At the beginning of this academic year, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy National University launched a course in the Crimean Tatar language. The new discipline was included in the list of elective courses, giving students the opportunity to learn the language of Ukraine’s indigenous people.
According to the Crimean Tatar Resource Centre, the organisation signed a memorandum of cooperation with the university, within the framework of which the course was launched. Philologist Ayshe Arnautova was invited to teach the discipline. She emphasised that the inclusion of the Crimean Tatar language in the university’s curriculum is an act of recognition of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and respect for the Crimean Tatar people.
According to her, studying Crimean Tatar gives students access to literature, folklore, traditions and music, and also allows them to conduct comparative linguistic research within the Turkic language group. The university also plans to conduct research aimed at promoting Crimean Tatar culture as part of Ukrainian identity.
The Crimean Tatar Resource Centre has called on other educational institutions to follow suit and create opportunities for studying this language in order to strengthen its role in society.
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