Politics

Kurdish MP sparks controversy speaking Kurdish and Arabic in Turkish parliament

Green Left MP Beritan Gunes Altin sparked controversy in the Turkish parliament when she delivered her speech in Kurdish and Arabic

Wladimir van Wilgenburg 2023/07/14 10:35

Turkish parliament (Photo: Anadolu News Agency)

Turkey Turkish parliament Kurdish Language AKP Green Left Party

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Beritan Gunes Altin, a parliament member for the Green Left Party, sparked controversy on Thursday when she opened her address in Turkish, Kurdish and Arabic in her first address after being elected.

Gercek News reports that the Deputy Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly was asked by some members of parliament (MPs) on Thursday to intervene when Gunes Altin, from the multilingual city of Mardin, saluted the parliament in Turkish, Kurdish, and Arabic.

Green Left MP Beritan Gunes Altin sparked controversy in the Turkish parliament when she delivered her speech also in Kurdish and Arabic. pic.twitter.com/ab4UcTsJ5C
— Kurdistan 24 English (@K24English) July 13, 2023

The MPs argued that the language of the parliament is only Turkish.

"This is the first address I'm making in the Grand National Assembly, and before I continue with the rest of my address, I'd like to express my thanks in the languages of the peoples of Mardin, where I was elected,” MP Beritan Gunes Altin said, reported Gercek News.

“I wish that Mardin's multilingual and multicultural life serves as a model of inspiration for the assembly.”

While Turkish remains the sole official language in Turkey, there has been persistent demand from the Kurdish population, which numbers over 20 million, for the right to education in their mother tongue.

In Turkey, various governments in the past have implemented strict bans or significant suppression of the Kurdish language.

Despite this, there has been gradual integration of Kurdish identity since the early 1990s, with the lifting of the ban on Kurdish names in 2000, and further liberalization during the rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), including the establishment of a Kurdish-language government channel in 2009. However, the Turkish government under President Erdogan has shown a tendency to resort to past policies that suppressed the Kurdish language and its identity.