مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - Reform of the Alphabet and the National Schools

Abstract :

The Turks used a variety of alphabets for centuries and then began to use Arabic letters after accepting Islam. However, this alphabet was not sufficient to record Turkish vowels. Thus, the Turkish language became underdeveloped. Arabic and Persian words began to be used mainly in the written language. It is also important that the difficulty of education in Arabic letters is said to have caused illiteracy. In the Ottoman State, the subject of the letters came onto agenda of the reform movements but did not progress significantly. The Turkish Republic aimed to raise literacy and to get rid of the gap in expression between the intellectuals and the national language which is the element of national culture, would become a scientific language again, so the Republic abolished the use of Arabic letters and accepted Turkish letters. This was supported through the foundation of National Schools to teach the new letters in a brief space of time for a successful reform of the alphabet.