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Pupils
Istanbul, Feb. 21, 2017 (dpa/NAN) Six students in Turkey who were detained by police for singing in Kurdish, their mother tongue, on Tuesday received backing from politicians.
The students were detained after singing in their local language on a day that was marked globally as International Mother Language Day.
International Mother Language Day is marked annually by the UN which says “languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage”.
After an era in which the government opened up toward the Kurdish minority, the last 18 months have seen tensions rising again.
Violence between militants and the state resumed following the collapse of a ceasefire and peace talks.
Six pupils were detained in Aydin, on the Aegean coast, last week after their teacher reported them to police for their songs and traditional dancing.
The students were released by a judge under judicial control.
“We are not people who would betray our nation, our people.
“Nobody can claim one is a traitor because of listening to Kurdish music,” the father of one student was quoted as saying.
Sirri Onder, a member of parliament from the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), a pro-Kurdish grouping, voiced support for the students.
“The students “sang a folk song in a language that they speak in their dreams,” he said in the HDP’s weekly faction meeting in parliament.
Kurdish was once banned in Turkey, though restrictions have since been relaxed.(dpa/NAN)
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Abdullahi Yusuf