On Wednesday 21 February 2024, the Conference Palace Department of the Federal Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Ministry celebrated International Mother Language Day with a special event hosted by Al-Shabibi Hall at the Conference Palace in the capital Baghdad.
The celebration was held under the slogan “The Syriac Language is an Extension of Mesopotamian Civilisation,” and was sponsored by Federal Government Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Minister Dr. Ahmad Fakkak al-Badarni. It began with a welcoming speech delivered by the Director General of the Palace of Conferences Department, Dr. Montaser Sabah al-Hasnawi, in which he talked about the importance of language in development and communication with communities, as well as learning about and preserving their cultures.
The celebration included a dialogue symposium on the Syriac language, moderated by the Director General of the Federal Ministry of Culture’s House of Manuscripts, Dr. Ahmad al-Olaywi, in which the Regional Government’s Director-General of Syriac Culture and Arts Kaldo Ramzi Oghanna, Syriac writer Boutros Hormuz Nabati, and cuneiforms and Sureth language specialist, writer Nineb Lamassu, participated.
During the dialogue symposium, Oghanna stressed that “Syriac Aramaic is one of the oldest languages written in alphabetical letters and extends for more than three thousand years, which has produced for Iraq and all of humanity an immortal literary and cultural heritage, much of which is still alive.”
Oghanna elaborated, speaking about the history of the Syriac language, which gained its greatest importance after the translation of the Bible into the Edessan dialect during the second century AD.
Regarding the current situation of the Syriac language in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, Oghanna confirmed, “Since 1991, the Syriac language has been taught in Iraqi Kurdistan during the three primary, middle, and preparatory stages, and today we have approximately 50 schools teaching in the Syriac language in the region.”
Oghanna added, “The General Directorate of Syriac Culture and Arts was established, which works extensively to spread Syriac culture and preserve the Syriac heritage.”
The celebration was attended by the Secretary-General of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, Safwan Bashir Younis, and Council Member Dr. Majid Shangali, in addition to a group of people interested in Syriac cultural and literary affairs.
On Wednesday 21 February 2024, the General Directorate of Syriac Culture and Arts, in cooperation with the General Directorate of Syriac Education and the Directorate of Education of the Outskirts of Erbil, organised the activities of a ceremony for International Mother Language Day to celebrate the Syriac language, in the hall of the Syriac Heritage Museum at Ankawa District Centre, Erbil Governorate.
It is worth noting that International Mother Language Day is an annual celebration around the world to enhance awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. February 21 was considered International Mother Language Day, and was officially approved by the United Nations General Assembly.
