THE ISSUE OF EDUCATION IN THE KURDISH LANGUAGE...
Transcript of THE ISSUE OF EDUCATION IN THE KURDISH LANGUAGE...
International Journal of Arts & Sciences,
CD-ROM. ISSN: 1944-6934 :: 4(18):141–160 (2011)
Copyright c© 2011 by InternationalJournal.org
THE ISSUE OF EDUCATION IN THE KURDISH LANGUAGE IN THE
TURKISH PRESS
İbrahim Toruk
Selçuk University, Turkey
Turkey is undergoing important changes in behalf of democracy in recent years. The
foundations for these changes are consisting of developments aiming to provide more
space of activity to the individual/the society. Individual and social freedom firstly
associate with rights as equality, participation, freedom of language, religion, belief and
culture, freedom to express oneself, to utilize one’s democratic rights, freedom to get
organized etc. Although the Constitution of 1982 has undergone many changes at different
times, aimed to get more freedom and democracy, it is agreed that it bears important
limitations originating from its power-based oppressive state structure. A step towards
improving democratic and cultural rights is the idea of freedom of education in the mother
tongue of the citizens. To explore the opinions of the media and of the individuals of the
society on these issues, a face-to-face survey has been conducted on 570 persons, and in
addition, the news and article coverage of the most important 8 newspapers in the Turkish
mainstream press has been content analyzed. The results revealed that, while the approach
of the readership was negative, in contrast the news and article writers in newspapers
considered with significant opinion influence and circulation appeared more positive to
education and teaching in native (mother) tongue.
Keywords: Native Language, Turkey, Kurdish Education, Turkish.
INTRODUCTION
The History of language restrictions in Turkey date back as early to the Ottoman Empire. The
Great Ottoman Empire ruled over three continents and various languages, religions and races.
At It’s historical highpoint, it’s rule covered an area wider than 20 million km²s (square
kilometers) that shrunk to 5 million km²s in the 1900’s and left only 800 km²s fort he new
Turkish Republic in 1923. While many ethnic elements responded to nationalist movements
with independence proclamations and began to secede, the Ottoman rule saw tongue union as
one of the remedies against it.
Article 18 of the Kanun-u Esasi, the constitution, states “to be employed in government
service, knowledge of the official language Turkish is conditional”. This constitutional
regulation did not produce any effect on the schools giving education with other languages
and printing and publication in these languages continued as well. In 1908, Ittihad and
Terakki leaders considered that using different languages in public sphere would fuel
secessionist nationalism and thus consisted a hazard to the union of the empire and began a
excessive strict interpretation of the 18th article of the constitution. After the disastrous
collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the successing Republic of Turkey was founded by the
nation-state model which inherited the strict attitude in relation to the official language. The
141
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official ideology took that “there were nobody else in Turkey than Turks” as a starting point
for the casting of the new nation (Hanioğlu, 2011).
Although article 38 of the Treaty of Lausanne did not accept muslims from different
ethnics as minorities in Turkey, a most serious conflict ensued with our citizens from Kurdish
origins who were subjected to practices reaching to banning of their languages.
Later, policies targeting non-muslim citizens too with “Citizen, speak Turkish!”
campaigns emerged. The aim of this one-party era policy was to unify muslims and non-
muslims from different ethnic origins of the country in a “Turkish identity” melting pot and
form as a new Turkish citizenship. That Armenian, Greek and Jewish Spanish (Ladino)
speaking minorities living a more secluded life would at once abandon their native tongues
and speak Turkish among themselves as in public sphere as well, appeared a vain dream (Bali,
2000, & www.rifatbali.com). These policies which could not be applied to non-muslim
minorities under the protection of the Treaty of Lausanne, began to be applied on muslims
speaking different languages.
The repressive and prohibitive establishment created by the 1980 military coup covered
Kurdish too and amounted to the denial of the Kurdish identity. As under the Turgut Özal
government in 1991, Kurdish newspapers and books and music distribution set free, the ban
on Kurdish was partially lifted (Alpay, 2010) that originated the discourses of the 1990’ies
like “We will recognize the Kurdish reality” and “everybody will be first class citizen”
(Köker, 2010).
The official broadcasting organization TRT/Turkish Radio and Television Organization
started Kurdish broadcasting with the TRT 6 (TRT Şeş), followed by private Tv broadcaster
Dünya TV (July, 27, 2010) which meant serious progress in the media field. Later, TRT
Arabic followed as an all-Arabic Tv channel. Thus, Kurdish became the second most used
language in the media. Another important progress in cultural matters has been in the field of
education. With the approval of YÖK/Council of Higher Education, the Kurdish language and
Culture masters degree program started at the Institute of Living Languages of the Mardin
Artuklu University, in 10 October, 2010, the ceremony was held in the historical Zinciriye
Madrasah. 20 students of the 235 applicants are expected to finish their theses about Kurdish
language and literature in two years. One of the most recent developments was the first play
in Kurdish staged by the Diyarbakır Municipal Theatre.
