Turkey approves Kurdish studies

The Turkish government has approved Kurdish language studies at Mardin Artuklu University in the mostly Kurdish populated southeast.

The country’s Higher Education Board approved the step, which is part of Turkey's initiative towards the Kurds, and it will now be possible for Kurdish students to study their language at a Turkish university.

The university’s application was approved in the wake of renewed government efforts to resolve the Kurdish issue through democratic means.

The Turkish education minister, Yousif Zia Ozjan, said: "The opening of the Kurdish language studies in the Mardin University will not only benefit the university, but will further enrich Turkey linguistically.”

Turkey’s government is planning a broad series of investments worth as much as US$12 billion in the country’s largely Kurdish southeast, in a new economic effort intended to create jobs and develop the Kurdish areas long been neglected by the government.