Turkey university launches departments of Zazaki, Kurmanji

TUNCELI (A.A) - December 21, 2011 - Turkey's Tunceli University has established language departments in Zazaki and Kurmanci, two major dialects of the Kurdish language, after the country's higher education supervising authority accepted the university appeal. "This is a first in Turkey. And it clearly shows that the Republic of Turkey is a strong state. These are two living tongues which millions of our people speak," the university's rector, Prof. Durmus Boztug, said Wednesday.     Boztug said the opening of the departments contributed to the culture of coexistence of and respect for differences in languages, ethnic identities and religious beliefs. Boztug said the university also established a department of Arabic language.