A training session titled “The Importance of Multilingual Municipal Governance” was delivered for department heads and branch managers serving within Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality and the General Directorate of the Diyarbakır Water and Sewerage Administration (DİSKİ).
Held in the Metropolitan Municipality Council Meeting Hall through a collaboration between the Department of Human Resources and Training and the Department of Culture, Arts and Social Affairs, the session examined in depth the protection of multilingualism, the safeguarding of languages, and the importance of a multilingual approach in local government services. It was underlined that the provision of multilingual services by local authorities is one of the core elements of a democratic, inclusive and equality-based approach to municipal governance.
Safeguarding languages
In the first session, Dr Ronayi Onen, in a presentation titled “The Risk of Language Extinction”, drew attention to languages under threat globally and in the region. Doctoral researcher Nuh Bozkur, under the heading “Saving Languages from Death”, highlighted the significance of language policies, while Dr Dilawer Zeraq, in a presentation titled “Kurdish Language Awareness”, addressed the protection of the mother tongue and its role in collective memory.
Social impacts of multilingual services discussed
In the second session, Cemil Güneş considered the effects of multilingualism on society, the economy and education, drawing attention to the importance of a multilingual structure for social cohesion and participation. Linguist Zana Farqînî emphasised that multilingual municipal services increase accessibility and improve service quality in local government. Lawyer Cemile Turhallı, Co-Spokesperson of the Language, Culture and Arts Commission of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), also offered assessments regarding the party’s language policies.
The training programme concluded with a discussion session in which participants shared their views and suggestions.
