Why some letters of the alphabet were banned in Turkey for 100 years

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

A little less than a hundred years ago, in 1928, the Turkish government decided to radically change the life of the country and translate all life in Turkey from the Arabic alphabet to Latin. “The Turkish language has been chained for centuries, and now is the time to break those shackles,” then Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Ataturk announced.

This was definitely a very radical step. The reason for this was the incredible complexity of the Arabic script - in the conditions of Turkey's multiculturalism, this greatly impeded the integration of foreigners and did not particularly contribute to international relations with Western countries. Many foreigners who have lived in Turkey for years could not learn to read, let alone newspapers or books - it was difficult for them to understand even road signs. In the old Arabic alphabet, there were about 5 thousand characters - so that difficulties arose not only for readers of foreign origin, but even for local typesetters in printing houses.

Even when it came to local children, it was much easier for them to write in any other language based on the Latin alphabet than in their native Arabic. So the Turkish president decided not to limit himself to land and banking reforms, but assembled a commission, in which he himself began to participate, in order to develop a new alphabet, and then also promote it to the people. He did not even doubt that such a transition was possible in principle - the example of Azerbaijan was before his eyes. There it was possible to spread the Latin alphabet among the Turkic-speaking and Islamic peoples.

This is how the modern Turkish alphabet, consisting of 29 characters, appeared. It consisted of Latin letters, some of which had diacritics - special elements that adapt letters to the local pronunciation. Some other letters were deliberately not used because, in the opinion of the commission, they were not necessary. So, the alphabet did not have Q, W and X, since they could easily be replaced in Turkish words with K, V and KS, respectively. Thus, for example, the international word "taxi" became "taksi" in Turkey, and the Persian word "New Year" - "Nowruz", often used by the Kurds (a nation in Turkey), began to be written as "Nevruz".

This was followed by a complex and long process of adaptation and transition to a new alphabet. It was necessary to replace absolutely all signs in the country, all signs of cafes, restaurants, hotels and other establishments. Magazines and newspapers should have bought new printing presses - and before that, these presses had to be created. New documents were supposed to be written using the new alphabet, but the people still did not have enough spelling knowledge. For this, schools for adults began to be organized throughout the country, and everyone from 16 to 40 years old had to learn the new alphabet in these schools.

To convince the people of the need to switch to a new alphabet, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk himself began to travel with the commission around the country and convince the people of the importance of this reform. Changing the writing system in a country where more than 14 million people live in a short time was not easy. Some of the people welcomed these changes and simplifications, some were indignant, believing that with the Arabic script, which is often used to decorate mosques, the country is losing its individuality and beauty.

It is noteworthy that the categorical nature of the transition to the new alphabet matched the categorical nature of its correct use. So, the very "missing" letters Q, W and X have become not just "superfluous", they have become prohibited. It was strictly forbidden to use them, with the exception of only a few words borrowed from the English language. For example, the well-known TV channel Show TV continued to be called that way, but the greeting cards of the mayor of one of the Turkish cities with the inscription “Nowruz” ended for the mayor with popular censure and a fine.

In fact, the ban on these letters was so categorical not because of linguistic problems, but political ones. If for the Turkish language Q, W and X were not fundamental and could be replaced, then for the Kurdish language they were much more important. Kurds at that time made up about 20 percent of the population, and changes in the alphabet were more difficult for them, as they had to abandon their native spelling of their names and change their documents if prohibited letters were found in their names. Against the background of the fact that the Kurdish language was banned in Turkey and it was not allowed to speak it publicly, the additional prohibitions were perceived very negatively.

The use of Q, W and X was associated in Turkey with the Kurdish language, and the Turkish government tried in every possible way to suppress even conversations about easing the ban. It was possible to leave these letters in English words, but absolutely not in Kurdish ones.

This situation lasted until 2013, when the Turkish government finally lifted the ban on Q, W and X. Four years earlier, Turkey also had the first Kurdish television broadcasting 24 hours a day. And in 2012, students were allowed to choose to take the Kurdish language subject in schools. So the abolition of the ban on letters of the alphabet looked like a logical continuation of these changes.

Now the interethnic conflict between Turks and Kurds is still ongoing, but even such relatively small changes as the abolition of punishment for using the Kurdish language in its unchanged form, with its own letters, is already progress.

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