Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality will host a series of multilingual events—ranging from film screenings and a panel to a forum and a concert—as part of International Mother Language Day on 21 February.

The Department of Culture, Arts and Social Affairs has prepared a comprehensive programme featuring a wide range of activities, from film screenings to panels, forums and a concert. Taking place between 19 and 22 February, events will be held at various venues, primarily the Çand Amed Culture and Congress Centre.

Film screenings on 19 February

The programme will begin on Thursday, 19 February at 20.00 with film screenings at Çand Amed. As part of the programme, “Zimanê Dayikê – Serkew Mesgarî” (documentary) and “Xewna Bêziman – Mazlum Baran” (short film) will be shown to audiences.

Theatre and stand-up performance

On Friday, 20 February, the programme will continue with theatre and stage performances. The play “Hîşê Min Tev Li Hew Bû” will be staged at Çand Amed at 11.00.

On the same day, at 14.30, an International Mother Language Day event will be held at Parka Gulan.

In the evening, at 20.00, audiences will meet the Dawiya Dawî/Özcan Ateş stand-up performance at Çand Amed.

Panel, forum and concert on 21 February

On Saturday, 21 February, the panel “Zimanê Dayikê û Perwerde (Mother Tongue and Education)” will take place. The panel will be held at Çand Amed between 13.30 and 15.30, with Prof. Dr Yasemin Oral Sarıbaş, Prof. Dr Bülent Bilmez, Prof. Dr Christoph Schroeder, Dr Salim Orhan, Dr Cuma Çiçek and Dr Bahar Öngüç participating as speakers. The panel will address the relationship between mother tongue and education from different perspectives.

Endangered Languages Forum

On the same day, the forum “Zimanên Di Bin Talokeyê De (Endangered Languages)” will be held at Çand Amed between 15.45 and 17.15. The forum will be moderated by Dr Ronay Önen.

The forum will feature Deniz Gündüz (Kirmanckî/Zazaki), Fırat Mercan (Armenian), İrfan Çağatay (Laz), Saliba Açiç (Syriac), Emel Özdemir (Circassian) and Mahir Özkan (Hemşin/Homshetsi) as speakers, and will discuss the current situation of endangered languages as well as efforts to protect and sustain them.

The final event of the day will be a concert at Çand Amed at 20.00.

At the concert, students from the Aram Tigran Conservatory will perform works in Kurdish (Kurmancî and Kirmanckî), Armenian and Syriac.

The programme will conclude on Sunday, 22 February at 13.00 with a staging of the theatre play “Hîşê Min Tev Li Hew Bû” at Çand Amed.