Salahaddin University awards Prof. Andrzej Pisowicz

On 27 September, the JU Institute of Oriental Studies hosted an award ceremony, during which Prof. Andrzej Pisowicz was presented with an award from the Salahaddin University-Erbil (Kurdistan) for his efforts related to studying and teaching the Kurdish language at the Jagiellonian University. The award was given by Ziyad Raoof, a representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Poland and Dr Farhang Muhamad from the Kurdish university. The event was also attended by the Dean of the JU Faculty of Philology Prof. Władysław Witalisz as well as Prof. Anna Krasnowolska together with Prof. Pisowicz’s many students and guests from Kurdistan.

Prof. Andrzej Pisowicz, a renowned expert in both Armenian and Iranian Studies, is also a pioneer when it comes to teaching the Kurdish language in Poland, which he first began more than twenty years ago at the Jagiellonian University, making it the first and, so far, also the only place in Poland where students can learn that language. In 2004, as part of an agreement between the Jagiellonian University and Salahaddin University-Erbil, he was joined by Dr Fahrang Muhamad. Their collaboration resulted in a textbook on Kurdish grammar published in 2012, which is the only Polish book on the Sorani dialect, used in Iraqi and Iranian Kurdistan. The book was co-authored by Andrzej Bartczak.

It is worth to stress that knowledge of the Kurdish language and efforts to preserve and restore it has an important symbolic meaning to the Kurdish people. In the 20th century, speakers of that language were often persecuted by states such as Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey; in the latter, it was called a non-existent language and its speakers ran the risk of being locked up in prison. Today, it is officially recognised only in Iraq as well as the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), also known as Rojava. Therefore, speaking Kurdish is frequently an important element of cultural and identity politics, and an act of resistance against assimilation strategies adopted by Turkey and Iran. Thus, the presence of Kurdish language at a foreign institution such as the Jagiellonian University gains additional meaning.