Cell phones go Kurdish

The Kurdish mobile phones, put on the market by TTN Mobile, feature Kurdish as a language option, with Turkish as the only alternative. Uğur Akar, an employee of the Diyarbakır distributor of TTN Mobile, said the Kurdish menu was a result of two years of work with the assistance of the Kurdish Language Institution and Kurdish speaking academics. "We applied to a lot of firms to produce the Kurdish menu but they had turned us down. Only a Turkish firm, TTN Mobile, accepted the offer." Akar said the firm had manufactured 500 mobile phones in the initial stage and manufacturing would increase in line with demand.

"We started selling the mobile phones in Diyarbakır today and we were surprised as the Kurdish mobiles have proven very popular." Akar also said that they could apply the Kurdish menu to any type of mobile phone and the D550 and D530 models of TTN Mobile also feature a Turkish menu selection. Akar said the price range for the Kurdish menu mobile phones varied from 210 to 250 Turkish liras. Akar announced the opening of the sale of Kurdish phones on a poster in Kurdish on the door of his store that read:"Mizgin, Mizgin, Mizgin, Çave We Roni Derket Telefona Kurdi," (Good news, good news, good news, Kurdish phones are out).