The language often referred to as an "unknown language" by courts is now being used for the country-wide directory enquiries 11883. All GSM and landline numbers can now be enquired in the Kurmanci dialect of the Kurdish language.
The service was launched with delay because of difficulties in finding qualified staff. After a test drive, the service is now Turkey's first directory enquiry in Kurdish.
The central office will eventually be located in Batman in the Kurdish-majority south-east of the country. For now, the service is temporarily provided from an office in Izmir.
15 bilingual service operators (Turkish-Kurdish) work around the clock to provide a smooth service. The number of employees is going be doubled once the company will have moved to Batman.
Officials of 11883 announced that services in other dialects will be provided according to the demand. They indicated that in the course of the privatization of the 118 directory enquiries, all legal obstacles before establishing such a line had been removed. They underlined that services in Kurdish were a requirement in a country where millions of Kurdish people were living in. (IC/VK)
