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city
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Joined: 15 Aug 2005
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Location: Larnaca area
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Does that not cause a public outcry???? Will Radio and TV stations just follow without protest?
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Gibrizlija: the forbidden tongue
By Alkan Chaglar
(archive article - Sunday, October 25, 2009)
LAST WEEK, the Higher Broadcasting Council (HBC), a governing body which regulates electronic media in north Cyprus, announced its decision to ban Gibrizlija – the Turkish Cypriot vernacular.
The decision is inspired by the notion that the Turkish language should be ‘properly used’. Inspired by northern Cyprus’ nationalist UBP government, the HBC’s decision has elicited a fierce response of criticism from parties across the political spectrum and ordinary Turkish Cypriots.
Forbidding the use of Gibrizlija on TV and radio is especially controversial since there is clear popular demand for it. Over the years, BRT and Genc TV among others have increased the number of programmes broadcasted in the dialect.
Even advertisers recognise its popularity as the number of advertisements broadcast in the dialect has also increased significantly in recent years. Big northern Cypriot supermarket chains such as Lemar advertise their services in Cypriot-Turkish, while even the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ tax office warns tax evaders of legal consequences and imprisonment in their dialect!
It is not difficult to see the appeal to ordinary people. Gibrizlija reflects a certain reality. It is a way of communicating that most ordinary people can relate to. Whether you are right or left wing, pro-unity/unionist or pro-partition, professor or primary school leaver, rich or poor, London-based or Cyprus-based, the colourful Turkish Cypriot dialect is used and adored by us all.
Gibrizlija is not ‘bad Turkish’ in the same way that Catalan is not ‘bad Spanish or in the same way that Scottish is not ‘bad English’. It is the natural language used by Turkish Cypriots to communicate with one another that most were brought up with for most of their lives. It has a history, etymology, grammatical rules and phonological characteristics that separate it from Standard Turkish that have passed down for generations.
Historians and linguists attribute a variety of influences on the Cypriot-Turkish dialect from the Yoruk dialect of the Taurus Mountains, Cypriot-Greek, Venetian-Italian and British-English.
The vernacular is not used by a certain class or variety of Turkish Cypriot but all. Even educated and high-powered Turkish Cypriots use it. I have seen Turkish Cypriots in a crowd of Turks in Turkey switch over to their dialect when addressing each other – they would not think to speak to each other in Standard Turkish. This is just not what Turkish Cypriots do...
It is thus not surprising that the directive has been described as “shameful” by most popular politicians in the north. Recognising that banning the most natural thing a Turkish Cypriot would do is not a vote winner, the chairmen of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), Democratic Party (DP) and Communal Democracy Party (TDP), Ferdi Sabit Soyer, Serdar Denktash and Mehmet Cakici respectively criticised the decision.
Soyer accused the National Unity Party (UBP) self-styled government of trying to rule by using oppression. “You are a government which dictates even how people will talk”, said Soyer.
Denktash Jr said that they will turn the Turkish Cypriots into the only people in history which is ashamed of the way it speaks. Cakici noted that the decision is a policy of annihilating the Turkish Cypriot culture.
Sadly, the new law is now being actively enforced on broadcasting stations. The HBC is even now carrying out an “inspection” of 15 TV channels and 23 radio stations to make sure what it regards as ‘bad Turkish’ is no longer broadcast. No doubt the decision will affect existing broadcasts in the dialect, which are watched from as far as Britain.
Programmes such as ‘Torba’ whose ratings were so high that the actors soon became TV stars and who from then were asked to appear in numerous adverts may soon be forced off-air.
But it cannot be ignored that the decision appears to be part of a wider policy to assimilate Turkish Cypriots into Anatolian Turkish culture. There is no coincidence that the dreaded decree comes at a time when settlers from Turkey now outnumber Turkish Cypriots and when citizenship is about to be handed out to 15,000 more by Christmas.
The policy will fail as it will simply push the use of Cypriot-Turkish underground, it will not stop it, while the desire to speak and write Cypriot-Turkish will increase in retaliation to such an absurd policy.
Few Turkish Cypriots can be found to support this policy. Even opponents of Cypriot unity who support partition and the recognition of the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ would not dare support such a policy.
It would be political suicide for them. So how can policies that are directed against Turkish Cypriot cultural survival be made by a government who claims to represent Turkish Cypriots?
The policy raises questions over UBP’s ability to represent the Turkish Cypriot community and to balance Turkish Cypriot and Turkish interests. It also raises questions about the relationship that exists between Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots and whether it has become a one-way relationship.
Naturally, if one side dominates and always ovverides the will of the other, then clearly there are problems. Dr Eroglu’s role as one of the elected leaders of the Turkish Cypriot community is to ensure that he does not lose sight of or become out of touch with the will of his own community while satisfying external interests.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009 |
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repulsewarrior
Ministerial
Joined: 06 Jan 2006
Posts: 2152
Location: a cypriot in canada
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...here is xenophobia at its ugliest. somewhere an anonymous individual or group decide that their 'way' is correct and proper, reflecting what is a desire to produce a mono clonal society. In such circumstances, if it is truly formal policy, it would not be surprising to discover that immigration would be determined by the quality of an accent, let alone the usage of language.
Such oppressive behaviour is a reflection of a leadership which enjoys much from the status quo, so much so that it resists change of any kind natural or unnatural. It is a form of corruption which prevents the diversity that sustains a vital identity for peoples' distinctions as a People, where no one is different, some remain superior while everyone is the same .
..chances are, with the uproar, a Minister of this government will imply that it is not official policy and that it was an error on the part of a bureaucrat; it would not be a surprise if it is a 'trial balloon' which will be put away for a more opportune moment.
Ataturk must be rolling in his grave. |
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city
Site Admin
Joined: 15 Aug 2005
Posts: 3423
Location: Larnaca area
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| repulsewarrior wrote: |
| ...here is xenophobia at its ugliest. |
RW, why xenophobia? This is about the language of their very own people in their very own homecountry!
Xenos means stranger or better guest and xenophobia is described as: : fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign
I think this rather is a very alarming sign how big Turkeys influence is, or the other way round, how weak the Turkish Cypriot community has become 
Either way it's very bad. |
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repulsewarrior
Ministerial
Joined: 06 Jan 2006
Posts: 2152
Location: a cypriot in canada
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...xenophobia because of the isolation that the so called Turkish Cypriot administration has chosen.
Although it is alleged by this governing body that it seeks international recognition as a State, its dependance on Turkish approval has led to this appalling circumstance where civic leaders, broadcasters, teachers, and even politicians berate a policy which was formed by their own representatives, rather for the benefit of a motherland, in essence quite different, it appears, to their own.
xenophobe because they are afraid of their counterparts, the other island dwellers, xenophobe because even their own culture is not "Turkish" enough.
my question is, where does Talat stand in all of this? |
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city
Site Admin
Joined: 15 Aug 2005
Posts: 3423
Location: Larnaca area
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| Any info whether this ban has been actually put into practice?? |
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