Turkey, Kurds, Language: Nicholas Glastonbury at TEDxGallatin 

I'm a Kurd raised in Turkey, now living in London. I remember being 6 years old and going to school for the first time and when we arrived at the gates, my mum telling me "baby, remember what I told you, do not ever mention we are Kurdish to any of your friends and teachers" initially I couldn't understand why this had to happen but then learning the loyalty oath and repeating it every day came along, just as told in this ted talk. I appreciate this talk and love to see people learning about our existence which was denied for many years. It means a lot to us for people to educate themselves and their friends on this topic and gives us hope. This video briefly covers aspects the Kurdish experience but there's a lot more that's been going on and we need you to learn more about it so that we can create change all together for future generations. Thank you

as a kurd my mom always tells me to not speak my language in turkey because we could get in trouble. she always tells me about how my grandpa was tortured and she didnt recognise her dad after the torture. (keep in mind that he went to jail for being kurdish) we cant live our culture or speak our language in the country we say we are from.

I am Kurdish and I am proud of my language and identity. Kurdish dance is the happiest dance in the world

Kurds cannot self-identify as Arabs because they're NOT Arabic. They are of Indo-European origin, like most Europeans, Slavs, Balts, Germanics (English, Scandinavians, Dutch, Germans, Celts, Greeks, etc. The Kurdish language is distant related to English, Latin, French, Welsh, Lithuanian, Armenian… it is in the same IE subgroup, Indo-Iranian as Persians (Farsi, Skythian, Hindi, Urdu, Pashto

I am glad that you are the voice of the Kurds👏👏✌️✌️

I'm Kurdish and I learned so much from this.. It's so sad what the Turks were taught and made to do to the Kurds 😔

As a Kurd,firstly thank you for making our voice heard on this issue. No identity or language is recognized in Turkey except Turkish. The situation is the same today, but the thought of assimilating the Kurds existed before the foundation of the republic. It goes back to the last years of the Ottoman Empire, but despite the passing of 100 years. We are still standing and we will always be. We have been always Kurds and we will be always Kurds❤

I know the feeling. We were Kurds from Bashur and migrated to Iran because of war. My parents didn't speak Farsi so the neighbour's always found out we were kurds and they would throw rocks at us and tell us to go back to our country and call us Iraqi. They hated the fact that we were Soni and Kurd. Irani Kurds have it rough too and they don't mention they're Kurdish but because they speak Farsi they blend in. One time a persian family abducted a toddler and abused him and cut him into pieces and left the pieces in the graveyard just to send a message to the Iraqi Kurds. There were 1000's of Iraqi kurds that migrated to Iran when Sadam was killing us in Iraq. Our people didn't dare to go back to their homeland. Long story short the family was caught but the judge never send them to jail for killing an innocent child and he said the reason was because Iran and Iraq had a war in the past and that the families son was killed in the war and they were angry so they had the right to kill an innocent Kurd just because they were Kurds from Iraqi part. My parents had left when they were teenagers 45 years ago and they always had Kurdish accent so when we'd go out we'd tell my mom not to talk farsi because people would know we were kurds because of her accent. We the kids had no accent so we blended in but God forbid they found out. At school the teachers would always find out and they treated us badly. I was always bullied by the teachers. They always told me they wish I'd drop dead. They told me to shut up in class and hit me and make me feel small and the other kids started bullying me. It was scary for people like me in city full of Turks and Persians. In Tehran. I'm glad we moved to Canada 15 years ago but all that stayed with us. I feel really bad for people like me. Even in Canada the Persian talk bad about the Kurds. I heard these 3 Persians one time saying their husband's wore Kurdish pants when they had to do gardening. They were mocking our clothes. The persian call us wandering Persians, the Turks call us mountain wolves or mountain Turks. We were there before the Turks, Mongols, showed up. We were mentioned in old Greek books. We were there with the Greeks, Armenians and Assyrians. That's why the Greek people love us and we are brothers and sisters. That's why we dance the same, have same food, same music.

