Education and Science Workers' Union (Eğitim Sen) organised a workshop “Towards a solution in mother tongue education; possibilities, obstacles, suggestions” in Amed (Diyarbakır) on the last weekend. Many linguists from Kurdistan, Turkey and the world shared their experiences on different topics. Prof. Dr Robert Douglas Dunbar made a presentation entitled "Experiences of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Canada". 

 

Dunbar, professor at Edinburgh University, made evaluations to Mezopotamya Agency (MA) on the importance of education in mother tongue and Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan's "Call for Peace and Democratic Society".  

 

LANGUAGE IS AN IMPORTANT ELEMENT IN PEACE PROCESS

 

Dunbar, who is originally from Canada and continues his studies in Scotland, emphasised that education in the mother tongue is important in terms of respect for identities and cultures. Emphasising that every person has the right to receive education in their mother tongue, Dunbar said: "That doesn't prevent the acquisition of other languages, including the official language of the state, but it's very important for children, young people, to be educated in their minority language, or to learn the language. They may be of an ethnic group, but because of historical inequalities, they may not speak or fully speak their community's language, and it's important for them to speak that language as well. There are rights associated with this in international law. It's also important for the development of abilities of young people. Mother tongue education has many benefits in terms of their cognitive development, and this is very important to remember as well, and that has implications for how successful in life they are. So mother tongue education is very important from all of these perspectives.

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Stating that he has been following the Kurds' struggle for their mother tongue for years, Dunbar also shared that he prepared a report on Kurdish language rights within the scope of the “Kurdish Human Rights Project” in London. Dunbar noted that social peace and harmony can be achieved by respecting the languages and cultures of different peoples. Stating that the mother tongue workshop was also very important, Dunbar said: "It's very important that there is through respect, through the language, that is manifested by things like mother tongue, education, giving the people the opportunity to become literate in their language, for people to learn the language. This is important in maintaining the language, but it's also an important mark of respect.This is an important element in any peace process."

 

Dunbar added, "There is a long and difficult history here. When I first came in 2002 there was no Kurdish recognition of Kurdish in the public space as well, not in education, not in the media, not in in even public signage. For me, as the speaker of a minority language from another country. This was very surprising. And I think this is problematic in terms of social harmony over time recognition needs to develop for that sort of long term peace." 

 

MANDELA EXAMPLE

 

Referring to the call made by Abdullah Öcalan, Dunbar gave the example of Nelson Mandela, who dedicated his life to the freedom of Africans who were subjected to racism. Reminding that Mandela was also imprisoned for many years and was later taken as an interlocutor for peace, Dunbar stressed: "In Northern Ireland many of the leaders of the nationalist organization were involved or were associated with violence, but for peace to have been reached in Northern Ireland required negotiation and discussion with leaders of Sinn Fein, a political organization that represented nationalists. The states Britain, in South Africa, they found it difficult to negotiate and discuss and free leaders of the people who they considered were fighting against them, but it was important to have a discussion on that basis. So I think those lessons in South Africa, for example, for there to be peace, not only the leader Mandela had to be freed so he could negotiate with the government. In Northern Ireland as part of that peace process, many people who were imprisoned on both sides of the dispute were released from prison so that negotiations could proceed. And I think that at some point there has to be recognition that Öcalan is viewed by Kurdish people as the spokesman for the Kurdish people. And if there's going to be negotiation, there has to be recognition of that fact."

 

MA / Müjdat Can - Hîvda Çelebi