Beyazıt Kahraman speaks to 12punto: 'It would be wrong for those letters to enter the Turkish Alphabet'

Aleyna Yılmaz - 12punto.com.tr

Following the announcement of the 34-letter Common Turkic Alphabet by the Turkic World Common Alphabet Commission established by the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), the question of whether letters will be added to the Turkish alphabet has become a subject of curiosity.

Regarding the issue, Yıldız Technical University Lecturer Beyazıt Kahraman made evaluations to 12punto.

"ADDING TO THE TURKISH ALPHABET IS WRONG"

Emphasizing that the letters X (x) and Q (q) do not exist in the Turkish alphabet, Kahraman stated that including these letters in the Turkish Alphabet would be wrong.

Stating that Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and other Turkic states use these letters, Kahraman said, "There is a q letter in Azerbaijani Turkish. This may be correct for them, but there is no such letter in Turkey Turkish. For this reason, a common alphabet cannot be created in this sense; it is not correct."

DISCUSSIONS ON THE SPELLING OF MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATÜRK'S NAME

Kahraman also recalled the discussions that took place in the past regarding the letter Q (q).

Drawing attention to the confusion over how Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's name should be written, Kahraman continued as follows:

"It was being debated whether Atatürk's name should be written with a k or a q letter. This confusion stemmed from the fact that the name Kemal is of Arabic origin. There are two different k sounds in Arabic; Kaf and Kef. We can make mistakes during the writing of these sounds in words of Arabic origin that have entered Turkish. Atatürk initially considered writing his name with the letter Q (q), but later decided to write it with the letter k."

Kahraman concluded his words by stating that the letters Q (q) and X (x) are not suitable for Turkey Turkish and that while these letters may exist in other Turkic dialects such as Azerbaijani, this is not correct in terms of Turkey Turkish.