Zaman daily launches news portal in Kurdish language

Zaman daily launches news portal in Kurdish language
Zaman daily launches news portal in Kurdish language


Date posted: December 8, 2015

İPEK ÜZÜM / ISTANBUL

The Zaman daily has broken new ground by launching a news portal that will present reports in the Kurdish language.

The Kurdish news portal zamankurdi.com, which is expected to contribute to peace in society, democracy and media freedom in Turkey, will start its life on Tuesday.

The Zaman daily will be the first national newspaper to have a Kurdish news portal.

Zaman’s Diyarbakır representative, Aziz İstegün, is the editor of the new publication. Speaking about the launching of the news portal, İstegün says he wants to welcome the new news portal with the Kurdish words “Tu bir xêr hati ZamanKurdi” (Welcome ZamanKurdi).

İstegün says he believes the Kurdish news portal will make a distinguished name for itself with exclusive news articles and interviews.

Describing the novel news portal as the newest member of the Zaman family, İstegün reminded that the Zaman daily is already publishing news in Turkish, English and Arabic. İstegün says zamankurdi.com will cover both domestic and international developments for its readers.

“In addition to developments in all areas, the news portal will provide the Kurdish community with special news reports, analyses, articles and commentary. The website, which will objectively present the country’s agenda to its readers, will also impartially cover developments in the Middle East, including events in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq, Syria and Iran,” İstegün said.

İstegün also stressed that the project will be a breath of fresh air to news published in Kurdish globally. Highlighting that 117 years have passed since the first Kurdish newspaper was established, in 1898 by Mikdat Midhat Bedirxan and Abdurrahman Bedirxan in Cairo, İstegün said: “Since then, many newspapers and magazines have been published [in Kurdish]. It is beyond any doubt that all of those were significant. However, the fact that the Zaman daily, with the highest circulation in Turkey, has taken such a step in terms of Kurdish language news media is much more significant.”

Saying that the Kurdish website will be beneficial in terms of peace in society and a mutual understanding between the Kurdish and Turkish communities, İstegün added that the Kurdish people, who have experienced very difficult times in the country, being able to read news in their mother tongue will be “very influential in terms of the process of democratization in Turkey.”

The Zaman Media Group also established an online newspaper in Arabic last year. Zaman Arabic was launched on July 14, 2014 in an effort to provide news about Turkey to the Arab world in its own language.

Source: Today's Zaman , December 07, 2015

Tags: | |


Related News

Turkey calls on parents to report Erdogan critics at German schools

Turkish consulates in Germany have been organizing events for Turkish parents and asking them to spy on critics of the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Turkey at German schools, according to an education trade union, GEW (Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft).

Swoboda accuses Erdoğan of using Hizmet movement as a pretext

Socialist leader Hannes Swoboda asked “You were still supporting the Hizmet movement a year ago. Now you use the movement as an excuse for halting reforms. Why do you see them as a danger to Turkey now?”
Sources said Swoboda made it very clear that the EU was very concerned about the state of the rule of law in Turkey. “We are very concerned about the rule of law and the separation of powers, especially the independence of the judiciary,” he stressed.

The Fall of Turkey

Western officials have preferred to raise concerns over the steady dismantling of Turkey’s free institutions only privately with their counterparts in Ankara. This approach has failed. That failure has left many millions of pro-democracy Turks to fend for themselves, while a once-fringe ideological element in the AKP, reared on Islamist supremacism, has been emboldened.

Why is the Hizmet community alone?

Some people I have talked to recently have started to ask the following question, which is also discussed on social media from time to time: Why is the Hizmet community still alone even though it is clearly on the right track?

Dehumanize me Turkish-style — no comment

Following the Dec. 17 and 25 corruption investigations implicating Cabinet ministers and senior members of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, his inner circle and pro-AK Party media have launched a concerted, collective and comprehensive dehumanization strategy against Fethullah Gülen and the Hizmet movement. What follows is a snippet of the type of language used without comment, as comment is not needed.

Turkey’s Maarif schools to be funded by Saudi and IDB money

The Maarif Foundation, established by the Turkish government in order to compete with Turkish schools abroad established by Gülen movement sympathizers, has received approval from Saudi authorities and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) for financial support for Maarif schools abroad, a Turkish news portal reported on Friday.

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

India must understand Erdogan’s ideological motives for seeking extradition of Gülenists

Witch hunt against the Gülen followers in Europe

Military coup documents contain plans to prevent works of Hizmet movement

Fethullah Gulen’s Statement on Mass Shooting at Pittsburgh Synagogue

Erdoğan rewards the killers of Gülenists

Turkey’s Ongoing Crackdown: nearly 13,000 police officers suspended for alleged links to the Gulen movement

Great interest shown in Turkish school in Egypt

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News