Crackdown on Kurdish Language and Culture in Turkey

Turkish Police Raid Kurdish Language and Culture Institutions

On September 24, Turkish police launched a series of raids on Kurdish language and culture institutions in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, including the Mesopotamian Language and Culture Research Society (MED-DER), the Payîz Book bookshop, and the Anka Language and Arts Education Cooperative.

The raids were part of an investigation by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, which began in 2022 based on evidence from a single witness. Authorities seized magazines, books, newspapers, and computer hard drives, despite lacking seizure orders.

During the raids, police also targeted the homes of several workers associated with the institutions. The 23 detainees were denied access to their lawyers for 24 hours, in accordance with a confidentiality order imposed on the case.

The MED-DER building was damaged during the raid, which lasted nearly three hours. No lawyers were present during the search, and the door lock was later changed, with the key handed over to the local neighborhood chief.

Backlash and Condemnation

The operation and detentions sparked widespread condemnation, with reports from the Mesopotamia Agency (MA) highlighting the outrage. Mehmet Şirin Gürbüz, co-chairman of the Diyarbakır branch of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), denounced the operation as a continuation of the state’s century-long policies targeting Kurds.

“The Kurdish community is under attack through its language. We must recognize this and speak Kurdish everywhere, living our lives in Kurdish,” Gürbüz urged, calling on all organizations to respond strongly to the attacks on the Kurdish language.

Heval Dilbihar, co-spokesman for the Language and Culture Commission of the Kurdish People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM), criticized the authorities for failing to officially recognize Kurdish and its culture. Dilbihar noted that the Kurdish language movement has grown in recent years, with a growing awareness of its significance within the Kurdish community.

Serhat Kılıç, co-chairman of the Diyarbakır Education Workers Union (Eğitim Sen), described the raid as a clear sign of hostility towards the Kurds and the Kurdish language. “Our language is our identity, and existence cannot be denied,” Kılıç said, stressing that they would continue to fight under the slogan, “Our language is our existence.”

Peri Kaya, an employee of MED-DER, emphasized that the aim of the attacks was to eradicate Kurdish culture and language. Kaya called on the Kurds to continue to speak and defend their language in response to the attacks.