Letter revolution
The letter revolution ( Turkish Harf İnkılâbı or Harf Devrimi ) is the name given in Turkey to the conversion from Arabic to Latin script in 1929 with Act No. 1353 on the Acceptance and Use of Turkish Letters of November 1, 1928. The script introduced was phonetic and was based on the pronunciation of the educated class of Istanbul . The introduction of the Latin script brought an increase in the literacy rate , but in the long term it led to the fact that many Turks today cannot read texts in Arabic script, i.e. Turkish texts from the years before 1929.
background
Since the Arabic script is difficult to learn and is not suitable for the Turkish language, which has more vowels and fewer consonants, it was hoped that the conversion would help to combat illiteracy in Turkey. At the same time, the Latin script was intended to facilitate communication with the West and also to break with the Middle Eastern world and Ottoman history.
The letter revolution was one of a series of reforms called “revolutions” and, as a reform protection law, was under the special protection of the constitution. These reforms were symbolized by the Kemalist principle of "revolutionism" (Turkish: inkılâpçılık ). These reforms included a. active and passive voting rights for women in 1930 and 1934, the ban on veils, co-education , the introduction of the Gregorian calendar (1926) and metric measurements (1931), the regulation of public holidays and the day of rest (1935), clothing reforms such as the hat revolution , Abolition of the caliphate and the Alaturka time (1926), which was based on sunset.
history
Debates about the introduction of a Latin script in Turkish were initiated in the Ottoman Empire in the 1850s and 1860s by Ahmed Cevdet Pascha and Münif Pascha . In the Balkan War in 1913, Enver Pascha attempted to write Turkish in unrelated Arabic block letters. This "Enver'schen script" (Hatt-ı Enverî), whose use Enver ordered the army, was given only a short life due to its poor legibility.
In Azerbaijan , the change to a modified Latin script took place in 1922, and in 1926 a conference of Turkologists decided to introduce a uniform Latin script for all Turkic peoples. In a survey by the daily newspaper Sabah on March 28, 1926, Prime Minister İsmet Pascha showed himself to be an opponent of a changeover. He feared that this would cripple the entire state. In the first months of 1928, Latin script was the subject of two meetings between Justice Minister Mahmut Esat and Prime Minister İsmet Pascha with representatives of the Türk Ocakları .
Years before the introduction, Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) had favored the option of changing to a Latin script in private conversations with Halide Edib Adıvar and her husband. During his time as a military attaché in Sofia during World War I, Mustafa Kemal corresponded in Turkish in a phonetic script based on French orthography with Madame Corinne Lütfü, the widow of a comrade. Agop Dilâçar showed Mustafa Kemal between 1916 and 1918 a copy of the Turkish grammar in Latin script by Németh with “č” and “š” for “ç” and “ş”, “γ” for “ğ” and the “χ” for that Arabic "ḫ", but met with little approval. In 1922, Mustafa Kemal still considered reform to be premature. Numerous members of the National Assembly at that time were religious dignitaries such as hocas and religious sheikhs or tribal leaders. Influential conservative Islamic circles attached great importance to the Arabic script and rightly feared that after the introduction of a Latin script, many people would no longer be able to read the Koran . In 1923, at a congress in Izmir, Kâzım Karabekir rejected the request to put the script on the agenda. Karabekir said harshly that the Arabic letters were sufficient. The introduction of a Latin script would only lead to confusion. Europe will tell the Islamic world that the Turks have become Christians. These are the enemy's diabolical thoughts.
Mustafa Kemal rejected a referendum. This is not just stupid, but a form of betrayal. Referendums did not go with an illiteracy rate of 80 percent.
The actual start of the letter revolution was on August 8, 1928. At a performance of Arabic music and poetry in Sarayburnu Park, Mustafa Kemal gave a speech about the introduction of the “Turkish script”. He had already written the manuscript in Latin script on two slips of paper, which he then gave someone present to read. These notes are “original, truly Turkish words in Turkish script,” Mustafa Kemal explained to those present.