Be proud that you are Kurdish

I'm from the Iranian part of Kurdistan so thankfully I retained and can speak Kurdish but I know a couple Kurdish girls from the Turkish part and they can't speak any Kurdish because their grandparents were banned from doing it so their parents were never able to learn it and in turn they were never able to learn it and can only speak Turkish and English now (since we live in Australia). It's so sad to me that such a huge part of their culture and identity has forever been erased.

Thank you Nicholas. i really appreciate your speech as a Kurdish. i hope turkey will understand what humanity is.

I was as Kurd in Turkish school Our teacher says us we should say him if our comliitans speack Kurdish at home.

Where is the Scottish language? What happened to American indian languages? How did they dissapear? What is the state of Turks in Iran? Turks in China? Turks in Greece? Turks in Bulgaria? At the moment Kurds have free press, literature and even TV channels (one of which is public channel, spending our taxes) IN KURDISH. Do american indians have TV channels in their own language? Any Turkish press in Iran? Anything being published in scottish or welsh?

I watched this a few years ago and I’m watching it again. Such an important topic that hardly anyone knows about and as a Kurd I’m so proud and happy that Nicholas who isn’t Kurdish himself, took the time to research about things that have affected us. 🙌🏻

We are kurds, im kurdish from big luristan , for many yesrs say us iranian government that lure is persian and i belived that, but i knew something is wrong when i was in university i found im kirdish and leaened pure kurdish language im so proud that im kurdish

Appreciate your speech, it’s makes me very proudly . You can kill kurd ,but not kurdistan we are not turkish not arabic not Persian we are kurdish we are fight to show who we really are 🙏🏻

Real Kurds are Medes not Arabs or Turks

im kurd live in lorestan if iran , we want kurdestan country

Thanks you from kurd🙏🌹

Ya Turkey has a fierce assimilation policy bordering on ethnic and cultural cleansing. The Kurdish youth that are 18 and under today rarely know how to speak fluent Kurdish. Estimates have been done that place the number of Kurdish speakers in that age bracket around 20% or lower. Which means that in a generation or two, the Kurdish language might have gone extinct in Turkey.

Thanks for the Video. Good job.

Thank you for shedding light on the horros the kurds have faced

Almost every major problem in the world traces back to England, most that aren't can hold the US or Israel to account. Anyone else notice that?

Amazing speech. Thank you for the information.

Russia forced its language during the Soviet "union". Russification policies were strongest against Ukrainian language and culture, because Ukrainians had the strongest resistance against soviet rule.

As a Turk, I always respect people like Mr. Glastonbury who are actually educated about Turkey and are able to share nuanced information about the complicated problems related to Turkey. There is just one issue about the talk, I do think it was historically dishonest to mention the conflict in the Eastern side of Turkey and OHAL without mentioning things like the PKK. We need more people talking about these issues in an honest and educated fashion so that we can can unite as a country - not as a country of ethnic Turks who speak Turkish, but as a country with a beautifully diverse history and population who speak Turkish, Kurdish, Armenian, Greek, Arabic, Persian, Zaza, etc. When we realize our diversity is what makes us great, we will truly be great.

The scene of the children reciting the pledge in call and response form struck me as like that of communist countries. Turkey is now on the way to becoming more intolerant of minorities and less secular, which I personally believe will be a drag on its future.

long live kurdistan

Her biji Nicholas ! 🙏🏻

Xwedê di serê wan dagirkeran de xerab bike. nahêlin.

Kurds were there thousands of years before Turks come to middle east , they occupied them and tried to destroy kurdish identity as hard as they can ..... their racism is unlimited....... thanks for saying the truth 🙏🏻

Thank you and God bless you🙏🏻🌹 ❤☀️💚

kurds are kurds not Turkish.

thanks for revealing part of that what happening to a kurdish people by invaders

Thank you as a Kurd.

