I interviewed Dr. Mustafa Shawqi Qazizadeh in two broadcasts on the Rwanga website. Obviously, Mr. Hassan Qazi uploaded these texts, downloaded them in terms of old writings, and arranged the texts. Qazi briefly pointed out the importance of the language of these broadcasts and considered them important for the history of Kurdish broadcasting, especially in Mukriyan. That is an accurate statement. That is, these two broadcasts can be discussed linguistically and compared with other broadcasts before and after it. Especially since Dr. Mustafa Shawqi Qazizadeh was an educated and experienced person and, he was an intellectual of his time. It is important to know the language and writing style of the intellectuals of that time, including Dr. Qazizadeh.

However, my purpose in quoting the two texts is not to discuss their language, but in terms of content, both texts were important to me and I will discuss them later.

In the first text published in the newspaper "Hatawi Kurd" No. 3 in 1914, Dr. Qazizadeh wrote an article entitled "What is a school?".

What is a school

Several lines were written in the newspaper Iqdam about the progress of the Armenian nation; the observation and reading of these lines are real to us to such an extent that are heartbreaking. In a province where Armenians are residents and whose population does not reach a million in Iran, the Ottoman Empire, and Russia, they have established 700 schools with the help of the people. There are 82000 Armenian students in these schools.

This is the condition of the Armenians. We, who are Kurds today and have eight times more population than the Armenians, do not have students with their eighty thousand years of mysticism. Why, because we are destitute, our mullahs and experts do not like us to acquire knowledge because of their personal greed.

Chiefs and nobles of the Kurds, please listen; if your people are not stupid, why should they run from morning till night and do hard work if this is not to their benefit? Don't be lazy in something that is to your benefit. Of course, we know that the farmer's laziness is due to his ignorance of his own interests. If someone tells them the benefits of this business since childhood, they know that they are farming for their own benefit and not for the master.

If so, he must have a love for his work. In this case, the children of the farmer must be educated a little, and if they are sent to school in their own language, instead of studying for a year and learning nothing, they become a complete experts in their own tongue in six months.

Don't hesitate to use the name Maktab I said because school is not different from the old school.

I say, for example, there are two hundred rich sons in Mahabad who study in the school of the poor for three years and do not learn Persian. Rich people, do you think it is not possible to learn Persian, Kurdish, Turkish, mathematics, commerce, agriculture, religious sciences, geography, and history every year in the same school for the poor? Of course, if you have some love for your son, you will be grateful to do this. If they ask how can our child learn all that in three years? I answer that it is not difficult for you because if these two hundred people each give ten tomans a year, it will be two thousand tomans a year. With these two thousand tomans, building a nice building and hiring good teachers for your children will be possible.

Your son takes more than ten tomans a year for his teacher in a school full of disrespect and evil and does not learn anything.

 If you set up a meeting among yourselves and collect the money, your children will become experts and it is also a charity because some poor children will attend these schools for free and will acquire the mind of a businessman when they grow up.

I would like to ask you one more thing: tomorrow is the council and some people should be elected to the assembly in each city. If you see that the council is for the national interest and to prevent foreigners from oppressing us, will it not be clear that the council will be aware of the situation of foreigners? And they can help and work based on their people's needs.

I hope you will try to raise your children and educate them.

 Source: Hatawi Kurd magazine, No 3, January 11, 1914

Qazizadeh

Mustafa Shawqi

What is important in this article are several points:

First, Dr. Shawqi realized the need to establish schools in new styles in Kurdistan. In a Kurdistan that was dominated by nobles, sheikhs, and mullahs, each of these three classes treated the people according to their own intentions and desires. Furthermore, until then, education, knowledge, and literacy were controlled by the three classes. In the meantime, the mullah was in the service of the nobleman and the sheikh in some way regarding this system of power. The lower classes of society by chance can change their lives through studying and become a source of change in society. The Mirzas, educated people, who grew up in the old hujra and schools, later returned to the service of a traditional system of power, which was under the control of the nobles and sheikhs.

In addition, education was mainly in Arabic and Persian.

To Be Continued …