Turkey will go to the polls in June 12, 2011 for electing the ranks that will form the
National Assembly. By mentioning the regulations they have accomplished in their
government term, the Ak Party government gives an impression that they could more
openings in this direction. A legislation which passed in 2005, enables private courses in
languages and dialects other than Turkish and so opens the way to freedom for Kurdish
education. The ban on languages other than Turkish during prison visits has also been lifted.
With the legislation on the political parties’ law, political parties are allowed to campaigning
in languages other than Turkish (Ak Party 2011 election campaign declaration).
The main opposition party CHP (Republican People’s Party) too says they will “establish
the freedom democracy by lifting the barriers preventing our Kurdish citizens from living
their identities. We will provide education in native language for all citizens demanding it
(CHP 2011 election campaign declaration)” While private language courses at the current
state are free to give language education, CHP asserts that this could be given by state
education to citizens demanding it.
Even though at private courses, Kurdish learning/teaching is free now, and Kurdish
broadcast by TRT Şeş is on air, uninterrupted round the clock. In Turkey, statesmen-
politicians make speeches in Kurdish in public sphere, but only in schools “education in
native tongue” is banned.
The Issue of Education in the Kurdish Language in the Turkish Press 143
Article 42 of the 1982 Constitution saying “No other language than Turkish can be taught to
Turkish citizens in all educational and training institutions as their mother tongue” is still in
power and constitutes the base for “Education in mother tongue” debates.
2. METHODOLOGY
The subject of this study is Kurdish education and training in the light of the above mentioned
developments. Editorial policies of Important newspapers of the Turkish press and attitudes
and opinions of citizens have been studied on the issue of education in languages other than
Turkish.
First, surveys directed towards different social sections have been conducted. The survey
explored factors like their approaches towards education in a language other than Turkish,
their ethnical backgrounds, political preferences, educational and income level etc.
October-November-December 2010 issues of the dailies Cumhuriyet, Habertürk,
Hürriyet, Radikal, Sözcü, Taraf, Yeni Şafak and Zaman were included into the study. From
these dailies which had been chosen for their differing ideological stances, news stories and
editorial articles about the issue of education in a language other than Turkish were chosen for
analysis. A total of 65 news stories from these dailies, have been content analyzed with the
help of SPSS 17.0 utilizing frequency and chi square analysis. Then, we tried to find
relationships between the citizen attitudes obtained from the survey and the findings of the
content analysis of the news stories.
We sought answers to these questions:
1. Citizen attitudes towards education in Kurdish.
2. The influence of the newspapers which the citizens read on the attitudes.
3. Regional opinion differences in Turkey.
4. Opinion differences in relation to professions and gender.
5. Approaches of important Turkish newspapers to education in Kurdish.
6. Influence of persons’ ideological differences on their opinions about this issue.
7. Influence of persons’ ideologies on newspaper choice.
3. FINDINGS
Berelson defined (1952) content analysis as “a research technique for the objective,
systematic and quantitative description of the manifest content of communication” which
mostly has been used simply “to determine the relative emphasis or frequency of various
communication phenomena” (Kerlinger, 1973) while the relationships of these can be used to
“describe the communication, draw inferences about it’s meaning, or infer from the
communication to it context, both of production and consumption” (Riffe, D., Lacy, S., &
Fico F. G., 2005).
3.1. Analysis Of The Survey On Kurdish Education
Thu survey on education in Kurdish and in mother tongue has been carried out on 570 persons
who came from various segments of the society. The results were as follows:
144 Ibrahim Toruk
55,3 % of the participants were men and 43,7 % were women. 62,7 % of the participants
were in the 18-25 age group, 20,7 % were in the 25-40, 9,3 % were in the 40-60 and 4,2 %
were in the 15-18 age group. The occupational distribution was with 64,6 % students, 10 %
civil servants, 6,3 % self-employed, 5,4 % worker and 4,6 was in the trading sector.
Table.1 Education.
Graduate
Frequency Percent
Cumulative
Percent
No answer 3 0,5 0,5
Elementary School 53 9,3 9,8
High School 77 13,5 23,3
Associate 2 years 69 12,1 35,4
Bachelor’s 326 57,3 92,7
Post Graduate dr 42 7,3 100,0
Total 570 100,0
By education level, 57,1 % of the participants had bachelor’s degree, 13,5 % highschool, 12,5
% 2 years associate degree, 9,8 % elementary and 7,4 % had postgraduate degrees. The
distribution according to income level were 34 % in the 1-499 TL income group, 32,4 % were
in the 500-999 TL, 15,8 % were in the 1000-1999 TL income group.
