Mehmet Kuşman, 74, is one of the 38 people in the world who can speak, write and read the Urartian language.
Kuşman
has served for 40 years as the watchman of Çavuştepe Castle, an
Urartian castle in the eastern province of Van’s Gürpınar district. He
still voluntarily keeps watch on the castle. He gives information about
the castle and the Urartians to visitors.
Kuşman was given a
residence permit from the U.S. to teach the Urartian there and has also
received proposals from Japan, but did not accept these proposals
because he could not leave the castle, to which he is loyal.
Kuşman met with the Urartian
language when he began working for the Van Museum more than 40 years
ago. Later on, he was appointed to the Çavuştepe Castle to deal with
excavation teams and tourists visiting the castle. His interest in the
Urartian language started then, he says, and continues:
“Tourists did
not come there in the past. An inscription was found during
excavations. The academic tried to understand it, but he couldn’t
because it was not his field of study. Then another academic named Emin
Bilgiç came and he solved it. A year later, Professor Afif Erzen from
the Istanbul University Faculty of Literature came here. Again some
inscriptions were found. The professor was saying ‘How can I read it
now?’ I asked him if I could learn it. But he became angry with me. His
assistant said, ‘There are no visitors, no tourists, you have time; you
can learn it. You can find Urartian inscriptions wherever you are.’ He
encouraged me and I collected inscriptions. I matched the letters of the
names of kings, queens, castles and gods side by side. It came out to
be 64 letters and I solved the Urartian writing.”
Residence Permit from the US
Thanks
to the Urartian language, Kuşman’s life has changed. The media learned
that he could speak and write Urartian. Then, the Culture and Tourism
Ministry invited him to a symposium in Ankara. After learning about him,
many Turkish universities invited him to give information about the
Urartian language. The U.S. offered him a residence permit to teach the
language. Also, a Japanese tourist, who visited the castle, offered him a
$4,000 monthly wage, as well as many other opportunities to him, to
teach Urartian to his children. But Kuşman did not want to leave his
family and rejected all these invitations.
Stating that he makes a
living with Urartian, Kuşman says, “At first, I was thinking what would
change if I learn it. But happily, I learned it. Now I write the
Urartian alphabet, writing on stone tablets and sell them. Many state
officials have them.”
"Hurriyet Daily News," May 17, 2014
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