TURKEY RELEASES QUR’AN KURDISH TRANSLATION

Istanbul, 15 Rajab 1436/4 May 2015 (MINA) – After five years of hard work, a leading Turkish religion body has announced the conclusion of a project to translate the Noble Qur’an into Kurdish language, following similar successful projects to translate the Holy book into several European languages.

“The presidency is a universal and global institution that seeks to convey Islam’s message of mercy to humanity in all languages spoken on earth,” Dr. Yuksel Salman, the Director-General for Religious Publications of the Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) said, On Islam quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Salman highlighted the universality of Islam, quoting a verse from the Quran which is interpreted as: “And of His signs is … the diversity of your [mankind’s] languages and your colors. Indeed in that are signs for those with knowledge.”

Concluding five years of work, he said the translation of the Qur’an has already been printed.

“The latest is the Quran’s translation into Kurdish which we printed 10,000 copies of,” he said.

It is the latest project in a long list of 1,150 works that have been published by the religious authority since its foundation in 1924.

The body’s efforts have accelerated since the 1990s, launching projects to translate the Qur’an into different languages; mainly, German, English, French and Russian.

Kurdish belongs to a northwestern Iranian branch of the Indo-European family.

It is accepted as the fourth most spoken language in the Middle East, after Arabic, Persian and Turkish.

The director-general emphasized that the translation was performed by experts with vast knowledge of Kurdish and Arabic.

Salman added that the body will publish translations in 15 more languages, primarily in English, French, Russian, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Danish and Albanian, and will send some of them abroad.

“There are also people and tourists who come from abroad to Turkey, especially coastal areas and wish to learn about Islam and the Qur’an,” he said.

He added that the interest in Islam and the Qur’an has surged after the rise of Islamophobia, especially in Europe “as we learned from our attaches, counselors and other officials in those countries”, citing the example of a publication of the Qur’an in Danish, which was a best seller in Denmark. (T/P006/R04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)