the past and the present of book publishing in kurdish language in ...

or those who had never participated in them began founding publishinghouses. Book publishing independent of political organizations seems tohave taken off. For example, two publishers with more than 50 bookspublished so far – Avesta and Pêrî, have never had any connections withpolitical organizations. I am convinced that this tendency for independenceand liberalization in book publishing will become even stronger in the future.I have observed Kurdish book publishing in Sweden develop along similarlines (99).At present periodicals are mostly run by political organizations butindependent periodicals carry some weight too. The latter are expected tobecome stronger in the future.Another important development is the moving of Kurdish publishingcenters to Diyarbekir or simply founding them there. Of the publishinghouses with central offices in Diyarbekir, Deng, Bîr, Lîs and Belki, the lastthree were founded between 2003 and 2005. This is a new phenomenonbecause due to oppression in the past, all Kurdish publishers were based inIstanbul and Ankara.The develoment in Kurdistan in this sphere has not been restricted withpublishing centers; step by step literary events have started to be organized -like meetings with writers, readings, recitals, fairs, exhibitions, etc. Some ofthe local governments support such activities and some have createdKurdish websites. These are new phenomena which I think demonstrate astrenghtening tendency by spreading to other Kurdish cities.Until recently local periodicals were only published in Turkish. There aresigns that Kurdish texts will be appearing in them before long. And locallypublished periodicals entirely in Kurdish will emerge soon.44Kurdish libraries might be founded in the future.Many publishers share the express wish to translate works from the worldclassics and from Southern Kurdish (Sorani). The percentage of translationswill be growing in the future.In recent years many books and magazines have been published inSouthern Kurdistan. The language, literature and the publications ofNorthern and Southern Kurdistan will influence each other more and more.There will be more opportunities for the publications from NorthernKurdistan to be distributed and sold in Southern Kurdistan.Some of the publishers I have talked to share the view that publishing is amatter of patriotism and ideal for them, not a mere source of profit. Othersexpress their love for the job and talk of the satisfaction it brings them. Some