MARDIN, Turkey — Over a dozen graduates from a Kurdish program here have begun a hunger strike to protest the lack of appointments for Kurdish language teachers.
Graduates of Artuklu University’s Kurdology Institute in Mardin province, southeastern Turkey, say the Turkish government has not followed through on its historic pledge to open up jobs for Kurdish language teachers.
More than 1,000 Kurdish teachers are waiting to be assigned to schools in Turkey, where they will be teaching children in Kurdish. In a major feat for Kurdish rights, the government — which had banned Kurdish and other languages for decades — two years ago legalized Kurdish elective courses in public schools and Kurdish schooling in private institutions.
Yet the teachers are still without jobs.
"Unfortunately, the Turkish government's promises of granting more rights for Kurds are only words. We are unhappy with that," said Yunus Aslan, one of the 15 graduates who are carrying out the hunger strike.
Aslan said the teachers are prepared to push their case in the capital, Ankara.
Another graduate, Omer Oncel, said, "Despite the promises, the teachers aren’t being appointed. We’re protesting here to call attention to our case and we will continue until we’re certain about the future," Oncel told Rudaw.
According Ahmet Alis, an historian from Bogazici University in Istanbul, the delayed appointments of Kurdish teachers is a reflection of Turkish bureaucracy rather than discrimination against Kurds.
"The Turkish bureaucracy generally works slowly, even with ethnic Turkish teachers. They also wait a very long time to be appointed," Alis told Rudaw.
Aslan does not agree with Alis, however.
"We are being discriminated against. As long as the Kurdish language isn’t constitutionally guaranteed, we will have this problem," he said.
Kurdish language teachers last month launched a campaign via the Turkish Change.org website calling on the government to appoint Kurdish language teachers.
The Turkish government has not yet commented on the hunger strike. However, Education Minister Nabi Avci and Huseyin Celik, spokesman for Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), have promised that teachers will be appointed.
The Kurdish language initiative is facilitated by the Artuklu University and the Ministry of Education.
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