An Appeal from Kurdish PEN The Cry of Silence: An Open Call to PEN International and the Global Conscience in the Shadow of Cultural Eradication
An Appeal from Kurdish PEN
The Cry of Silence: An Open Call to PEN International and the Global Conscience in the Shadow of Cultural Eradication
Introduction: The Geography of Pain and the Philosophy of Persistence
In a land where history is etched in blood and geography is carved by artificial borders, there exists a nation known as the “Kurds.” Like the resilient oaks of our ancient mountains, this nation stands defiant—not merely for its soil, but to safeguard the very dignity of human existence. This manifesto is more than a political chronicle; it is an unveiling of the thick veil draped over a fascist and supremacist mindset—a mentality determined to hollow out the language, culture, and being of an entire people. This is a literary and philosophical cry rising from the depths of the Middle East’s wounds, addressed to the global sanctuary of the written word: PEN International.
- Language as the House of Being: When Speech Becomes a Trench
Martin Heidegger famously posited that “Language is the house of being.” It follows, then, that when a people is dispossessed of their language, they are evicted from their very existence. From the North to the South, and from the East to the West of Kurdistan, Kurdish children enter the 21st century still deprived of the fundamental right to learn in their mother tongue. This is not mere policy; it is a “White Genocide.” When a child is forced to think, dream, and speak in the tongue of an oppressor, the process of ontological severance begins.
In Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan), currently besieged by the fires of war and the occupations of the Turkish state and its radical proxies, schools have been transformed from temples of knowledge into arenas of forced assimilation. The Kurdish language—one of the oldest and richest Indo-European tongues—faces an existential threat. To protect this language is to protect the tapestry of human diversity.
- Rojava (Syria): Between the Regime’s Hammer and the Anvil of Religious Fascism
The plight of the Kurds in Rojava is the embodiment of an infinite tragedy. If yesterday the Ba’athist regime of Bashar al-Assad oppressed Kurds under the banner of “Arab Nationalism,” today, the factions labeling themselves as the “Opposition” are orchestrating an even greater catastrophe. These groups are not only politically fascist; they have donned the cloak of religious extremism, declaring “Jihad” against the Kurdish people.
We bear witness to a reality where the current governance in occupied regions like Aleppo, Afrin, Serekaniye, and Gire Spi is more draconian than the previous regime. Here, religious “fatwas” are weaponized to sanctify the shedding of Kurdish blood. This is the same mentality that birthed ISIS. While the Kurds stood at the vanguard of the global fight against darkness, they are now targeted by the very forces supported by regional powers. This is not a war over mere territory; it is a war of mentalities: the vision of democracy and coexistence versus the nightmare of a Caliphate and the erasure of “the Other.”
III. Screens of Hate: The Dehumanization of Kurds in Regional Media
Regrettably, when we observe the television channels of the surrounding nations—Arabic, Turkish, and Persian—we find a landscape saturated with the rhetoric of malice. What is most harrowing is that this vitriol does not stem only from the uneducated, but from the “intellectual elite” and university professors. When a scholar appears on an Arabic screen, speaking with the tongue of a medieval fascist to issue a fatwa against a nation, it puts the collective conscience of that society under a grim spotlight.
These media outlets project a distorted image of the Kurd, framing them as an “existential threat,” a “separatist,” or an “infidel.” This is the systematic “Demonization” of a nation. When a human being is stripped of their humanity through the media, their murder is normalized. This is the psychological trauma that Kurds endure daily as they watch their identity being desecrated on global screens.
- The Scene in Aleppo: A Manifesto of Fascism
One of the most agonizing images to recently circulate in social media and Arabic news outlets was the footage of a young girl being thrown from a building in Aleppo by radical militants. This was not just a war crime; it was a manifesto of a terrifying mentality.
As they committed this atrocity, the militants shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is Great) and hurled the most dehumanizing insults at her. This is the ISIS-legacy: the use of the Divine name to justify the torture of the innocent. This scene revealed that, for these extremist groups, the Kurdish woman is viewed merely as “spoils of war” whose dignity must be shattered. It marks the moral bankruptcy of a culture that allows the most heinous crimes to be committed in the name of the sacred. This girl is the symbol of the immense suffering the Kurdish nation endures under the yoke of fascist mentality.
- The End of Caliphates and the Necessity of Mental Metamorphosis
Our neighbors—Turks, Persians, and especially Arabs—must realize that the era of Caliphates and expansionist empires is dead. Today’s world belongs to human rights, democracy, and the recognition of “the Other.” The Middle East can no longer be governed by the ghost of the 7th century or the rigid, suffocating nationalism of the 20th.
Kurdistan, the “Cradle of Civilization,” has the inherent right to preserve its soul. We do not seek the erasure of any nation; we seek equality. But how can we speak of “coexistence” when their airwaves only sow the seeds of hatred? Coexistence requires dialogue, not fatwas; it requires mutual recognition, not dehumanization.
- Despair Between the Screens: Where are the Intellectuals?
As Kurds, caught between the screens of our phones and our televisions, we face a tidal wave of disillusionment. We search for a single piece of good news, a solitary humanitarian voice from the “intellectual elite” of our neighbors that says: “Killing Kurds is a crime; erasing the Kurdish language is a shame.”
Instead, we are met with a deathly silence. Many intellectuals who champion human rights in European cafes become staunch nationalists when the subject turns to the Kurds. This silence is an accomplice to the executioner. The conscience of a nation is questioned when its thinkers, who should be the living pulse of society, become the apologists for the fascism of their regimes.
VII. A Call to PEN International
From the heart of Kurdistan’s agony, we appeal to PEN International and all literary and humanitarian centers of the world:
- Protect the Language: The Kurdish language is facing systemic eradication. International pressure must be exerted on occupying states to guarantee the right to mother-tongue education.
- Halt Media Malice: There must be international monitoring of media outlets that disseminate hate speech and religious decrees calling for the slaughter of Kurds. These are not merely channels; they are instruments of “Psychological Genocide.”
- Safeguard Writers and Thinkers: In all parts of Kurdistan, poets and writers are imprisoned or assassinated for their words. PEN must be the voice of these silenced pens.
- Condemn the Atrocities in Rojava: What is happening in Afrin and Aleppo is an attempt at demographic change and the uprooting of a civilization. The world cannot remain silent in the face of the tragedy of the girl in Aleppo.
Conclusion: A Dream for a Lucid Horizon
The Kurdish people were not created for death and mourning alone. We are a living nation, possessing a rich literature, a philosophy brimming with life, and an infinite love for freedom. The Middle East without the Kurds is a garden robbed of its most vibrant color.
We yearn for a life of dignity. We dream of a day when our children learn the word “Peace” in their mother tongue in a classroom, rather than the word “Martyr” in a bomb shelter. The mentality of fascism must crumble to make way for a humanitarian ethic. This is not only the right of the Kurds; it is the duty of every free human being and every writer with a living conscience.
Let our pens be shields against their swords. Let our words be the medicine for the deep wounds of a nation whose only “crime” is the desire to simply be.
The pen must be the scream for that silence which has been draped over Kurdistan for far too long.
Kurdish Pen Co-Chairs
Miran Abraham & Rojbîn Perîşan