49,6 % of the participants had most of their lives spent in the Central Anatolia region,
12,6 % in the Aegean, 11,9 % in the Marmara, 8,8 % in each of the Karadeniz and Akdeniz
regions, 4 % in Eastern Anatolia and 3,2 % in the Southeastern Anatolia regions. The
participants gave as their sources for information about global and domestic issues with 58 %
Tv, 24,5 % the Internet and with 15,6 % newspapers. The most read newspapers were
Hürriyet with 19,8 %, Zaman with 16,1 %, Habertürk with 14,7 %, Sabah with 11,2 %,
Milliyet with 8,4 % and Posta with 7,7 %. 42,4 % of the participants had voted with YES to
the Constitutional referendum held in 12 Septemper 2010 against 37 % who voted with NO,
4,4 % who said that they voted invalid and 15,8 who said that they didn’t go to the polls for
some reasons.
In the 22 July 2007 General elections, 33,1 % of the participants voted for Ak Party, 16,8
% for CHP, 15,1 % for MHP and 26,3 % told that they didn’t vote at all. For the coming
general elections of 12 June 2011, 36,5 % promised their vote to the Ak Party, 22,1 % to
CHP, 14 % to MHP and 11, 4 % said they wouldn’t vote at all while 3,5 % was undecided at
the moment of the survey. When the undecided votes are included, 42 % would vote for AKP,
25,4 % for CHP, 14 % for MHP.
Ideological approaches are important in newspaper choice. According to cross analysis,
newspaper of choice for these who described themselves as Conservative Democrats was
Zaman with 43,4 % followed by Sabah with 13 %, Yeni Şafak with 8,7 %, Posta with 3,3 %,
Yeni Akit 3,1 %, Hürriyet with 2,2 and others. Of the self-described Nationalists who voted
for the AKP, 32,3 % read Zaman, 15,4 % each Sabah and Hürriyet, 9,2 % Milliyet, 7,7 %
Posta, 4,6 % Yeni Şafak.
Of these CHP voters who saw themselves as Social Democrats, 35,7 % read Hürriyet,
19,% Habertürk, 11,9 Cumhuriyet, 4,8 % Milliyet, Sabah and Sözcü. Of these who described
The Issue of Education in the Kurdish Language in the Turkish Press 145
themselves as Secular and Nationalist (ulusalcı; this time with a word selecion with emphasis
on anti conservatist nationalism), 35,7 % read Hürriyet, 25 % Cumhuriyet, 17,9 % Habertürk
and 7,1 %’s each Milliyet and Sözcü.
Almost 90 % MHP voters described themselves as Nationalists (in a conservative
wording) and read Hürriyet and Habertürk with 23,9 % each, Posta 11,3 %, 9,9 % Milliyet,
8,5 % Sabah, Ortadoğu 7 % and Yeniçağ with 4,2 %.
33,3 %, of the participants named their ideological attitudes as Nationalists (conservative
wording) 19,4 % as Conservative Democrats, 10,7 % as Social Democrats, 7,5 % as
Nationalist (non-conservative wording)-Secular, 6,3 % as Democrats. As Turkey’s most
serious domestic problem, 38,4 % of the participants named as the terror and Southeastern
issue, 30,8 % as unemployment, 7,9 % as government issues. The most important problem of
the Southeastern region was named as terror and violence by 44,3 %, 17,9 % unemployment
and 15,9 % absence of education.
About state and government policies in relation with Southeastern and Kurdish problem,
31,7 % of the participants said that too much has been done, 22,6 % said enough has been
done, 18 % said too less has been done while 15,1 gave no opinion.
83,7 % of the participants saw themselves as Turkish, 9,1 % as Kurdish, 1,4 % as Laz,
1,1 % each as Sirkassian-Abhaz and Arab origin. For establishing friendships, 29,1 % of the
participants gave importance to cultural bonds, 21,5 % to Humanism (unrelated to ethnic
origin and religion), 19,4 % to religion bonds, 12,6 % to ethnic origin and religion.
To ethnic intermarriage of themselves or a relative, 8,2 % of the participants definitely
disagreed, 14,9 % disagreed, 28 % agreed, 39,1 definitely agreed while 9,5 % had no opinion.
These figures point out that a great majority of 67 % have a positive attitude towards ethnic
intermarriage.
90,5 % of participants declared that they saw the PKK as a separatist, violence
advocating terror organization, 2,6 % as an organization serving foreign powers and as 2,1 %
Kurdish freedom fighters.
Table 2. Attitude Towards Tv and Newspapers in Kurdish.
