Number of Kurdish publications in Turkey quadruples in six years

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

According to data released by the Turkish Statistical Agency (TÜİK), the total number of Kurdish language publications increased from 101 in 2008 to 413 in 2013. DHA Photo

The number of Kurdish language publications has quadrupled in Turkey over the last six years, with a majority being in the genre of fiction for adults.

According to data released by the Turkish Statistical Agency (TÜİK), the total number of Kurdish language publications increased from 101 in 2008 to 413 in 2013.

A total of 196 Kurdish language publications were in the adult fiction category in 2013, while the second largest category in Kurdish was adult culture with 105 publications. The lowest number of Kurdish language publications was in the category of religion, with 19 books.

The TÜİK said 42,655 books were published in all languages in 2013, an increase of 11.1 percent compared with 2012.

The highest increase - of 537 percent - was in electronic books (DVDs, VCDs, and CDs), which totaled 1,981 last year.

The TÜİK said 2,299 web-based electronic books, 13 cassettes with books and 21 maps were published in the country.

The number of publications in French also increased from 48 in 2008 to 274 in 2013, according to the data.

Nearly 90 percent of all book materials were published by Turkey´s private sector in 2013, while 7.6 percent were published by public and educational institutions and 2.8 percent by nongovernmental organizations.

Some 26.5 percent of the material related to education; 20.3 percent were adult cultural publications; 17.2 percent were aimed at children and adolescents; 14.8 percent were academic publications; 14 percent were adult fiction; and 7.2 percent were religious publications.

Some 91 percent of the material was in Turkish, 5.5 percent was in English, and 3.5 percent was in other languages.