February 21, International Mother Language Day: Suroyo TV organizes Syriac Language Week

SÖDERTALJE/ZALIN (QAMISHLI) – TV channel Suroyo TV annually highlights the Syriac language on the occasion of International Mother Language Day. This year it will be held on Monday February 21, and Suroyo TV will broadcast daily programs for a week about the educational and linguistic state of this ancient but endangered Semitic language. The Week of the Syriac Language is a tribute to Syriac, which belongs to the Aramaic language family.

The Week of the Syriac Language kicks off on Monday with a live informative and discussion program in which teachers of the Syriac language have their say and speak about their drive, obstacles, and objectives to further strengthen the role of Syriac in the homelands and in the diaspora.

“Many scholars and teachers recognize and emphasize the importance of the mother tongue in children’s upbringing and as a pillar and foundation of every nation. That is why we, as a national TV channel, will organize a whole week of broadcasts and activities in which the Syriac language is central. This is how we want to contribute to promoting the importance of this language and ensuring that it does not disappear. We call on all Syriac language teachers and all parents to send in videos and interactive messages from and about their children and how they feel and interact with their native mother tongue,” Suroyo TV station manager Jacob Mirza stated on the occasion.

————

In the lands where Aramaic once thrived, its descendants are now in danger of disappearing. Aramaic, often described as the language of Jesus, was once the lingua franca of Beth Nahrin (Mesopotamia) and the Middle East. The Syriac language, one of Aramaic’s modern descendants, was first recorded in the first century A.D. in the ancient city of Urhoy (Edessa or Urfa in modern-day Turkey.

————

SyriacPress and Suroyo TV are both affiliates of the Beth Nahrin National Council (Mawtbo Umthoyo d-Bethnahrin). During this Week of the Syriac Language, all affiliates of the Beth Nahrin National Council worldwide will pay special attention to the Syriac language, especially so in the ancestral homelands of the Middle East.

Turkey

Gazete Sabro, the Syriac newspaper published in Turkey, sheds light on International Mother Language Day each year on the unrecognized status of the Syriac language in Turkey and the declining number of native speakers in the interior. In Turkey, Syriacs are left to their own when it comes to transferring their endangered language to new generations.

The Federation of Syriac Associations (SÜDEF) is committed to the official status of the Syriac language in Turkey. Several initiatives for the opening of a Syriac primary school, with formal applications to the Ministry of National Education, by SÜDEF and other Syriac organizations have so far been inconclusive.

Okullarda, Yaşayan Diller ve Lehçeler kapsamı altında sunulan seçmeli derslere ilişkin olarak Milli Eğitim Bakanı Mahmut Özer'in yanıtlaması istemiyle soru önergesi verdik. pic.twitter.com/wcdfSxYr9G

— Tuma Çelik (@tuma_celik) February 2, 2022

Syria

The Syriac language is not recognized in Syria, although the country is named after the Syriacs – the term Syriac was coined about 40-50 years ago to distinguish between the Arab designation of Syria and the non-Arab Syriac people.

In the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, the Syriac language is fully recognized and used in all official documents and public communications.

The Zalin-based Olaf Taw Association is the officially recognized organization working towards ensuring a future for the Syriac language in Syria and to create an all-encompassing secular education and language organization free from the oppressive, assimilative, and Arabist ideologies of status-quo regimes of the Middle East. The Olaf Taw Association includes a language institute that prepares Syriac schoolbooks, trains teachers, gives language lessons, and organizes cultural language activities.

Conference by Olaf Taw Foundation in Qamishli, NE Syria regarding #Syriac language ahead of International Mother Language Day. pic.twitter.com/DRnYbzobyU

— DAVID ܕܘܝܕ (@dvdvrgl) February 19, 2022

Lebanon

In Lebanon, with the largest presence of Syriacs (Maronites, Roum) in the Middle East, the Syriac language is neither recognized nor officially taught in public and church schools and universities. And this despite the fact that the contemporary Lebanese language is to a large extent influenced grammatically and in terms of vocabulary by the Syriac language.

The Universal Syriac Union Party in Lebanon, together with its partners such as the Syriac Maronite Union-Tur Levnon, pays extra attention to the Syriac language every year on International Mother Language Day. The Universal Syriac Union Party has often called for the Syriac language to be recognized as the national language in Lebanon, which would do justice to the Syriac language as one of the most important carriers of Lebanese national identity, history and culture.

It should be mandatory in all Christian schools. Not optional. This is Tur Levnon’s project.
If Syriac is just optional it will seem only for the children of the small Syriac Orthodox community. Syriac can’t be taught as a foreign language. It is not optional. It is not elitist.

— ܬܐܘܕܪܘܣ ܒܪܝܘܠܝܘܣ ܐܠܟܣܢܕܪ Amine Bar-Julius Iskandar (@Amineiskandar2) February 10, 2022

Iraq

The only real bright spot in the Middle East is Iraq, where the Syriac language is recognized and taught in areas with a significant Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian presence. The disturbing thing, however, is that there are fewer and fewer Chaldeans-Syriacs-Assyrians in Iraq due to emigration.

Overall, the situation is very worrying for the endangered Syriac language. Initiatives such as the Syriac Language Week are very welcome and needed. The Syriacs however, need to take a good look at their divided selves and put their house in order. Language and educational institutions, textbooks, universities and so on do not come naturally. Manna will not fall from the sky.