Istanbul Municipality excludes Kurdish in eight-language public toilet signs

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) excluded Kurdish in an eight-language sign in public toilets in Okmeydanı district, home to thousands of Kurdish people, Mezopotamya Agency reported. 

Kurds living in the neighborhood expressed discontent and said that the exclusion of Kurdish language showed that the municipality ignored Kurdish presence in the city.

“You added Chinese, why not Kurdish?” asked HDP district official Yusuf Guney and reminded that Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul took office thanks to Kurdish support in the municipal elections.

“You are supposedly from an opposition party. You mustn’t act like the ruling party” he said, adding that Kurdish signs in southeastern cities were taken down after Many Kurdish mayors from HDP (People’s Democratic Party) have been ousted from power on the grounds that they supported terrorism.