Region &
Gender
1- Strongly
Disagree
2- Disagree 3-Neither
Agree nor
Disagree
4- Agree 5-Strongly
Agree
Marmara 22,4 14,8 3,0 29,9 29,9
Aegean 43,0 18,1 2,8 19,4 16,7
Mediterranean
Region
46,0 12,0 6,0 18,0 18,0
Central
Anatolia
27,2 20,4 8,7 28,8 14,9
Black Sea
Region
29,2 29,2 4,2 16,7 20,7
Eastern Anat. 26,1 - 4,3 17,4 52,2
South Eastern
Anatolia
27,8 11,2 - 11,0 50,0
Student 31,9 19,5 4,5 23,1 21,0
Women 25,9 16,5 6,0 25,3 26,3
146 Ibrahim Toruk
Men 36,3 20,1 7,0 23,1 13,5
Nationalist 39,7 22,2 9,5 21,2 7,4
Conservative
Democrat
20,7 13,5 2,7 28,8 34,3
Social
Democrat
26,7 23,3 5,0 25,0 20,0
Turkey Mean 29,9 17,9 6,3 24,5 21,4
On the issue of Tv and newspapers in Kurdish, 29,9 % of the participants strongly
disagreed, 17,9 % disagreed, 24,5 % agreed, 20,3 % strongly agreed while 6,3 % were
undecided. Whith 47,8 % disagreement to 45,9 % agreement, the disagreed part is a little
more in advance. The minimum=1 while the maximum=5; standart deviation=1,56;
mean=2,87. These figures made up for a balanced result. Support for Tv and newspaper in
Kurdish was high in Southeastern and Eastern Anatolia. The Nationalist voter objected to Tv
and newspaper in Kurdish more than other ideological attitudes did.
Table 3. Your Attitude to Kurdish as Language of Education from Elementary to Uni.
Region &
Gender
1- Strongly
Disagree
2- Disagree 3-Neither
Agree nor
Disagree
4- Agree 5-Strongly
Agree
Marmara 38,2 38,2 5,9 10,3 7,4
Aegean 58,3 20,8 5,6 11,1 4,2
Table 2. Attitude Towards Tv and Newspapers in Kurdish
The Issue of Education in the Kurdish Language in the Turkish Press 147
Mediterranean
Region
54,0 28,0 2,0 8,0 8,0
Central
Anatolia
45,2 27,6 8,8 12,4 6,0
Black Sea
Region
42,0 48,0 6,0 2,0 2,0
East Anatolia 30,6 13,0 4,3 21,7 30,4
South East
Anatolia
27,8 11,1 - 11,1 50,0
Student 48,3 27,6 6,5 8,9 8,7
Women 47,9 31,3 7,2 8,0 5,6
Men 44,0 26,3 6,0 13,6 10,1
Nationalist 57,4 25,8 5,8 6,8 4,2
Conservative
Democrat
42,4 29,7 7,2 13,5 7,2
Social
Democrat
41,0 32,8 6,6 9,8 9,8
Turkey Mean 45,7 28,2 6,5 11,4 8,2
On the issue of education in Kurdish (entirely Kurdish from on elementary up to
university) 45,7 % of the participants strongly disagreed to this, 28,2 % disagreed, 11,4 %
Table 3. Your Attitude to Kurdish as Language of Education from Elementary to University
148 Ibrahim Toruk
agreed, 8,2 % strongly agreed and 6,5 were undecided. A huge majority of 74 % seems here
against “education in Kurdish”. Minimum=1, maximum=5, standard deviation=1,43;
mean=2,16. These results indicate a clear and strong opinion against education in Kurdish.
The nationalist voter objected more than other ideological attitudes.
Table 4. Your attitude towards Kurdish as educational language.
Region &
Gender
1- Strongly
Disagree
2- Disagree 3-Neither
Agree nor
Disagree
4- Agree 5-Strongly
Agree
Marmara 30,9 25,0 5,9 17,6 20,6
Aegean 46,7 19,9 6,9 12,5 14,0
Mediterranean
Region
42,0 26,0 2,0 16,0 14,0
Central
Anatolia
35,5 25,1 9,6 15,6 14,2
Black Sea
Region
32,0 34,0 8,0 20,0 6,0
East Anatolia 17,4 4,3 4,3 13,0 61,0
South East
Anatolia
22,2 5,6 5,6 22,2 44,4
Student 37,8 23,9 6,0 14,4 17,9
Women 39,8 25,7 8,4 13,3 12,8
Men 30,5 21,6 7,6 18,1 22,2
Nationalist 45,3 24,7 8,9 13,2 7,9
Table 4. Your attitude towards Kurdish as educational language.