I was born and grew up in Ankara into a "Turkish" family, but when I see some of my citizens make some senseless and inconsiderate comments here, I feel ashamed of being "Turkish". In the first place, I don't think we, the Turks, should be offended with the remarks of this guy in the video. If you just try to have an objective perspective over Kurdish question (and yes, I do believe it is the most important problem of Turkey right now), most of the things this guy is saying are facts. If only we could stop talking with the mindset of a guilty person who is trying in vain to defend himself in the court, and for once try to empathize the party we acted badly upon, and for god's sake say that we are sorry. Only then we might start to get the respect of other nations. Maybe I am a dreamer but I'm not not the only one :) I hope I have managed to get myself understood correctly. "Peace at home and peace in the world." M. K. Ataturk

Nothing but the truth , honest talk

well done mr. Necolas..you are right that kurds cannot speak thier mother language kurdish because of turkish goverment mony kurds killed every year because they speak kurdish..long live kurds in eveywhere in the world

Also can this guy tell why so many people are speaking English?

بۆ هەموو ئەو تورکانەی کە لەخوارەوە لێدوانی قۆڕیان نووسیوە .. بڕۆن گو بخۆن لەوە باشترە

Neat and informative thank you Nick.

What has been said in this video is somewhat true. As a Turkish, the national pledge irritated me since the first day just like obligatory religion classes did in school. I wish that Turkey had more protective policies towards any minority group of language or religion because it is proven many times that not the oppression is what is going to keep you strong and in peace but justice and prosperity. As a Turkey born living in Canada as a Canadian Citizen, I can say that Republic of Turkey failed to provide these two things to its citizens in the grand scheme. I still love my native country though and respect all minorities and believe that there is always a middle way that can be found to keep everyone happy.

I am not remotely Turkish, I am British and I have to say this was SO completely Bias. A lot of what he said could apply to a number of nations including his. I would be interested to see one done on Israel.

its high time that Kurds too have their country of their own.If not than UNO should be made illegal

In Iran , at least a quarter of the population are ethnic Turks, Azerbaijanis, Turkmen, Qashqais, etc . The Iranian government has been treating them at least as badly as the Turkish government has been treating Kurds .

Good information in this video, Ill translate to Arabic if its ok with you?

Another Kurd here! Thanks for enlighting this topic, we have been denied for a very long time but we still exist! Hope one day we will have a homeland which we will sth to be proud.

That's very terrible. I hope Kurds in Turkey get full autonomy. I am from Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region in China, where we have evolved from Soviet influenced independent Republic of East Turkistan found in 1944 to incorporation into communist China in 1949 for pressure and fake promises of high autonomy and no colonization by Chinese, to dissolve Turk army in 1962 just after vicotry over India in the Battle of Aksai Chin, to today's concentration camps for Turks (Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kirghizs mainly), it's full appartheit, and no one can move around freely, not to mention leaving China at all. Only left the name of autonomy, and the laws of autonomy as decorations.

Thanks bro 🙌 💚🌞❤️

Quick update: Nowadays you can speak Kurdish freely in Turkey. Some years ago my farther and I had our conversations in an army hospital (GATA in Ankara) in Kurdish and guess what..... nothing happened. We were there for at least for 4 hours.

There's a great saying: "Turks have no other friends than Turks". I can easily say tha t because everyone other than Turks has a prejudice against Turks. Please be careful! You're not speaking about one person, you're talking about the whole nation. Please mind the history and the manners. As Selcuks, as Ottomans and as Turkey Turks, they've established states, ruled people peacefully across the world and most importantly served to Islam. Catering for so many varieties isn't that easy, you all know that. Say, the US still struggles with racism, or take the example of Israel. They carry out daily violation of human rights there. In Africa, the authorities are in favour of particular clans rather than all. I guess you have seen how much effort Turkey's putting in order to save the rights of its people in Balkans, in the middle east and across the Europe and Asia. How much effort put to establish a friendship as they call "Çözüm Süreci" (Resolution Process).... How many of you can love having a party in your country which seems very humanist yet supports the killings of people from both sides, I mean the Turks and the Kurds. I always hate the idea of being one nationality. That's a mistake and has been a mistake. But being a nation is easy. Everyone working for the goodness of one country, like US or France and so on.

kurdstan❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ ILOVE YOU KURDISTAN

