ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The head of an Alawite association has called on Zaza Kurds in Turkey to preserve and promote their mother tongue.
At the annual Munzur Festival in Tunceli (known to Kurds as Dersim), Zeynel Kete, co-chair of the Democratic Alevi Association (DAD), said the main language of the festival should be Kurdish, instead of the Turkish that often dominates the event.
"This festival should be in the language of Khidr [Alewism], that is, in Kurdish. Language is our identity, language is our existence,” he told Rudaw’s Mashallah Dakak.
Zaza Kurds make up the majority of the population in Dersim, with most belonging to the Alawite faith.
Various efforts have been made in Turkey to classify Zazaki and Kurmanji Kurds as separate languages. Turkish officials are accused of playing a role in promoting this division.
“All people of Dersim are Kurds and their religion is the Path of Truth [Alewism], and the language of the Path of Truth is Kurdish,” Kete noted. "Language is our identity, language is our existence. If a person is without language, they remain without culture, without religion and without belief."
There are no reliable estimates on the number of the speakers of Zazaki dialect speakers of Kurdish language in Turkey.
