«Kiwimannen» er klar for nye eventyr: – Det har gått over all forventning

Injuria.no • 6. desember 2021

For nesten to år snakket Injuria med den såkalte Kiwimannen – 28 år gamle Espen Alstad Holthe, som valgte å jobbe i kassen på Kiwi etter å ha fullført jussutdannelsen på Universitetet i Bergen. Historien til Espen inspirerte flere av dragene på fakultetet. Det var derfor ingen tvil om at det var på tide med en statusoppdatering da Injuria fikk nyss i at han skulle legge sine Kiwi-dager bak seg.

Samtlige studenter ble både fascinert og inspirert av valget til Espen om å ikke jobbe som jurist, til tross for en master i juss. I en e-post til Injuria forklarer han litt om veien fra å være fattig student, til å være en fullutdannet jurist bak kassen på Kiwi.

–  Det begynte da jeg som fattig student i 2014 gjerne ville ha litt ekstra å rutte med. Det åpnet en ny Kiwi i området der jeg bodde, og jeg hadde litt butikkerfaring fra jeg gikk på videregående, så jeg var heldig og fikk jobben. Det var så bra kunder og kolleger på den butikken, at da jeg var ferdig utdannet i 2018, og litt lei av juss, tok valget om å fortsette der noen år mens jeg tok litt tilleggsutdanning for interessens skyld.

–  Studietiden er jo en fantastisk tid, så jeg ville holde på den litt lenger. Det var aldri planen å være på Kiwi resten av livet, men det var en fin «pause» der jeg fikk tid til å finne ut litt av hva jeg ville gjøre og hvor jeg ville gå, forklarer han.

Saken Injuria publiserte med Espen våren 2020 fikk mer blest enn forventet. Plutselig var historien hans delt langt utenfor Det juridiske fakultets grenser, og dette med positive tilbakemeldinger.

–  Det er jo gøy med litt oppmerksomhet, men den saken tok mye mer av enn jeg hadde forventet. Jeg ble intervjuet i totalt fire aviser og en radiokanal, så det var litt mye på en gang. Men jeg fikk veldig mange fine kommentarer og støtte for valgene mine. Folk sa at jeg hadde et bra budskap og at jeg hadde hjulpet dem, så det var verdt det. Det fikk meg også til å tenke på hvor viktig det er å smile til folk og gi ros når folk gjør noe bra. Det gjør så utrolig mye, sier Espen.

I år var likevel Espen igjen klar for nye eventyr, og Kiwi-dagene ble historie. Fra og med oktober var det et liv som saksbehandlinger i Plan- og bygningsetaten i Bergen kommune som sto for tur.

–  Det har gått over all forventning så langt. Det er varierte og spennende arbeidsoppgaver, og et fantastisk arbeidsmiljø med flotte kolleger i alle aldre. Det er selvfølgelig mye å lære i starten, men jeg føler at jeg har begynt å forstå hva jobben går ut på i hvert fall.

Espen har hele tiden vært klar på at han ikke ønsket å jobbe på Kiwi resten av livet, til tross for at han stortrivdes i den grønne uniformen. Injuria er likevel nysgjerrig på hvorfor han valgte å jobbe som jurist nå.

–  Coronapandemien må nok sies å ha litt skylda der. Når samfunnet og livet går gjennom en såpass krevende periode, så endrer perspektivet seg litt. Jeg innså etter at jeg gjorde artiklene i fjor, at det kanskje var på tide å prøve noe nytt.

Som mange andre de siste to årene, havnet altså 28-åringen rett og slett i en filosofisk tankeboble.

Et bilde som inneholder person, utendørsAutomatisk generert beskrivelse–  Jeg ble litt betenkt av mine egne ord. Var jeg på Kiwi fordi det var det jeg ønsket, eller var det fordi det var det enkleste? Svaret er jeg ikke helt sikker på, selv om jeg utvilsomt trivdes veldig godt i den jobben.

For to år siden oppfordret Espen jusstudentene på Dragefjellet til å ikke følge strømmen. Denne oppfordringen har ikke endret seg en smule.