Excellent talk, great job & thank you for speaking the truth

Yeah when i studied in Turkey we had to read the pledge i guess. " i am a turk, i am honest i am hard working..." which was odd because i am a Kurd and my classmates were of diverse heritages. There are Greek, Bulgarian and çerkez people who live in Turkey. I don't speak Kurdish, nor do my parents. Since it was illegal to speak it my grandma never taught my father. Two weeks ago my friend told me she was disgusted by my ethnicity and that it wasn't a "personal problem" rather she was just "prejudiced towards kurds." In Turkey a common insult is calling someone a Kurd. Yes our nationality is an insult. "Look at him, what a kurd!" I was embarrassed of saying i was Kurdish. Embarrassed of it because my friends would not believe me due to my pale white skin. Apparently kurds are supposed to be dark skinned and barbaric. Whatever that's supposed to mean. So to people who are commenting and denying what happened to kurds, the systematic assimilation- stop it. There are millions of kurds in Turkey most don't know Kurdish. How can you explain any of these things without saying yes, there is exteme nationalism going on? You can't. Because the fact is, as a Kurd EVEN I AM a nationalist Turk. Can you believe it? As a kurd im a Turkish nationalist? My grandma hides that shes a kurd. My friends hide their nationalities all because of the stigma they will face. It's tragic that the world has come to this state. That my friend can openly say she's disgusting by my nationality. Or that someone can say "oh but you don't look like a kurd" (a comment i get much too often) as if kurds look a specific way. Or some say"kurds are turks" which is ridiculous, but that's another discussion. Thank you for this Ted talk, I'm glad that there are people who don't say my nationality doesn't exist. WHEN I AM LIVING PROOF THAT IT DOES.

I am kurdish from iraqi kurdistan I have mad respect for other kurds in other parts of kurdistan and kurds all around the world ❤️☀️💚

This comment section is contaminated with hate! All i can say is that i visited turkey and i know many turkish people who also hate the government too. Don't invent any excuses for hate about a country you definitely dont know.

A nation's culture is at its strongest when it can be inclusive. The reasons for the contrary are all political.

Please note that Kurdish dance is full of words and meanings. This means identity, antiquity and history (material). The handkerchief of the first and last person shows the equality of all members of the group by the unity of the women's group in dance, the symbol of brotherhood and sisterhood between all men and women, and the social role of women in the group. The group becomes a hooray and a collective voice to scare the enemy in a meeting means to persuade the enemy and the hated group to surrender. Raising the head means seeking help from the pure God. Chains are another way of dancing in Kurdish The manner and color of the handkerchiefs means that white means we are at peace now, when the red handkerchief was lifted and the legs hit the ground faster and the rhythm danced or it was time to declare its readiness for war.

This guy is talking 100% sense and facts. Only the uneducated and people who are ashamed of their past will not accept this guys knowledge.

he study on turkish but I think he had not been in turkey as well. İf he will come he can see the kurdish people lives in city center. And what the fuck is that "cart, curt"?!! Im turkish but I never heard it before. And its not academic there is no proof, just talking

thanks for the video .it's all true.

Tolchering is not allowed in Turkey (or at the Ottoman Empire) since the 19. century lawful. And the nationalism which Mustafa Kemal Atatürk had advocated was not taking the rights of the minorities. His ideology was only to categorize everyone who lives in Turkey as a "Turk" independently of his origin, religion, gender, language or anything else. He supported the "Turkish Nationalism" to protect the country of the colonialising from the western states (England, France, ...). If you have really believable sources, that Kurdish people have been tolchered then you have to show it. Everyone has the ability to say anything without establishing it.

Thank you 🙏

Oh and btw, instead of making stupid comments such as "but turkey helped the islam world" "but America did stuff to native Americans" Why don't you people acknowledge the fact that what's beautiful about north America is that Here they ACCEPT what they have done and i have professors who apologize in public health classes for what the first nations went through. They aren't saying the first nations didn't exist. And secondly, no one denies turkeys hand in development, this Ted talk is about language and how by enforcing it on a people, you may be enforcing FASCISM. And lastly, for God's sake its 2015 i can't believe there are still people who are using kurds and pkk interchangeably. Then no one should complain about muslims being called terrorists or Turks being called barbaric in Germany.

