United Nations, Union of Turkish Bar Associations ignore Kurdish refugees

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The Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB) and United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) ignore Kurdish in the Translation Support Line.

Established in 2018 to offer services in Arabic and French, the hotline has now also been offering services in French and Dari (a language spoken in Afghanistan). However, Kurdish has not been added to the services in Turkey, where over 130 thousand Kurdish refugees live.

The Refugee Rights Commission of the Mardin Bar Association submitted a petition to the Translation Support Line yesterday (April 12) and requested that the hotline offer services in Kurdish as well.

Kurdish not added to the UN project

Having written the petition, Mardin Bar Association Secretary General Sezgin Dinç has spoken to bianet about the issue.

According to Dinç, "they have been informed that the Translation Support Line is a project of the United Nations, not that of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations, and that the decision-maker is the UN."

Noting that the TBB has not yet given an official response or made a statement, lawyer Dinç has said, "It was noted that the UN includes the languages in high demand; but we are not sure that it is true" and added:

"Moreover, the regional representatives of the UNHCR visited our Bar Association a few days ago. They asked us whether we were using the line and to inform them if there was any deficiency in the line.

"We told them that we had a request about Kurdish. They did not directly say, but they said that 'the demanded languages are included.' The Mardin Bar Association has such a demand and this is not solely our problem. There are Syrian and Iraqi Kurdish refugees in Bursa, İzmir, Konya as well."

'TBB should have recommended it'

Mardin Bar Association Chair İsmail Elik has also said that they have been waiting for an answer from the Union of Bar Associations:

"We have been informed that the project is financed by the UN. We have been unable to learn who decides which languages will be included or who has the authority to make this decision. However, even though the UN is the decision maker, the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB) should have made a recommendation about Kurdish. We think that it will be discussed at the Executive Board meeting and we will be informed afterwards."

When we called the Translation Support Line, which serves only lawyers and bar associations, we were told that they do not offer services in Kurdish. When we asked, "What do you do when a Kurdish translator is requested," the answer was "We form a request."

Petition to the TBB

In the petition sent by lawyer Sezgin Dinç from the Mardin Bar to the TBB, it has been defined as a "huge deficiency" that "Kurdish has not been included in the languages in which the support line offers services."

Citing the data of the Immigration Authority dated March 24, 2022, the petition has recalled that there are 91,686 Syrians in Mardin and 3,754,501 Syrians across Turkey in the "temporary protection" status. Referring to the data of the international minority rights organizations, the petition has noted that 10 to 12 percent of the Syrian population consists of Kurds.

Recalling that Ezidis, whose mother language is Kurdish, also live under temporary protection in Mardin's Midyat, the Bar Association has noted that "it manifests itself how vital the need for Kurdish translation is."

Emphasizing the principles of equality in access to justice and procedural economy, the Bar has requested that the necessary be done to ensure that Kurdish be added to the translation support line of the UNHCR and TBB. (RT/SD)