Will 5 more letters be added to the 29 letters adopted in the Alphabet Revolution introduced by Atatürk? Erdoğan makes statement on 'common Turkic alphabet'

President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke at the 11th Summit of the Council of Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.

Erdoğan also made statements there regarding the Common Turkic Alphabet project.

"A HISTORIC STEP"

Erdoğan said, "The consensus reached on the common Turkic alphabet project at the meeting of the joint alphabet commission held by the Turkic Academy and the Turkish Language Association in Baku last September constitutes a historic step. The project consists of 34 letters." 

"AGREEMENT REACHED ON A 34-LETTER ALPHABET"

President Erdoğan used the following expressions:

"I am sure that the Turkic Investment Fund, which we implemented last year, will provide support to our projects once it becomes operational. Let us intensify our cooperation for renewable energy. The consensus reached on the common Turkic alphabet at the joint alphabet commission meeting held by the Turkic Academy and the Turkish Language Association in Baku in September constitutes a historic step.

A common alphabet is also a sign of our common future and of taking a step toward the future. On this occasion, the common alphabet study, aimed at developing a common language under the coordination of the Council of Elders, was completed in September 2024. Agreement was reached on a 34-letter alphabet. Members must complete the necessary transition with this alphabet."

WHAT ARE THE 5 LETTERS TO BE ADDED TO THE ALPHABET?

With the work initiated in 1991, it was planned for Turkic countries to use a common alphabet, and it was recommended that 5 new characters be added to the current 29-letter Turkish alphabet. 

With the Common Turkic Alphabet accepted in Baku in recent months, it is planned to add the letters Q, X, W, N, and Ä in addition to the existing alphabet.

ATATÜRK AND THE ALPHABET REVOLUTION

The Alphabet Revolution, or Harf İnkılâbı, is the general name given to the process of adopting Law No. 1353 on the "Adoption and Implementation of Turkish Letters" in Turkey on November 1, 1928, and the establishment of the new alphabet.

The law was published in the Official Gazette on November 3, 1928, and entered into force. With the approval of this law, the validity of the Ottoman alphabet, which was based on Arabic letters and used until that day, ended, and the Turkish alphabet based on Latin letters was put into effect.

The content of the Turkish alphabet is not exactly the same as the alphabets of other countries that use Latin letters in their writing systems; it contains letters derived to represent the sounds of the Turkish language (Ç, Ş, Ğ, ı, İ, Ö, Ü). In addition, the pronunciations of the letters in the Turkish alphabet are different from the pronunciations of letters in Western languages. For example, the pronunciation of the letter C in the Turkish alphabet is /d͡ʒeː/, while in the English alphabet it is /ˈsiː/.

Mustafa Kemal also began to take an interest in this subject while he was in Syria between 1905 and 1907. In 1922, Atatürk spoke with Halide Edib Adıvar about this same subject and said that such a change would require harsh measures.

On May 28, 1928, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) passed a law for the use of international numerals in official offices and institutions starting from June 1. There was no significant reaction to the law. A commission for alphabet reform was established at approximately the same time as this law.

One of the topics discussed by the commission was the proposal to represent the 'kaf' and 'kef' letters in the old script with the 'q' and 'k' letters in the new Turkish alphabet. However, this proposal was rejected by Atatürk, and the letter 'q' was removed from the alphabet. According to Falih Rıfkı Atay, who was on the commission that envisioned transition periods of 5 to 15 years for the implementation of the new alphabet, Atatürk said, "This will either happen in three months or it will never happen," and demanded that no time be wasted. After the alphabet was completed, on August 9, 1928, Atatürk introduced the letters to those attending the Republican People's Party gala in Gülhane. The new alphabet was introduced to presidential staff and members of parliament on August 11, and to university faculty members and writers on August 15. 

The current 29-letter Turkish alphabet was introduced by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey. It is also an important step of the Atatürk reforms. He announced his plans in July 1928 and established a Language Commission (Dil Encümeni) consisting of the following members.

The members of the commission consisted of the following people:

Ragıp Hulusi Özden

İbrahim Grantay

Ahmet Cevat Emre

Mehmet Emin Erişirgil

İhsan Sungu

Hüseyin Avni Başman

Falih Rıfkı Atay

Ruşen Eşref Ünaydın

Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu