Press TV - Turkey to translate Qur'an into Kurdish

Press TV - Turkey to translate Qur'an into Kurdish
Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:16:08 GMT

Deputy Head of Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate, Mehmet Gormez To meet EU standards and uphold the cultural rights of its Kurdish population, Turkey decides to translate the Qur'an into Kurdish. “We didn't want to exclude Kurdish as we prepare translations of the Qur'an into other languages. Kurdish is widely spoken in Turkey,” deputy head of the Religious Affairs Directorate, Mehmet Gormez told Anatolia news. “We printed translations of the Qur'an in the Azeri and Tatar languages, and research is under way to print translations in the Georgian and Belarusian languages,” he added. According to Gormez, a committee of experts is comparing different Kurdish translations of the Qur'an to find the best possible translation that will be easily understood by Kurdish readers. While some 12-14 million Kurds live in Turkey, they still do not have the right to use their language during political speeches or in official correspondence. The public use of the Kurdish language was banned until 1991 after the 1980 Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) military coup. Turkey has listed the PKK as one of the country's active terrorist organizations. As part of its efforts to obtain EU membership, Ankara has introduced a cultural and political reform plan concerning Kurds. In line with the reform plan the state-run Kurdish television station, TRT 6, was launched in January 2009. TE/HGH