PM Barzani congratulates Kurdish people on Mother Language Day

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Wednesday wished a "Happy Mother Language Day to all Kurdish people" on International Mother Language Day, in a message posted on X.

ڕۆژی زمانی دایک لە هەموو کوردستانیان پیرۆز بێت.#LanguageDay pic.twitter.com/lFeh7UEYrq

— Masrour Barzani (@masrourbarzani) February 21, 2024

Aimed at raising awareness of the diversity of languages and the need to preserve those that are endangered, the United Nations’ scientific and cultural organization, known as UNESCO, marked Feb. 21 as the day to celebrate the cause globally. The day has been observed since 2000.

According to UNESCO, 40 percent of the global population do not have access to studying in their mother tongues.

The Iraqi Constitution, however, includes both Kurdish and Arabic as the official state languages and allows education in mother languages to be taught in schools across the country. This includes Turkmen, Assyrians, and Armenians.

The Kurdish language (Kurdî) has several dialects, the most spoken variants being Sorani, and Kurmanci. Other lesser-spoken variants include Badini, Hawrami, Zazaki, Gorani, Laki, and Feyli. The language is primarily spoken in the countries of Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey, and is also spoken in various other countries with Kurdish diasporas, particularly in Western European and Nordic countries. Its various dialects are written in several scripts, including Latin, Cyrillic, and Aramaic, yet phonetically the language is part of the Indo-European language family.