The KJK Coordination issued a written statement to mark the occasion of 21 February International Mother Language Day.

The statement said: “Those who lose their mother language will lose everything," and called on all Kurds to "claim their mother language”.

The KJK statement said: "The Kurdish people are the oldest settled people of Mesopotamia and hence one of the most ancient peoples of human history. They played a leading role with women in the socialization of humanity and hence of human beings.

The work of women and peoples, belief groups living in these lands, which played a strategic role in the socialization of humanity and invented important tools that create surplus production, is now accepted by scientists. Humanity has socialized, grown and developed in Kurdistan. Neolithic culture is the main source of human development. The Kurdish people and women are the oldest settled people living here. Therefore, the Kurdish culture is the oldest human culture and language.

The orientalist perspective of capitalist modernity does not admit that Mesopotamia is the center and leading groppo in human history. According to them, the origin center of humanity and civilization is to be found in the West.”

Today, said the statement, “the attacks on Kurdish history, culture, language, and homeland for the last two centuries are the attacks of the patriarchal system against the culture of women. Although the Kurdish language is the oldest language in the history of humanity, the fragmentary and genocidal policies of the hegemonic system and the Turkish, Iranian, Syrian and Iraqi states in the region want to destroy it. They wanted to destroy and erase the Kurdish language and its dialects from history .”

The statement added: “With the Kurdish people reclaiming their homeland in all parts of Kurdistan, the Kurdish language also managed to sustain itself. The PKK struggle led by President Apo (Öcalan) has managed to ensure the survival of the Kurdish language and culture thanks to the resistance of the Kurdish women's movement. The PKK struggle and its history were also the struggle to keep our mother tongue, Kurdish, and its dialects alive.”

The statement continued: “Today, keeping the Kurdish language alive, as well as Kurmancî, Zazaki, Sorani and all its dialects is one of our main areas of struggle. In all Mesopotamian lands, we women should struggle to ensure that Kurdish is recognised as an official language with all its dialects.”

Call to women

The statement issued the following call: “On this basis, we call on all Kurdish women to reclaim the Kurdish language on International Mother Language Day. A people who loses their mother tongue, an identity loses everything. The mother tongue is the power to express feelings and thoughts in the most complete and truthful way. Therefore, the Kurdish language is the basic element of protecting and developing the Kurdish culture. Let's oppose the genocidal policies developed by the Turkish state against the Kurdish culture, language, music, folklore, literature and press by using it in every aspect of life. Let’s reclaim the Kurdish language with the spirit of resistance and freedom as women. Let's speak, read and write Kurdish.”