Many Erbil restaurants, cafes use only Turkish on menus, billboards

Many Erbil restaurants, cafes use only Turkish on menus, billboards

kurdsatnews

Nov 23, 2022

Restaurant bill in Erbil written in only Turkish, November 2022.

In the past years, Erbil authorities, after public outcries, have shut down some restaurants and hotels that played Saddam Hussein praising songs as back background music. But they were only closed for several days, failing to prevent its repetition. On November 10, a mall in Erbil was shut down for having played a song admiring former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Many Erbil restaurants have only Turkish, Arabic and English on their menus even though the majority of the city speaks Kurdish, causing concern among activists.

“In fact, it needs time until we can have all businesses to use the Kurdish language, and a large number of businesses have begun to use the Kurdish language,” Mayor of Erbil Nabaz Abdulhamid told KurdSat English. The mayor also noted that places that serve the people would be obliged to have the Kurdish language on their advertisements and menus when renewing their licenses, because if they don’t have Kurdish language on their front billboard and menu, they would not be allowed to do business. “We continue to monitor these places,” Abdulhamid added.

Bashdar Hassan, an Erbil-based lawyer says that a Turkification process is ongoing in Erbil, while not much is done to stop it. “There is a Turkification campaign underway in Erbil in particular, and the Kurdistan region in general, I am aware that [in Ebril] services in cafes and restaurants are done in Turkish rather than in Kurdish.”

KurdSat English reached out for many places that have Turkish on their menus but refused to comment. The streets of Erbil are filled with commercials in English, Turkish and Arabic languages, while the least are in Kurdish.

Erbil is home to a large number of Arabs from Iraq and other places of the Middle East, also a significant number of Persians have also moved to the city in search of jobs, although instead of learning Kurdish, Kurds have to learn their languages.

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