The Issue of Education in the Kurdish Language in the Turkish Press 149
Conservative
Democrat
25,2 20,7 5,4 18,9 29,8
Social
Democrat
32,8 26,2 4,9 16,4 19,7
Turkey Mean 34,7 23,5 7,9 15,9 18,0
On Kurdish language teaching (in certain regions, a native tongue oriented teaching for
several years, as elective courses for applicants) 34,7 % of the participants strongly disagreed,
23,5 % disagreed, 15,9 % agreed, 18 % strongly agreed and 7,9 % remained undecided. As
compared to opinions towards Kurdish as language of education, tolerance for Kurdish
language classes is higher, nevertheless the objecters are still a strong majority with 58,2 %.
Minimum=1, maximum=5, standard deviation=1,33, mean=2,07. Nationalists strongly
disagreed while conservative democrats approached more moderate.
Table 5. Your attitude to Turkish as official language.
Region &
Gender
1- Strongly
Disagree
2- Disagree 3-Neither
Agree nor
Disagree
4- Agree 5-Strongly
Agree
Marmara 4,4 2,9 - 5,9 86,8
Aegean 6,9 - 1,4 5,6 86,1
Mediterranean
Region
6,0 2,0 - 4,0 88,0
Central
Anatolia
6,0 4,6 6,0 2,5 80,9
Black Sea
Region
4,0 8,0 - 2,0 86,0
Eastern Anat. 8,7 4,3 4,3 21,8 60,9
South Eastern
Anatolia
- 5,6 - 16,7 77,7
Student 5,4 2,4 1,6 4,3 86,3
Women 6,8 4,4 3,2 3,2 82,4
Men 4,8 3,8 3,8 5,7 81,9
Nationalist 4,7 4,2 5,3 2,1 83,7
Conservative
Democrat
2,7 3,6 1,8 4,5 87,4
Social
Democrat
8,2 3,9 - 3,3 84,6
Turkey Mean 5,6 3,9 3,7 4,6 82,2
Attitudes on Turkish as the official language showed that 5,6 % of the participants
strongly disagreed, 3,9 % disagreed, 4,6 % agreed, 82,2 % strongly agreed and 3,7 % were
undecided. A large majority of 86 % were for Turkish as the official language. Minimum=1,
150 Ibrahim Toruk
maximum=5, standard deviation=1,33 and mean=4,50. These results indicated a clear and
strong agreement.
Table 6. Your opinion to Kurdish as education and teaching language.
Region &
Gender
1- Strongly
Disagree
2- Disagree 3-Neither
Agree nor
Disagree
4- Agree 5-Strongly
Agree
Marmara 48,5 27,9 2,9 10,3 10,4
Aegean 69,4 15,3 4,2 6,9 4,2
Mediterranean
Region
64,0 22,0 - 10,0 4,0
Central
Anatolia
55,6 22,7 10,3 7,1 4,3
Black Sea
Region
52,0 36,0 - 4,0 8,0
Eastern Anat. 39,1 17,5 4,3 17,4 21,7
South Eastern
Anatolia
27,8 11,1 11,1 16,7 33,3
Student 57,1 21,7 4,3 7,7 9,2
Women 58,3 22,5 7,2 5,6 6,4
Men 52,3 22,9 6,0 10,5 8,3
Nationalist 65,3 17,9 7,3 3,7 5,8
Table 5. Your attitude to Turkish as official language
The Issue of Education in the Kurdish Language in the Turkish Press 151
Conservative
Democrat
52,3 26,1 6,3 9,9 5,4
Social
Democrat
57,4 27,9 3,3 1,6 9,8
Turkey Mean 54,9 22,8 6,7 8,2 7,4
On the issue of Kurdish as education and teaching language, 54,9 % of the participants
strongly disagreed, 22,8 % disagreed, 8,2 % agreed, 7,4 % strongly agreed and 6,7 % were
undecided. Education in Kurdish showed 14,9 % agreement compared to 77,7 %
disagreement. Minimum=1, maximum=5, standard deviation=1,27, mean=1,89. A strong
disagreement resulted from these findings. Nationalists showed a clear opposition. However,
in East and Southeast Anatolia, approval to Kurdish as education and teaching language is
high as 50 %.
Table 7. Your opinion to ideas like separate national assembly, separate flag, separate language etc.
