The Martyr Herekol Book Fair was organised by the Cizire (Jazira) Culture and Arts Committee on 20 July 2018, following demands from readers, book lovers and intellectuals.

Although the fairs are welcomed with great interest everywhere, the interest of young people is not at the desired level. According to Aram Ali, member of the Cizire Region Culture and Art Committee, who is involved in the organization of the fair, the problem is that new generations don’t seem to find fairs very interesting.

Aram Ali told ANHA that a large number of Kurdish publishing houses have been opened in the last six years, following the Rojava Revolution, and that these publishing houses have reached the level of publishing houses in other languages. “Should an example be made - said Aram - at the Martyr Herekol Book Fair 200 titles in Kurdish were presented”.

Aram said that they organized book fairs for two years, and added that the audience most attracted to fairs is around 40 and up, while young people didn’t show the same interest.

Aram added: “Clearly, every age group should read books. But if we say that youth is the future of society, young people would need to do more research and should educate themselves at a deeper level. Young people visiting our fair - he added - are either students or employees of our institutions. Many students would visit the fairs because they need books for their classes. In other words - Aram said - they don't come to the fair because they love reading or they are curious about new ideas”.

Young people spent more time in the virtual environment, Aram said adding that this habit results in a weakening of the culture of reading books.

Ruling powers promoting laziness among young people

“Our youth - he said - is spending more time with things like Facebook and the other so-called social media. The ruling powers use their power in media, economics and all other areas to promote a kind of laziness in our youth. In other words, they are attacking young people with all their power, so that they move away from the youth community and the land. We hope that young people will begin to recuperate the value and importance of books. Because there is development in books, the reality of society, thousands of years of accumulation and struggle. These fairs are organized mostly for young people”.

Our institutions should improve the reading culture

Aram ended his remarks by saying: “There is one main problem in our society. Right now, all the forces are attacking us on all sides. This is hindering the development of our interest in reading. However, - said Aram - we do not lose hope in our young people, but we must make them love this culture. We should develop the culture of reading in all our political and social institutions, even in our communes, and take encouraging steps in this regard”.