Turkey could introduce Kurdish courses in schools

By Agence France Presse (AFP)

ANKARA, Turkey: The Kurdish language could be introduced as an elective course in Turkish schools, a newspaper reported Wednesday, as the government pursues reforms aimed at eroding support for Kurdish separatists. “Students who are interested could be taught Kurdish as an elective course. Let those who wish, learn it,” Omer Celik, a lawmaker from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s inner circle, told the Aksam newspaper.

“If this is not done … that will amount to erecting a cultural Berlin Wall.” Ankara has said it is working on fresh reforms to expand Kurdish freedoms in a bid to erode popular support for separatist rebels fighting the government and peacefully end the 25-year conflict in the southeast.

Teaching the Kurdish language at private courses was already legalized in 2002 in a taboo-breaking move prompted by Ankara’s efforts to align with European Union democracy norms.

But any interest in such courses soon faded, with activists insisting Kurdish children should study their language at schools rather than at paid courses.

The government has remained tight-lipped on the content of the new reform plan, while struggling to win support from civic groups and a hostile opposition which argues broader Kurdish rights will threaten Turkey’s unity.

Celik said Turkish would remain the official constitutional language and dismissed suggestions that the Kurdish-majority southeast might be granted administrative autonomy or federal status.

“There will no step that may harm the unitarian structure,” he told Aksam.

Eager to boost its EU bid, Turkey in recent years granted the Kurds a series of cultural freedoms, including the inauguration of a public Kurdish-language television in January.

But Ankara has failed to draw up a clear strategy to convince the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to lay down arms, rejecting suggestions for a general amnesty for its militants.

Jaileed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, serving a life sentence since 1999, is expected to announce soon his own proposals for a peaceful settlement.

But President Abdullah Gul has categorically rejected dialogue with Ocalan and the PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community.

“Forget about it … They are not interlocutors,” he told reporters late Tuesday.