On May 20, 1928, Parliament approved the introduction of the internationally used notation of Arabic numbers. A few days later, a special commission for the font conversion , the so-called Alfabe Encümeni ("Alphabet Commission"), was formed, which met in the Dolmabahçe Palace . Members were Yakup Kadri , Falih Rıfkı , Ruşen Eşref , Ahmet Cevat , Ragıp Hulûsi , Fazıl Ahmet , Mehmet Emin and İhsan Bey . While Commissioner Falih Rıfkı Atay assumed a period of three to five years, Mustafa Kemal made it clear that it could only be three months at most. The commission suggested the letter q for the Qāf and the letter k for the Kaf . Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) intervened and had the "q" deleted.
The law
The National Assembly opened its session on November 1, 1928, and on the same day the MPs were informed of the new alphabet and passed the bill. Two days later, on November 3, 1928, the law was published in the Resmî Gazete .
Law No. 1353 was called Türk harflerinin kabul ve tatbiki hakkında kanun (“Law on the Acceptance and Use of Turkish Letters”) and contained three transition periods. From January 1, 1929, the entire state administration had to use the new font except for a few areas (Art. 3). Until June 1, 1929, submissions from citizens in old script were still accepted (Article 4). Shorthand was allowed to be done in Arabic letters until June 1930. Until then, it was still allowed to use documents and books in old script (Art. 6). The law ran the risk of losing their mandate for the MPs, as Article 12 of the current Turkish Constitution of 1924 stipulated: [...] who cannot read and write Turkish cannot be elected MPs.
The sentence was regulated by Article 256 of the Turkish Penal Code, which has been amended several times. Fines and several months' imprisonment were provided. From 2004 it was regulated in the new tStGB Article 222. This provided for prison sentences of two to six months for violations. Article 222 of the tStGB was repealed by Act No. 6529 of March 2, 2014.
On November 24, 1928, it was decided to establish so-called Millet Mektepleri (Schools of the People) to convey the script to the adult population. Ataturk received the task of the highest teacher (Başöğretmen) .
consequences
The literacy of the population could indeed soon be increased significantly. In 1927 the quota was 11 percent, by 1935 it had already risen to 20.4 percent. In 1950, 33.6 percent, in 1960 39.5 percent and in 2008 85.71 percent were considered capable of reading and writing.
The letter revolution was later part of the ban on the Kurdish language , as the letters “w”, “q” and “x” used in the Kurdish Latin script were not part of the “Turkish alphabet” and were therefore prohibited.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Erik J. Zürcher: Turkey: A Modern History. Revised Edition. London / New York 2004, p. 188.
- ^ GL Lewis: Ataturk's Language Reform as an Aspect of Modernization in the Republic of Turkey. In: Jacob M. Landau (Ed.): Ataturk and the Modernization of Turkey. P. 197.
- ^ Geoffrey Lewis: The Turkish Language Reform: A Catastrophic Success. Oxford 1999, p. 31 f.
- ↑ Bilâl Niyazi Şimşir: Türk Yazı Devrimi. Ankara 1992, p. 57 f.
- ↑ a b Şerafettin Turan: Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. In: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Volume 31, p. 325.
- ↑ Atatürk'ün söylev ve demeçleri: TBM Meclisinde ve CHP kurultaylarında 1919-1938. Istanbul 1946, p. 251.
- ↑ Law No. 1353 “Law on the Acceptance and Use of Turkish Letters”. (PDF) In: Resmî Gazete / Official Gazette of Turkey. Retrieved July 14, 2019 (Turkish).
- ↑ 1927'den bugüne okur yazar sayısı ne kadar arttı. In: ogretmenlersitesi.com. September 7, 2009, archived from the original on September 10, 2009 ; Retrieved November 4, 2018 (Turkish).