International Mother Language Day and the 'unknown language' comedy

On February 21st, the world witnessed various events marking 'International Mother Language Day'. UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, celebrates February 21st as 'International Mother Language Day,' a decision it adopted in 1999.

There is a specific reason for the adoption of this day. 

Bangladesh, one of the world's largest Muslim countries with a population of approximately 170 million, wanted its mother tongue to be officially recognized before it separated from Pakistan. However, Pakistan argued that Urdu was the mother tongue and opposed both the recognition of the Bangladeshis' mother tongue and the country's separation from them. Students at the University of Dhaka organized demonstrations with the support of the public. On February 21, 1952, Pakistani police opened fire on the students; 5 people were killed and hundreds were injured. This was a rare event in history where people sacrificed their lives for their mother tongue. It is for this reason that it was decided to celebrate February 21st as 'International Mother Language Day.'

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There are thousands of languages in the world, and unfortunately, a vast majority of these thousands of languages are currently facing the prospect of being forgotten. Just like the extinction of living species, most languages are in danger of disappearing from the world, and many have already died out.

As is well known, languages live and develop as long as there are people speaking them, writing in them, and reading what is written; when there are no speakers, they are forgotten and fade away.

However, today's communication opportunities pave the way for the development of major languages, while minority languages spoken by fewer people are forgotten. English is growing rapidly, which is why the French are passing laws to protect their language and trying to prevent the use of names in other languages within their country.

Anatolia is an ancient geography that has embraced the existence of all kinds of cultural structures in the world; for example, Alexander the Great won his most important battles in Anatolia. Greek was one of the most spoken languages in Anatolia for thousands of years, and Armenian and Kurdish are also among the ancient languages of Anatolia. 

After the arrival of the Turks in Anatolia, and during the periods of the Seljuks and later the Ottomans, Turkish became the dominant language throughout Anatolia; with the influence of Arabic and Persian, an 'Ottoman Turkish' also emerged, which was said to be Turkish but is now understood by no one.

While all these stand before us as historical facts, it is unbelievable to see that attempts are still being made to deny the reality that Kurdish is still the language of a part of Anatolia, and that some still refuse to accept that this language is a 'mother tongue' for some.

Especially when someone speaks a word or two of Kurdish in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and it is defined as an “unknown language,” it is a complete comedy.

And unfortunately, the “unknown language” comedy is enjoyed not only by those who pose as nationalists and wander in the lanes of racism, but also by those who describe themselves as intellectuals and democrats; they laugh at it.

That is what is truly sad.

Fortunately, there are those who throw this comedy back in our faces with irony. 

For example, recently, Deputy Speaker Sırrı Süreyya Önder, while greeting Qatari Arab guests in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, said ‘Welcome’ in Arabic and then mocked the situation by saying, “Let it not be an unknown language,” making everyone laugh.

May February 21st be celebrated for all the languages of the world.