Cultural and Language Rights of the Kurds

A study of the treatment of minorities under national law in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria in light of international human rights standards.

We want to be allowed to speak our own language, to learn it in schools, to have newspapers and television broadcasts in Kurdish. We want to live with respect for our dignity, our personality, our identity.

Mehdi Zana, imprisoned in Turkey in 1983 for speaking Kurdish

Until as recently as 1991 it was illegal to speak Kurdish even in private in Turkey. Although the language ban has been lifted various legal restrictions on the expression of minority identity remain in plase in Turkey, and also in Iran, Iraq and Syria. These restrictions follow on from the overall denial of the legitimacy of minority identities an approach which is enbedded deep in the constitutional and legal structures of each of these countries.

This new KHRP report is to consider each country's obligations under international human rights instruments, including the newer minority rights instrumets, and asks to what extent Turkish, Iraqi, Iranian and Syrian laws which suppress minority language and culture can be challenged using these international mechanisms.

It is anticipated that this paper will prove a useful reference for anyone interested in the treatment of minorities in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. Because a large section of the report deals with the nature of each country's internationa legal obligations towards their minorities, it should also be of more general interest to lawyers, human rights workers and academics involved in the use of international human rights mechanisms for the protection of minority rights.

A report published by the Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP) in conjuction with Article XIX, International Centre Against Censorship (UK), Lawyers for Lawyers (The Netherlands), The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales and Human Rights Committee, Norwegian Bar Association.