SÜDEF President Evgil Türker: Syriac language faces extinction without urgent action, no response from the state on our application to open a Syriac school

OMID, Turkey — Linguists and advocates at the Mother Tongue Workshop, organized by the Education and Science Workers’ Union (Eğitim Sen) Amed Branches, sounded the alarm over the precarious state of the Syriac language. Once a prominent language of trade and diplomacy in the Middle East, Syriac now risks extinction without immediate intervention.

Syriac: Struggle for Survival

Evgil Türker, President of the Syriac Associations Federation (SÜDEF), detailed the challenges faced by Syriac speakers in Turkey. “Syriac is one of the most ancient languages of the Middle East,” Türker said. “Yet, despite its rich history, efforts to establish Syriac education in Turkey have been systematically obstructed.”

Türker revealed that an application to open a Syriac school in 2013-2014 was ignored by authorities. “The written laws in Turkey are not implemented. We are now considering building a school in Medyad [Midyat] with support from the diaspora,” he said.

While Syriac schools thrive in North and East Syria and other regions, Türker emphasized the stark contrast in Turkey, where policies of assimilation have historically suppressed minority languages. “Blocking Syriac education is a violation of human rights and constitutes cultural genocide,” he asserted. Türker called for legislative reforms to enable mother tongue education and protect Syriac from vanishing.

Kurdish: Parallel Struggle

The plight of the Syriac language mirrors challenges faced by Kurdish dialects, particularly Kurmanji. Linguist Malmisanij criticized the lack of resources and media representation for Kurmanji, which has contributed to its decline. “Most Kurds in the north are Turkified and now speak Turkish,” he said.

Despite some progress over the past four decades, such as Kurdish-language nurseries, publications, and TV channels like Zarok TV, both Malmisanij and fellow linguist Sami Tan warned that these efforts are insufficient. Tan stressed the need for community-driven initiatives to ensure the language’s survival. “A language must be spoken daily to stay alive,” he said. “Studies should go beyond academic halls and into neighborhoods and streets.”

Historical and Legal Context

The Syriac struggle for educational rights is deeply rooted in the historical and legal framework of Turkey. According to Tuma Çelik, former Syriac Member of Turkish Parliament for the now shuttered Peoples’ Democratic Party (Halkların Demokratik Partisi, HDP), Syriacs are entitled to state-supported mother tongue education under the Turkish Constitution and international treaties like the Treaty of Lausanne.

“The Lausanne Treaty explicitly guarantees the educational rights of minorities,” Çelik said in 2020. “Despite this, Syriac schools were closed in 1928, and the state has failed to fulfill its obligations for nearly a century.” Although a 2013 court ruling allowed the opening of a Syriac kindergarten in Istanbul, no further progress has been made toward establishing a full educational system in Syriac.

The absence of a comprehensive Syriac education system is exacerbating the decline of the language. As Türker noted, while some Syriac schools operate abroad, they lack the capacity to fully address the needs of the community. “Without systematic efforts to establish schools from kindergarten through high school, our ancient language will gradually disappear,” he warned.