The Vate Working Group, which works to standardise Kirmanjki (Zazaki), held its 41st meeting in Diyarbakır, hosted by Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality.

The Language Development and Preservation Branch Directorate, operating under the Department of Culture, Arts and Social Affairs, is continuing its work to develop municipal terminology in Zazaki. The second meeting on Zazaki municipal terminology, carried out jointly with the Vate Working Group, was held in Diyarbakır. The four-day meeting brought together 25 writers and teachers from different cities.

Since 1996, the Vate Working Group has been holding meetings in Europe and Türkiye to support the development of Kirmanjki as a standard written language. In its meetings to date, the group has set out spelling rules and carried out joint analyses on more than 10,000 core words and 60,000 variants of these words.

The work is based on scientific criteria such as regional common usage, etymological analysis, and comparison with other Kurdish dialects and neighbouring languages. The group also works on technical terminology in many fields, including anatomy, law, municipal administration, geography, literature and education.

Meeting outcomes published in Vate magazine

The meetings of the Vate Working Group address specific subjects such as the alphabet, nouns, adjectives, pronouns, prepositions, verbs and conjunctions. Draft reports are discussed with the views of participants, and decisions are taken in line with the majority view. The decisions adopted at the meetings are published in Vate magazine and shared with the public.

Published since 1997, Vate magazine has reached 82 issues to date. The group has also published major reference works, including Ferhengê Kirmanckî-Tirkî, Türkçe-Kırmancca Sözlük and Rastnuştişê Kirmanckî.

‘It is vital that Zazaki becomes more visible’

Mehmet Uzun, Chair of the Vate Working Group, said the group had been working continuously since 1996 to support the standardisation of Zazaki, adding that they regularly publish their work in Vate magazine.

Uzun stated that Vate Publications has published more than 150 books in Zazaki and noted that Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality had requested their support on municipal terminology. Uzun said: “We are working jointly and gladly with the Metropolitan Municipality on this issue. We devoted six of our meetings to municipal terminology. We have held 40 meetings in total, and this is our 41st meeting.”

Emphasising the importance of making Zazaki visible in institutions such as municipalities, Uzun noted that Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality was carrying out significant work in this field.

‘We are ready to work together’

Uzun said the Vate Working Group includes members from different regions, Europe, universities and academic circles, adding that they also give priority to women participants. He stressed that women play an important role in the development of language and its transmission from generation to generation.

Uzun said: “As the Vate Working Group, we are always ready to work together with civil society organisations and institutions. Our aim is to make Zazaki more visible, more standardised and more actively used. Together with the Metropolitan Municipality, we continue to develop and identify the missing terms.”