–  Jeg står absolutt bak det jeg sa sist, at man må finne sin egen vei uavhengig av andres valg og meninger. For meg så endret bare prioriteten seg, og jeg fikk lyst til å prøve jurist-jobben likevel. Trivsel i hverdagen er det aller viktigste, og da er for eksempel et godt arbeidsmiljø avgjørende.

–  Samtidig er det viktig at man må senke skuldrene litt og ikke ta alt så høytidelig. Vær grei mot hverandre, og tål at folk gjør feil. Og merk dere navnet Kardemommepartiet, avslutter Espen Alstad Holthe.

 

 

Av Hannah M. Behncke, Eylül Sahin and Sabrina Eriksen Zapata – ELSA Bergen, Human Rights, Researchgruppen 24. april 2025
Oppression isn’t always loud - it can be the quiet erasure of culture and language, stripping minorities of their freedom to express who they are. Language and culture are two of the most important means to keep one's identity alive. Unfortunately, many minorities face extreme repression regarding their background. The Kurdish ability to perform their culture in Turkey has been a long struggle. This is still the case today, where the Kurdish minority face backlash for speaking their language. This article will look into the Kurdish fight to protect their identity in Turkey. To gain a deeper understanding of the diverse perspectives on this issue, we interviewed a Kurdish and a Turkish citizen of Turkey about their views on the Turkish state's treatment of Kurds. Legal basis Although several international legal frameworks exist to protect minority cultures and languages, Turkey has not incorporated them into its legal system. Article 27 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights explicitly states that “minorities shall not be denied the right […] to enjoy their culture, [...] or to use their own language.” However, despite ratifying the ICCPR, Turkey made a reservation excluding Article 27. Similarly, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages requires minority languages to be accessible in education, judicial court proceedings, and in the media. However, Turkey has not ratified this charter. Domestically, the Turkish constitution does not recognize Kurds as a minority. In fact, article 42 explicitly prohibits the “teaching of any language other than Turkish as a mother tongue to Turkish citizens”.1 As a result, the Kurdish language lacks legal protection, unlike Ladino, Greek, and Armenian, which are safeguarded under the Treaty of Lausanne (1923).2 Historical overview After the Ottoman Empire's collapse, the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres promised Kurdish autonomy, but the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne nullified it, dividing Kurdistan among Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria without self-rule.3 Under Atatürk, Turkey enforced homogenization, banning Kurdish in public, closing Kurdish schools, renaming villages (1924) and forcibly relocating Kurds—even though most Kurds did not speak Turkish.4 The state criminalized Kurdish, promoted Citizen, Speak Turkish! and justified relocations as a tool to suppress identity.5 The Sheikh Sa’id Rebellion (1925), led by Kurdish nationalists and Islamists, was brutally crushed, triggering long-term conflict. Martial law and mass deportations lasted until 1939, while uprisings in Ararat (1930) and Dersim (1937–38) faced massacres, bombings, and poison gas, drawing parallels to the Armenian Genocide.6 Allegations of British support for Kurdish rebels persist, but remain debated.7 Kurdish political movements resurfaced in the 1960s and 1970s, with the Kurdish Democratic Party of Turkey (1965) and the Marxist-Leninist PKK (1978) engaging in armed resistance. Turkey designated the PKK a terrorist group in 1997, followed by the US and EU.8 Forced displacement continued, with over a million Kurds migrating between 1950 and 1980 due to state violence and poverty.9 The 1980 military coup further suppressed Kurdish politics, banning education (1982) and publications (Law No. 2932, 1983).10 Despite lifting the language ban in 1991, Kurdish broadcasting remained illegal until 2002. From 1984 to 1999, Turkey destroyed 4,000 Kurdish villages, displaced three million people, and killed tens of thousands in its campaign against Kurdish insurgency.11 The 1991 language bill allowed limited private Kurdish use, but public use remained restricted. Some progress followed in the 21st century, including Kurdish-language broadcasts (2004), a state-run TV channel (2009), and Kurdish as an optional school subject (2012), though full linguistic and cultural rights remain elusive. Oral storytelling (Dengbêj) persisted despite restrictions. Between 2013 and 2015, Turkey’s peace talks with the PKK, involving Abdullah Öcalan, PKK commanders, and pro-Kurdish HDP intermediaries, collapsed—renewing conflict in southeastern Turkey.12 Arbitrary arrests, imprisonment, torture, and land dispossession persist, as security forces often fail to distinguish civilians