Exactly WHERE has Gallatin been all this time I was applying for college I'm a sophomore somewhere else now and I feel so gutted I didn't know about it earlier :(

great speech!

DUH the English did the same. Wipe out the language of whom you have colonized and their culture will follow. I cant believe it took him 7 minutes to get to the beginning of his talk

It is really hard to disagree with most of the points Mr. Glastonbury mentions during his talk, but what is really unbelievable is that none of the remarks he makes about the status of Kurds & the language policies is original; all of his observations and notes have been noted elsewhere (in academic journals and books as well as in domestic and foreign press) and for a very long time. Then, the question is, what is the point point behind his talk? Why did the TED invite him in the first place?

That happens now in too many countries where people and their identities suffer from this kind of assimilation in a stranger culture and nation. The Arabism had did the same thing with Kurds and its criminal atrocities had gone to far, by chemical bombing of kurdish villages. What the Turkish state did and continu doing is a sort of a cultural genocide. Many states want to assimilate people in one nation even if the culture and the language of that state hasn't any relation with the indigineous people but they'll be terrorised and persecuted until they give up their identity to a fake one to be controled by a few people. In this world you live in two nations, the nation that you belong to and the one who you find established by force. The former soviet union and Youguslavia were another example and we've seen what happened after their falling apart. This kind of cultural genocide is perpetuated for political reasons and we've a responsibility to act and to defend the right of all people to speak up their language. Nationalismcan can turn to an oppressive ideology.

Regular(daily) Pledges of allegiance to a nation in schools disturb me in general regardless of the nation... But then again I'm german...

hello Nick thank you for your valuable info you studies this really hard you got it very right good luck with ur studies

Thank you bro from Kurdish

long live 40 million Kurds and an independent Kurdistan in turkey iraq and syria, living in europe here.

Before Turkish language was priveliged by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, official language in government and communication in media was arabic and persian in Ottoman Empire and Turkey. He is criticizing a lot Turkish language preference but not explain why it will be better to stay in arabic or persian or he is dreaming that everyone will speak his own language and no common language to share to use as base. He is not focused on majority population was Turks and they were forced to speak and write in arabic and language revolution was a must to develop for the country, where arabic was not fitting Turkish language to be able to write and very few people were able to write and read before Ataturks language revolution. He needs to look at from much wider perspective and reasons of lots of changes during Turkish revolution, in parallel to other options and consequences. Also, lots of information look like collected from rumours or via word of mouth without a fact behind. I never heard someone said that every person mother language is Turkish in Turkey and i am one of the kids repeated in the clip he presented, which was mainly to motivate honesty, protect younger, respect elders, love my nation. I noticed also instead of sharing facts, he is trying to create/push a perception by using presentation methods like repeating specifc words multiple times specifically in different places.

According to professor Arnold Ludwig’s 18-year long study, examining the nature of political leaders in the world, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk stands out as the greatest leader of the century due to the fact that he was the leader of one of the earliest struggles against colonialism and imperialism, that he was an exceptional reformer in almost all social and cultural fields of modern times, that he set an outstanding example in promoting the spirit of mutual understanding between peoples and lasting peace between the nations of the world and that he had advocated all his life the advent of ‘an age of harmony and co-operation in which no distinction would be made between men on account of color, religion or race'. He transformed Turkey, with a population of 98 % Muslims, into a secular and modern country with institutions and a social and political substructure like Western countries in the middle of the Near East. Well, that's not what some people want to see. Why? Now imagine all the Arabs in the Middle East would turn into something like that. That region needs to be exploited because of its vast resources and an enlightened nation is the least that is needed over there. Underdeveloped, tribal minorities are the best instruments for this purpose. So, today it's the Kurdish card, tomorrow the Armenians, the next day something else. Well, this young "wanna be" perception manipulator is trying to do his job. It seems that he is new in this. Keep on working, Nicholas Glastonbury! Eventually, you'll find some people who will buy this shit.

everything explained clearly in 11 minutes. this is great. thank you for sharing mate.

