Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality held a workshop to develop a shared set of Kurdish administrative and professional terms used in local government.

Led by the Language Development and Protection Unit under the Department of Culture, Arts and Social Affairs, in coordination with language institutions, weekly efforts have been underway since April to standardise Kurdish (Kurmanji) municipal terminology. A total of 25 meetings have been held to date. The workshop was organised to review this accumulated work and to consolidate outstanding terminological issues.

Academics and linguists attended

The workshop, hosted at a hotel in the Sur district, brought together staff from the Language Development and Protection Unit alongside academics and linguists from Türkiye and abroad.

In line with the municipality’s multilingual local governance policy, the workshop featured comprehensive discussions on standardising Kurdish concepts and occupational terminology used in municipalities. Participants shared views and recommendations on building Kurdish administrative terminology and contributed to the process.

Workshop to run for three days

At the end of the three-day workshop, the finalised Kurdish municipal terms are expected to be adopted in a way that supports a common language across municipalities providing multilingual services.

Addressing terminological challenges

It was stated that the workshop’s core aim is to identify, evaluate and develop solutions to terminological challenges encountered in municipal terminology. The ongoing work seeks to ensure standardisation of Kurdish municipal terms within Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality and other municipalities across the region.

Standard terms to appear on signage

Following the workshop, the standardised Kurdish municipal terms are planned to be added to municipal signage in line with Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality’s multilingual policies.