Ahmed Shawqi
    (who pioneered the modern Egyptian literary movement and was named
    the Prince of Poets); Qassim Amin (the first cultural man in the East
    who defended women's rights); Nezami Ganjavi (a famous Iranian epic
    poet of centuries ago); Yashar Kamal (a famous novelist in Turkey);
    Yilmaz Guney (a Turkish film producer and director); and Salim Barakat
    (a great Syrian author). Among all these great cultural people are
    others who invented great things and were originally Kurdish.

    The success of Kurdish people continues to this day. In 2007, Kurdish
    author Seyhmus Dagtekin was awarded the most famous poetry prize in
    France, the Prix Malarme. All of this evidence bears out the fact that
    if the Kurdish language becomes free and if Kurdish culture could be
    written down freely, many great works would be produced that would
    be as magnificent as those written works in European languages.

    Very much worth mentioning is that were the Kurdish language freely
    spoken, a language that is spoken by more than 45 million independent
    people who are under dictatorial powers, then it would give all
    mankind access to a growing number of people with a great hidden
    humanitarian ability, a people wishing to install peace and democracy
    in the Middle East.
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