News Center- A march was held in Amed (Diyarbakır) on Wednesday to mark the Kurdish Language Day, annually observed on May 15. Hundreds gathered at Roboskî Park in the city as part of a joint program by the Mesopotamia Language and Culture Research Association (MED-DER), the Kurdish Literature Association (KLA), the Amed Kurdish Institute, the  DESTAR magazine, the Free Women’s Movement (Kurdish: Tevgera Jinên Azad-TJA), Democratic Regions Party (DBP) and the Peoples' Democracy and Equality Party (DEM Party).

Wearing their traditional clothes, the people held a banner reading, “Happy Kurdish Language Day”. “No one will be able to make the Kurdish language go extinct even if a thousand years pass. We will struggle for our language to the end,” said DBP Amed Co-chair Sultan Yaray, commemorating Kurdish writer Celadet Ali Bedirxan.

‘The Kurdish people exist with their language’

“Kurdish is the most fundamental, ancient and cultural value of the Kurdish people and humanity,” said the statement read after the march. The Kurdish language is the existence, national identity and honor of the Kurdish people; it unites Kurds. The Kurdish people exist with their language. The freedom of the Kurdish language is the main source of the liberation and freedom of the Kurdish nation. The Kurdish people always make great efforts to preserve and develop the Kurdish language. Kurdish women and mothers, the fighters and leaders of the Kurdish language keep struggling to preserve the Kurdish language despite all kinds of oppression and challenges. Celadet Ali Bedirxan was one of the protectors of the Kurdish language by developing a new Latin alphabet for the Kurdish language. On May 15, 1932, he published a Kurdish cultural magazine called ‘Hawar’ with his friends. The seed planted by Celadet Ali Bedirxan and his friends has become a fundamental historical source for the development of the Kurdish language.”

Since 2006, 15 May, the date of the first publication of Hawar in 1932, has been celebrated as the Kurdish language day.

‘We must preserve our language’

“The Kurdish politics, language and culture have been subjected to all kinds of oppression for years,” said DEM Party Co-chair Tuncer Bakırhan. “Today, we cannot celebrate our day with free words. There are many police warning us. Despite all the kinds of oppression, we must preserve our language.  We commemorate Celadet Ali Bedirxan. We are grateful to Bedirxan and those who carry out studies to preserve the Kurdish language. We will always speak, write and think in Kurdish everywhere.”