Region &
Gender
1- Strongly
Disagree
2- Disagree 3-Neither
Agree nor
Disagree
4- Agree 5-Strongly
Agree
Marmara 80,0 11,4 2,9 5,7 -
Aegean 77,4 19,4 - 3,2 -
Mediterranean
Region
88,2 - 11,8 - -
Central
Anatolia
82,5 14,0 - 1,7 1,8
Table 6. Your opinion to Kurdish as education and teaching language
152 Ibrahim Toruk
Black Sea
Region
90,0 10,0 - - -
East Anatolia 53,8 15,4 15,4 7,7 7,7
South East
Anatolia
40,0 20,0 - 20,0 20,0
Student 77,1 13,5 3,1 3,7 2,6
Women 82,3 12,7 3,7 - 1,3
Men 74,4 13,7 2,5 6,0 3,4
Nationalist 90,0 6,7 - 3,3 -
Conservative
Democrat
72,7 15,2 6,1 3,0 3,0
Social
Democrat
78,3 8,7 - 4,3 8,7
Turkey Mean 78,4 13,1 2,0 3,5 3,0
On issues like separate national assembly, separate flag and language, 78,4 % of the
participants strongly disagreed, 13,1 % disagreed, 3,5 % agreed, 3 % strongly agreed, 3 %
was undecided. These results indicate that a majority of 91,5 % objected to these issues while
6,5 % supported the ideas. Minimum=1, maximum=5, standard deviation=0,94, mean=1,41.
A clear and strong objection is seen while Southeast Anatolia showed 40 % agreement to the
idea. Nationalists clearly objected to the issue.
Table 7. Your opinion to ideas like separate national assembly, separate flag, separate language etc.
The Issue of Education in the Kurdish Language in the Turkish Press 153
Table 8. Your opinion on the viewpoint that ideas like separate national assembly in Southeast Anatolia, separate
flag etc. could lead to separation of our country.
Region &
Gender
1- Strongly
Disagree
2- Disagree 3-Neither
Agree nor
Disagree
4- Agree 5-Strongly
Agree
Marmara 5,7 5,7 - 9,7 78,9
Aegean 6,3 6,5 - 9,7 77,5
Mediterranean
Region
11,8 5,9 5,9 - 76,4
Central
Anatolia
3,5 5,3 1,8 5,3 84,1
Black Sea
Region
6,7 3,3 - - 90,0
East Anatolia 15,4 7,7 - 15,4 61,5
South East
Anatolia
40,0 - 10,0 10,0 40,0
Student 8,3 5,7 3,6 6,3 76,1
Women 10,1 2,5 2,5 5,1 79,8
Men 6,8 7,7 4,3 6,8 74,4
Nationalist 3,3 - 3,3 6,7 86,7
Conservative
Democrat
6,1 6,1 6,1 6,1 75,6
Social
Democrat
8,7 4,3 4,3 4,3 78,4
Turkey Mean 8,0 5,5 3,5 6,0 77,0
On the viewpoint that a separate national assembly, separate flag and language could
separate our country, 8 % strongly disagreed, 5,5 % disagreed, 6 % agreed, 77,0 strongly
agreed, 3,5 % was undecided. As a result, a vaste majority of 83,0 % saw these ideas as
leading to separation while 13,5 % didn’t see these as threats to national union. Minimum=1,
maximum=5, standard deviation=1,30, mean=4,35. These results indicated a clear and strong
belief to the prospect. Southeast Anatolia showed a 40 % disbelief. Nationalists again seemed
more sensitive.
On their ideological attitudes, 33,3 % of participants named themselves as nationalist,
19,4 % as conservative-democrat, 10,7 % as social democrat, 7,5 % as nationalist (in a non-
conservative sense)-secular, 6,3 % as democrat, 5,1 % as communist, 4 % as socialist and 1,8
% as radical religious. The most prevalent ideological attitude was nationalism followed by
conservative democrats.
154 Ibrahim Toruk
Table 9. Regional Distribution of Ideological Choices.
Region &
Gender
Nationali
st
Liberal Democr
at
Conservat
ive
Democrat
Social
Dem.
Socialist Secular-
Nationali
st
Comm
unist
Others
Marmara 26,5 - - 22,1 13,2 - 10,3 - 27,9
Aegean 31,9 5,6 - 13,9 23,6 4,2 11,1 - 9,7
Mediterranean
Region
44,0 6,0 4,0 14,0 10,0 6,0 6,0 - 10,0
Central
Anatolia
37,1 4,9 6,7 21,6 6,7 3,2 7,1 - 12,7
Black Sea
Region
34,0 6,0 4,0 22,0 10,0 6,0 6,0 - 12,0
Eastern Anat. 17,4 8,7 13,0 21,0 13,0 - 4,3 - 22,6
South Eastern
Anatolia
5,6 11,1 22,2 5,6 11,1 - 5,6 27,8 11,0
Student 32,0 5,1 6,2 16,5 14,1 - 8,4 - 17,7
Turkey
Mean
33,3 5,8 6,3 19,4 10,0 4,0 7,5 5,1 8,6
Table 8. Your opinion on the viewpoint that ideas like separate
national assembly in Southeast Anatolia, separate flag etc. could
lead to separation of our country.
The Issue of Education in the Kurdish Language in the Turkish Press 155
Table 10. The regional distribution of the ethnic people to whom you feel to belong.