Why is English the official language of USA? Why should Turkish not be the official language of Turkey?

Europe in particular British divided the geography of countries very improperly. Part of Balochistan is in Iran and part of it is in India. Same thing with Kurdistan which is in 4 countries Iran, Turkey, Syria & Iraq.

What is the name of the person giving the lectures and can he communicate with me ???

Great presentation

Mountain Turks was being used as a joke. This guy doesn't know what he is talking about. I hope they failed him for his class/thesis/research project.

Thank you bro

Why you are not talking about the Kurdish Freedom act that started by President Erdogan(the person who take out the The Pledge of Allegiance from the schools). You are falsifying the truths or you are doing your research with some prejudgements.

Weldon, young man. A very clear presentation.

Her Biji nicholas

What language do Kurd's speak in the United States schools and public?

Hm... difficult.

Young rookie Nicholas, you need to come and live here, be a part of the conversation first, then you can speak whatever you like. I could make a video about American indians and your grandfather easily as well. But I won't because its your homeland and so you guys should solve the problem. All I can do is to respect and we wait the same from you!

viva kurdistan from germany

Unfortunately for us we are surrounded by ignorance where the only dialogue the know is killing

i am hoping to see an American person to talk about what they did to Iraq and Afghanistan. You are good at blaming nations and people without judging yourself.Lets talk about American Indians? no? you dont want? ofcourse..

türküm doğruyum çalışkanım... kürtsende beraberiz... there is no talk of hate or anything else .. you don't understand that .. but you like the hate speech and hate education of armenians and pkk / ypg .. so please. your theater is not harmless.

Everything true

One of the best ted talks I've watched. Thank you!

"Ataturk's nationalism opinion" is a distinct case. It includes: "If who feels like Turkish, he/she is Turkish." These are Ataturk's words. In 1930's, in a place like Anatolia, something else couldn't be expected. Thousands of people killed and injured by Allies forces of WW1 (England, France, Italy, Greece, Armenia etc. Maybe you don't know, or you've forgotten.). Then, Ataturk and The Grand National Assembly of Turkey gathered an army and saved "our" homeland. "Our" means Turkish, Kurdish, Circassian, Albanian etc. Ataturk united all these folks and miniorities of Anatolia, and he founded the Turkish Republic with these folks and miniorities. And all the Turkey's inhabitants are respect to say "I am Turkish." This issue does not concern those who didn't suffer once.

This guy presents the 80's ultra-nationalist coup "theories" as 40-50's nation-wide opinion of Kurds. Let me tell you something, here in this video Kurds are addressed as a minority. But in Turkey no one considers Kurds as a minority. In fact, they are considered as a body of the whole Turkish nation. That is because their numbers are huge and cannot be considered as an ethnic minority. They are not discriminated in the general public. The government's approach against the PKK frequently crosses lines against the Kurds living in the southeast but the people of Turkey are never in spite or hate against the Kurds. And no, no one is denying the existence of Kurds or their language. Their language cannot be made the official language is all. In the past and by past I mean the 80's and 90's these discriminatory expressions were made by the Turkish government. They are something to be ashamed of, but were never the general opinion of the public in Turkey. And I want to state, this guy compares the actions made in 20s and 30s to today's society. That is the biggest rookie mistake that you can ever do while talking about history.

lol how about germans in usa? they werew half of your population and they disappeared. at least kurds in turkey are still present

Nations that lived in Anatolia are medians phrygians Aeolians Ionians Dorian’s lydians anatolians Hurrians they all spoke indo European languages and who are the Turks ??? Mongols yes mongols

very very true !

I'm Turkish and I feel terribly sorry about how Kurds are treated in our country for years. A lot of discussion has to be made today to come to an agreement between our nations to solve these issues. But I think that American citizens should really be primarily concerned about their own national politics. Enough of addressing other countries' problems while the politics in the US has a lot of responsibility to take.