from PKK members.13 How is the situation today? An estimated 12–20 million Kurds live in Turkey, making up approximately 14–23% of the country's population. The wide range in estimates is due to the absence of ethnicity-related data in official statistics and the social and political stigma that may lead some to conceal their identity.14 As Kurds originate from various countries, most today identify with the state in which they reside. Surveys suggest that many Kurds feel a strong sense of discrimination. Only 28% believe they are treated equally to ethnic Turks, while 58% report experiencing discrimination. Some have even been denied medical services and housing due to their ethnicity.15 To better understand these challenges, we spoke with a Kurdish individual from Elbistan, Turkey, who spent most of his life there before relocating. When asked if he had ever felt pressure speaking Kurdish in public, he recalled visits to public institutions where his family, unable to speak Turkish, had to use Kurdish, but were not allowed to. “It always made us feel fear and anxiety”, he said. He also described restrictions on Kurdish culture: “Whenever we listened to Kurdish music or played traditional games outside, we knew we were being watched. Some of my friends were even detained just for playing games with Kurdish music. It felt like our culture was a crime.” In contrast, a Turkish conservative nationalist offered a different perspective. While personally holding nationalist views, he answered the questions in general terms, arguing that Kurds are integrated into society and do not face systemic barriers. When asked if there was tension between Turks and Kurds in daily life, he dismissed the idea: “Generalizing Turkey’s sociology is difficult, but I don’t see any real barrier. I have Kurdish friends and colleagues, and background doesn’t matter to us. In cities like Istanbul, people aren’t judged based on race, religion, language, or culture.” Even though he acknowledged past discrimination, he viewed it as a historical issue rather than an ongoing one. While the two perspectives differ, they reflect broader discussions on the extent of cultural and linguistic inclusion in Turkey. Surveys suggest that many Kurds report experiencing discrimination, while some view Kurdish cultural expression as unrestricted. The extent to which Kurdish identity is freely expressed - or whether challenges remain - continues to be a subject of debate. The survival of Kurdish culture in Turkey In a survey conducted regarding Kurdish identity, only 30% of Kurds reported their Kurdish language skills to be “good”, and of this 30%, only 44% of them reported that their children had the same strong language skills.16 This suggests that it is harder for each passing generation to maintain and teach the Kurdish language. So how has the oppression impacted Kurdish ability to maintain their language? According to the latter interviewee “Kurdish is spoken openly, cultural traditions are practiced, and there are Kurdish-language newspapers and TV channels”. Media As mentioned above, the Turkish government continuously violates the “freedom of expression”. In 2021, Turkey was the country with most cases regarding violation to “freedom of expression” before the European Court of Human Rights.17 Regarding Kurdish media, there has been a consistent crackdown on Kurdish media platforms. There has also been consistent imprisonment of journalists either writing in Kurdish or regarding Kurdish repression. For instance, Nedim Turfent was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment in 2017 for covering the clashes between the Turkish army and the PKK. In his sentence, he was charged with “membership of a terrorist organization”.18 Education The Educational accessibility to teaching Kurdish has improved in the years. Students in cities with a high population of Kurds, can choose Kurdish as a subject in primary- and secondary school. In addition, some state level universities offer Kurdish programs. However, these educational means have been greatly criticized by Kurdish activists, in regard to the government lowering the quality of education by not supplying enough teachers and appropriate materials needed for the classes.19 Final remarks Language is not just a means of communication; it embodies history, culture, and identity. The Kurdish struggle for linguistic freedom in Turkey is a fight for existence, where legal barriers and social stigmas persist despite claims of progress. While the government insists on inclusivity, Kurdish activists highlight ongoing repression, and for many, fear and anxiety remain. The future of Kurdish identity depends not just on legal reforms but on broader acceptance within Turkish society. Whether true equality is within reach - or remains a distant hope - ultimately depends on who you ask.
Av Injuria 24. april 2025
I denne utgaven: Nordtveit, Ernst - " Rettar til nausttomt " - 1982