TURKEY tr-national

Kurdish-language graduate program gets first students

MARDIN - Anatolia News Agency | 10/10/2010 12:00:00 AM |

Twenty students have enrolled in a graduate program for Kurdish language and literature launched in April by the Mardin Artkulu University’s Languages Living in Turkey Institute, or TYDE.

Twenty students have enrolled in a graduate program for Kurdish language and literature launched in April by the Mardin Artkulu University’s Languages Living in Turkey Institute, or TYDE.

 “We have received 235 applications [for the Kurdish language graduate program], 35 of which were from female applicants,” said Kadri Yıldırım, the institute’s director. Yıldırım said only 20 students were selected, of whom four chose to study the Zazaki dialect, while the remaining 16 chose the Kurmanci dialect. The department also offers courses in the Syriac and Arabic languages.

Yıldırım said students would take classes on Kurdish literature during their first year of studies, and write their theses during the second year. “We will send the theses to other universities in Turkey and abroad,” he said.