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Our mother languages live with us!

21 February 2022

Language Rights Monitoring Documentation and Reporting Network (DHIBRA), a Türkiye-based network conducting in-depth research on minority languages in Türkiye, published this statement on International Mother Language Day to raise awareness about the importance of mother languages. MRG joined their call for co-signatories.

Our mother languages live with us!

Our mother languages live with us in the street, in the workplace, in our songs, in our joy, in our sorrow. Our languages, just like our nature, are ignored in the turmoil of the new world due to the political and economic reasons.

We want our children too to live speaking their mother languages. We expect the state and individuals to fulfil their duties in this matter. We demand the removal of the obstacles our mother languages face, as well as the promotion of these languages. We believe that the co-existence and development of various languages guarantee peace and social fraternity. Let us not forget that the right to language is a human right.

We will not give up on our nature, our streets, our music nor our mother languages!

Our mother languages live with us, we live with our mother languages!

Happy 21 February International Mother Language Day!

Photo: Alpona drawings on a street in Dhaka, Bangladesh, made on the occasion of International Mother Language Day 2019. Credit: Israt Jarin, published on Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

Click here to read about MRG’s work in Türkiye. This programme is funded by the European Union and in cooperation with Civil Society Dialogue.

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