Who Are We
Children First Association,
was established in Diyarbakır in 2017 with the aim of carrying out studies for the psycho-social, cultural-artistic development and linguistic, mental and physical development of children within the framework of the children’s rights convention and to support individuals and organizations working on this subject.
The association aims to develop projects on different themes and subjects in the field of culture and art, to produce under the participation and leadership of children, and to deliver these productions to as many children as possible through visual media platforms. In this sense, the association carries out joint studies with Zarok TV, a children’s channel broadcasting in Kurmancî and Zazakî/Kirmancki dialects of Kurdish, especially to deliver productions to children.
The Children First Association will contribute to the work carried out for the preservation of the Kurdish language and culture and its transfer to the next generations through its activities.
Nearly half of the Kurdish population, whose population is estimated to exceed 40 million, consists of children under the age of 15. Children who are alienated from their own culture also experience many problems in their personality development. As the relevant scientific literature clearly shows, language is one of the most important determinants of children’s personality development, their process of becoming an individual, their acquisition of social belonging and cultural values.
It is much more common for children who cannot grow up with their own language and culture, to be cut off from the society they live in and to experience interruptions in their personality development. By playing a critical role in eliminating this deficiency for Kurdish children, the association wants to have a share in the upbringing of children in harmony with their own culture and identity and in harmony with the society they live in.
In this sense, the association will play an important role in intergenerational linguistic and cultural transmission with the projects it will develop together with Zarok TV, which has an important mission for Kurdish children to grow up with their own culture.