In Turkey, the Rawest poll shows Kurdish feeling discriminated against
By: Robert Jones
Tags: Kurds, Turkey, Erdogan

Turkey has been purposely alienating Kurdish youth, according to a recent finding by the YADA Foundation, Kurdish Studies Center and Rawest Research Firm.The survey, sponsored by the British Embassy and the Heinrich Boll Stiftung, was carried out in the provinces of Istanbul, Izmir, Southern Mersin and Adana, Southeast Diyarbakir, Mardin, Sanliurfa and Eastern Van, involving over 1,500 young people aged 15 to 29 from different parts of the world. The poll focused largely on Turkey’s east and southeast.

Seven out of ten Kurdish youths felt discriminated against by the Turkish authorities, the survey revealed. Among the respondents, those who favoured the Democratic Party of the Pro-Kurdish People (HDP) said they were more discriminated against than those who voted for other political parties.The polling also revealed that the group has not been treated well, contributing to its underdevelopment as only 34 percent of Kurdish youth in the country are working, 24 percent of whom are in unskilled jobs and the rest are unemployed. According to the Rawest survey, the Kurdish youth of the country refer to themselves first as “Muslim,” followed by “Kurdish,” and “pro-freedom.”

The Kurds of Turkey are the largest ethnic minority in the world, comprising approximately 15 to 20 percent of the population. For years, the Kurds have struggled against the authorities to save their culture, language and identity. To the point that one part of the population living in western Turkey does not know Kurdish any more, it is lost.The survey found that a large portion of the Kurdish population said that over time they had forgotten their mother tongue. Years of oppression and abuse have been forced on the group.

Over the years, the state and its political system have worked categorically to erode Kurdish culture and language, so much so that the country’s judiciary has also listed the Kurdish language as a “unknown language.” Under military rule, the administration banned public use of the Kurdish language during the 1980 coup, which was later decriminalised in 1991.

Rawest’s polling firm Reha Ruhavioğlu said the poll found that Kurdish citizens had the lowest rate of general happiness in the world. It is ironic to state that despite all this recent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that “Turkey does not have a Kurdish problem,” while in fact the nation does not want to accept the identity of the ethnic minority group because it considered the community a threat because of its separatist past.

In October, a play performed in Kurdish in Istanbul was banned from running by the Nobel Prize-winning Italian writer Dario Fo, as it was branded by the authorities as displaying terrorist propaganda.The nation is experiencing a powerful Kurdish vs. Turkish undercurrent. “Roj Girasun, director of Diyarbakir-based Rawest Research, said the survey showed that “Kurdish young people are frustrated by mainstream media that do not offer their problems enough space and visibility, and they refer to alternative news channels to fill this void.” He added, “This environment affects their romantic relationships.44 percent of Kurdish respondents do not want a Turkish girl to be married. They are constructing very high walls vis-à-vis Turks, around their Kurdishness.