THE ISSUE OF EDUCATION IN THE KURDISH LANGUAGE …openaccesslibrary.org/images/0418_Ibrahim_Toruk.pdf · government in 1991, Kurdish newspapers and books and music distribution set

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

142 Ibrahim Toruk

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


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


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


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


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.


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


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


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


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


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.


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


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.


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 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


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.

REFERENCES

1. Ak Parti 2011 Seçim Beyannamesi www.akparti.org.tr

2. Alpay, Ş., “Demokratik açılım: Nereden, nereye” Zaman, 2 Ekim 2010

3. Berelson, B.R. (1952), Content analysis in communication research. New CHP 2011 Seçim Bildirgesi,

www.chp.org.tr

4. Hanioğlu, Ş., “1876'dan günümüze resmî dil serüvenimiz”, Sabah, 2 Ocak 2011.

5. Kerlinger, F.N., (1973), Foundations of behavioral research (2nd ed.) New Mahwah, New Jersey, London

6. Köker, L., “Çokkültürlü demokrasinin sorunları ve yapılması gerekenler” Zaman Gazetesi 02.12.2010

7. Riffe, D., Lacy, S., Fico F. G., (2005), Analyzing Media Messages Using Quantitative Content Analysis,

In Research, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

http://www.rifatbali.com/images/stories/dokumanlar/turkce_konusma_birgun.pdf

8. Bali, N. Rifat, (2000), Cumhuriyet Yıllarında Türkiye Yahudileri - Bir Türkleştirme Serüveni

(1923-1945), İletişim Yayınları, İstanbul

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