Appeal to Stark-Watzinger and Roth: Support Kurdish universities and culture in northern Syria!

On the occasion of the ninth anniversary of the founding of the first Kurdish university in Syria (July 26), the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) calls on Federal Minister of Education Bettina Stark-Watzinger and Federal Minister of Culture Claudia Roth to condemn the destruction of the educational institution during the illegal attack of NATO partner Turkey on the region of Afrin in north-western Syria and to provide support to the newly founded universities and cultural institutions.

“The university was founded in Afrin on July 26, 2015. It was not only the first Kurdish university in Afrin, but in all of Syria. Only three years later, the university was closed down and partially destroyed in the course of the illegal occupation of Afrin by Turkey. Many of the professors – including the rector of the university, Dr. Ahmed Yousef – were forced to flee. Further, 40 Kurdish schools were closed down or destroyed,” stated Dr. Kamal Sido, the STP’s Middle East consultant.

“Mrs. Stark-Watzinger, Mrs. Roth, please take a stand for Kurdish science and culture,” the Middle East expert demanded. “We are calling on the Federal Ministry of Education and Research to support the institutions of higher education in the Autonomous Region of Rojava in the north-east of Syria. Many of the professors and students from Afrin have found refuge there. They are still threatened by Turkey and by IS, and they are suffering from Turkish drone attacks that occur on an almost daily basis.”

The university of Afrin offered courses in medicine, Kurdish literature, communication, agricultural sciences, mechanical engineering, and economics. Around 850 students enrolled for the first year. Following the occupation, many of the Kurdish schools were used as mosques or as military barracks for Turkish soldiers or Islamist mercenaries. Turkish, the language of the occupying forces, was introduced as a compulsory language.

“While values such as religious tolerance, international understanding, and women’s rights were once taught at the Kurdish University and at Kurdish schools before the Turkish occupation, the schools of the Turkish occupying power now preach a radical Islam, intolerance, misogyny, and hatred towards Christians, Alevis, Yazidis, and Jews,” Sido emphasized. “Girls and boys are separated – and the girls usually have to wear a full-body veil or a headscarf. There is no religious education for Yazidis and Alevis, and pupils who are not proficient in Turkish are not promoted to the next grade.”

“The educational and cultural institutions in northern Syria are of enormous significance for the Kurdish people, who have been suppressed for decades, and for Kurdish science. They are important cornerstones of democracy and equality,” Sido added.