INTERNATIONAL MOTHER LANGUAGE DAY

On the International Mother Language Day, Turkey is a country where its citizens have to fear for the safety of their lives when singing a song in their native language on the street.

Young man Emrah Gezer was killed by a former special operations police officer in Ankara in the course of a birthday party celebrated in a bar because he sang a Kurdish song.

Blamed for PKK membership because of singing Kurdish songs

In the first hearing of the case on 11 February at the Ankara 9^th High Criminal Court Baran Gezer stated, "We were singing songs at the bar and enjoying ourselves. We sang Kurdish songs as well. Sinem Uludağ, sitting at the table next to us, said, 'Dirty PKK members, I cannot stay in a place together with PKK members'. He started cursing and throwing glasses at us. The two people sitting next to him shouted, 'What kind of man are you. Beat them'. The waiters got in between. The owner of the bar made them leave. When we went out afterwards, we heard the noise of weapons. I saw Emrah falling to the ground. A person called Serkan shot my brother directly".

Both detained defendants Serkan and Levent Akbulut are police officers. They conceded that the incident evolved "because of a Kurdish song". The case is to be continued on 6 April.

Kurdish artist Rojda on trial

The government lifted restrictions on local radio and television programs broadcasting in languages and dialects other than Turkish. A TRT channel for instance is broadcasting in the Kurdish dialect Kırmançi 24 hours a day.

However, Kurdish artist Rojda had recently been arrested for "propaganda for an illegal organization" on the ground of a Kurdish song called "Heval Kamuran". Rojda was released within a couple of hours after her statement had been taken.

BDP co-chairs call for the protection of peoples' mother tongues

A few days before the arrest, Selahattin Demirtaş and Gültan Kışanak, co-chairs of pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) had emphasized the importance of protecting the mother tongue.

The Political Parties Law and the Election Law forbid political propaganda in any other language but Turkey in the run-up for elections. The government announced that in the scope of the democratic initiative measures are in progress to allow addressing the Kurdish electorate in their mother tongue.

Backlash for promoting the Kurdish language

Kurdish politician Orhan Miroğlu applied to the European Court of Human Rights after his conviction based on having addressed his electorate in Kurdish in Mersin in the run up to the General Elections in 2007.

Diyarbakır Mayor of the Sur distrtict Adullah Demirbaş and the parents of ten-year-old girl M.Ö. were investigated because the girl gave Kurdish lessons within the scope of a Municipality Project. The Public Prosecution did not see legal grounds to open a case.

Politician Mahmut Alınak was handed down a six months prison sentence by the Kars Magistrate Criminal Court on the grounds of  playing Kurdish music on his promotion van in the run-up to the elections. (EÖ/VK)