Region &
Gender
Turkish Kurdish People
of the
Caucasu
s
Arab Laz Arme
nian
Bosnian Others
Marmara 80,9 11,8 4,4 - - 1,4 1,5 -
Aegean 86,1 11,1 1,4 1,2 - - 0,2
Mediterran
ean Region
86,0 8,0 2,0 4,0 - - - -
Central
Anatolia
94,1 4,2 0,8 0,4 0,5 - - -
Black Sea
Region
84,0 - 2,0 - 12,0 2,0 - -
Eastern
Ant.
47,8 47,8 - - - - - 4,4
S. Eastern
Anatolia
33,3 50,0 - 11,1 - - - 5,6
Student 80,1 11,3 5,6 1,4 1,6 - -
Turkey
mean
83,7 9,1 1,1 1,1 1,4 3,6
83,7 % of the participants saw themselves as belonging ethnically to the Turkish origin;
9,1 % as Kurdish; 1,4 % as Laz; 1,1 % each as Cirkassian-Abchasian and Arab. In East
Anatolia, the rate was equal, in Southeast Anatolia the rate of Kurds was 50 % while Turks
were 33,1 % and Arabs 11,1 %.
Table 10. The regional distribution of the ethnic people to whom you feel to belong
156 Ibrahim Toruk
3.2 Frequency and Crosstab Analysis Of News Stories On The Kurdish Language
A total of 65 news stories in 8 newspapers were printed about education in Kurdish. Content
and technical features have been put into numbers in the content analysis. With 16, most news
stories have been published in Zaman with a rate of 26,15 % followed by Hürriyet and Taraf.
There three totalled to 53, 84 %.
Table 11. Newspapers which published newsstories about Kurdish and number of news stories.
NEWSPAPER
Name Frequency Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Cumhuriyet 8 12,31 12,31
Hürriyet 12 18,46 30,77
Radikal 8 12,31 43,08
Sözcü 6 9,23 52,31
Taraf 9 13,85 66,15
Yeni Şafak 3 4,62 70,77
Zaman 17 26,14 96,92
Habertürk 2 3,08 100
Total 65 100 100
Table 11. Newspapers which published newsstories about Kurdish and number of news stories
The Issue of Education in the Kurdish Language in the Turkish Press 157
The days with the most news stories were September 8th and 9th with 5 news stories
each, followed by September 4th and 6th with 4 news stories each. 27,69 % of all newsstories
were issued in these 4 days.
The page with most newsstories issued was the 4th page with 20 %, followed by the 5th
and 8th pages with 9,2 % each.
Table 12. Type of issued writings.
Frequency Percent
Cumulative
Percent
News 36 55,4 55,4
Reportage 1 1,5 56,9
Article 27 41,6 98,5
Editorial 1 1,5 100,0
Total 65 100,0 100,0
While the ratio of newsstories was 55,4 %, that of the articles was 41,6 %, editorials and
reportages were 1,5 % each. 69,2 % of the news were printed on the upper section of the page,
these printed in the middle and lower sections were 15,4 %. 41,5 % of the news occupied a
quarter of a page, 33,8 % occupied a half and 9,2 % a whole page, while another 9,2 a single
column. 58,5 % of the news featured photographs, 41,5 % didn’t. Black and white
photographs and color photographs were equal.
Table 12. Type of issued writings
158 Ibrahim Toruk
27,5 % of news content topics consisted of “Kurdish education should be free”, 23 %
“more democracy” and 13,8 % “more cultural freedom”. 70,8 % of the news featured no
racist content while 29,2 % did.
Table 13. News attitude to Kurdish education.
Frequency Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Positive 36 55,4 55,4
Negative 8 12,3 67,7
Neutral 21 32,3 100,0
Total 65 100,0 100,0
55,4 % of the news approached Kurdish education positively while 12,3 % approached
the issue negatively and 32,2 % were neutral. 40 % of newsstories and articles approached to
the perfection of Kurdish as a language positively while 10,8 % showed a negative attitude
and 49,8 % showed a neutral attitude. 51 % of the newsstories included no comment while 49
% did.
50 % of news and articles in the daily Cumhuriyet were positive while 37,5 % negative
and 12,5 % neutral. 20 % of newsstories and articles in Hürriyet were positive and 80 %
neutral.
85 % of newsstories and articles in Radikal were positive, 15 % were negative. The daily
Sözcü featured 75 % negative and 25 % positive newsstories and articles while of these in
Taraf 88 % were positive and 12 % negative. All stories and articles in Yeni Şafak were
positive while Zaman featured 70 % positive and 22,5 % negative and 7,5 % neutral
newsstories and articles. 50 % of these printed in Habertürk were negative and 50 % positive.
Table 13. News attitude to Kurdish education
The Issue of Education in the Kurdish Language in the Turkish Press 159
Chi square analysis of positive newsstories on Kurdish education showed a significant
relationship (29,475, df:12 and ,003). In general, a positive view on Kurdish education is
observed at the newspapers.
