Ozdemir İnce: Turkish language in that country of poets, Bulgaria
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Between the years of 1978-1988, I visited Bulgaria frequently. Sometimes two or three times a year even. In 1982, the Bulgarian "Narodna Kultura" or National Culture Publishing House published my book of poetry, "It is Writter on the Water." The book was all sold out in a few days. I became one of the foreign writers in Bulgaria whose poetry was most printed in magazines. But despite the fact that I was invited a few times after 1988, I was never able to return to Bulgaria.
I have no reason to hide the fact that I am pleased that Bulgaria has entered the European Union. I really am happy about it. But whether it was Bulgaria's right to, whether or not there were certain flaws in its application, and whether or not in fact Turkey should have entered the EU far in advance of Bulgaria; well, the answers to all these questions lie in the EU.
Looking at the new eastern borders of the EU-Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria-I see that this is like a barrier region now between Russia and West Europe. And basically, this entire barrier region was once, twenty years ago, a part of the Soviet bloc. And now it is contained in the EU.
And so, answering any questions on Bulgaria's accession, the above basic truth must not be forgotten.
I would like to analyze the entry of Bulgaria into the EU alongside the buffoonery of the Diyarbakir Municipality's recent attempts at "multi-lingual municipality services." I understand quite well what this municipality was trying to do with this move. I have been aware of their intents since the first moves to implement "mother tongue education" there. Everyone should recall well how I warned about that at the time.
* * *
Here is the general scope of what is and isn't allowed viz Turkish in Bulgaria:
1. In Bulgaria, there is no official second language, and this includes Turkish.
2. Primary, secondary, and high school educations are only available in Bulgarian.
3. In schools, you can elect to study Turkish as a second language, if there is an available Turkish teacher.
4. In schools where Turkish is taught, it is for the grammar, and not literary.
5. During the week, every day at 5 in the afternoon, there is Turkish news.
6. At Sofia University, there is a "Turkology" department.
7. In the heavily Turkish city of Kirjali in Bulgaria, Turkish is taught at a higher level.
* * *
Bulgaria's population is made up of 10% ethnic Turks. This means somewhere between 700 thousand and 1 million people. According to US sources, the Turkish population is similarly made up of around 10% ethnically Kurdish people. Which means around 7 million people. And thus, the democratic rights extended to Turks in Bulgaria by way of EU regulations should be a very good example of what we should be expected to do viz our Kurdish population. For example, I wonder whether the Diyarbakir Municipality's actions would be allowed in Bulgaria, if it were a heavily Turkish municipality?
The tail of the EU lies in Turkey's hand, but let's all see together whether the AKP government will be able to make use of it.