Positive news on Kurdish teaching was seen mostly in Zaman, Radikal and Taraf.
Positive prejudice towards Turks have been mostly on Zaman. Positive news on the Turkish
State was made mostly by Hürriyet, Sözcü and Cumhuriyet. News supporting the government
were mostly made by Zaman. Most emphasis on democracy was made by Zaman, Radikal
and Taraf. The most news supporting Kurdish education were made by Hürriyet, Taraf,
Radikal and Cumhuriyet. Whole page articles and newsstories depict in Kurdish education
were mostly issued in Zaman.
Most repeated concept in the news was “more democracy” with 32,3 %, “Kurdish
education and teaching” with 30,8 %, “official language is Turkish”, “more cultural rights”
and “There can’t be another official language than Turkish” with 6,2 % each.
The second most repeated concept in the news with 21,3 % was “The Ak Party
government” and with 18 % “Premier Minister R. Tayyip Erdoğan”, “BDP” and “The Turkish
State”.
The most repeated person or organization in the news was the Ak Party government with
41,7 %, followed by “PKK and Öcalan” with 24,6 %, the “Turkish state” with 15 % and
“BDP” with 18,7 %.
43,1 % of the news was produced by the respective newspapers while 16,9 % was used
from DHA (Doğan News Agency) and 6,2 % from the Anatolian Agency. No source was
given for 30,8 % of the news. 61,7 % of the news or articles supported democracy and
education in Kurdish, 28,6 % supported the Turkish state policies, 9,7 % supported
government policies. 84,6 % of the news showed no deficiency in any aspect of content or
meaning while 15,4 % lacked in some aspects. 36,9 % of the news featured positive prejudice
in favor of Kurds while 9,2 % showed positive prejudice for Turks.
Table 14. News featuring prejudice against Kurds.
Frequency Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Positive 37 56,9 56,9
Negative 7 10,8 67,7
Neutral 21 32,3 100,0
Total 65 100,0 100,0
In 55,4 % of the related news, a positive attitude towards education in Kurdish was found
while in 10,3 % a negative attitude was observable and 33,8 showed a neutral attitude.
4. CONCLUSION
The prevalent attitude in the surveys was objection against multi-language education and
teaching. However, with relation to regions and the ideological position of the persons,
significant differences appeared. People with evident nationalist sensitivities believe that too
much is done for Southeast Anatolia. An objecting attitude is evident in relation to many
regions too, as for the Mediterranean, the Aegean, the Marmara, the Black Sea region and
Central Anatolia. Serious fear that the country could face the danger of division if various
160 Ibrahim Toruk
democratic and cultural rights, beginning with education and teaching in Kurdish were given,
surfaced in the statistics of the survey. This fear is not to be taken as a simple illusion since
the circumstances substantiate it.
The newspapers displayed a positive approach in relation to education in (native
language) mother tongue. Particularly the liberal minded Radikal, Taraf and sometimes the
conservative Zaman approached positively to multi-language and multi-cultural life. Hürriyet
and Cumhuriyet didn’t take sides openly, paying regard to nationalist sensitivities of so many.
While Sözcü displayed a more uncompromising approach of nationalism, Yeni Şafak and
Yeni Akit showed a positive attitude towards education and teaching in mother tongue. In
Zaman, particularly the liberal writers wrote much more positive articles about this issue.
It can be easily said that the attitudes of the citizens reflected in the surveys in relation to
education/teaching in mother tongue did not match with the perspectives put forward by the
newspapers. As stated in the introduction of this paper, very positive work is in progress
regarding to the people of Southeast Anatolia. It is certain that these will continue and
increase in the years ahead.
Political parties are observed as not being much against the issue, in particularly the Ak
Party which brougth the opening into the agenda but then could not much advance, followed
by the CHP whose new leader of Kurdish backgrounds has promised in the electional
declaration that every citizen who demanded it, learning his mother tongue would be provided
although not “education in his mothertongue”.
It can be said that the Premier Minister was forced to take an attitude more conform to
the status quo by the negative approach of the segment who describes themselves
ideologically as nationalists. The nationalists consisted 88,8 % of MHP voters while they
formed the second largest group of Ak party voters with 31,3 %. The biggest ideological
formation in the Ak Party are the Conservative Democrats with 44,2 %. Ak Party leader
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appears as having left the opening issue after the elections and in the
context of the new constitution debate.
Rather than education in mother tongue, teaching of the mother tongue in elective courses
for several semesters, would certainly serve to a more firm devotion to the country of all
different people and to the development of democracy and multi-culturalism. As for the
present situation of our country, a complete education in mother tongue from elementary
school to university, does not seem favourable.
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