Languages of Turkey

{{See also|Languages of the Ottoman Empire}}

Turkey has historically been the home to many now extinct languages. These include Hittite, the earliest Indo-European language for which written evidence exists (circa 1600 BCE to 1100 BCE when the Hittite Empire existed). The other Anatolian languages included Luwian and later Lycian, Lydian and Milyan. All these languages are believed to have become extinct at the latest around the 1st century BCE due to the Hellenization of Anatolia which led to Greek in a variety of dialects becoming the common language.

Urartian belonging to the Hurro-Urartian language family existed in eastern Anatolia around Lake Van. It existed as the language of the kingdom of Urartu from about the 9th century BCE until the 6th century. Hattian is attested in Hittite ritual texts but is not related to the Hittite language or to any other known language; it dates from the 2nd millennium BCE.

In the post-Tanzimat period French became a common language among educated people, even though no ethnic group in the empire natively spoke French.{{cite book |last=Strauss |first=Johann |url=https://menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/menalib/download/pdf/2734659?originalFilename=true |title=The First Ottoman Experiment in Democracy |publisher=Orient-Institut Istanbul |year=2010 |editor=Herzog, Christoph |location=Würzburg |pages=21–51 |chapter=A Constitution for a Multilingual Empire: Translations of the Kanun-ı Esasi and Other Official Texts into Minority Languages |editor2=Malek Sharif}} ([http://menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/urn/urn:nbn:de:gbv:3:5-91645 info page on book] at Martin Luther University) // CITED: p. 26 (PDF p. 28): "French had become a sort of semi-official language in the Ottoman Empire in the wake of the Tanzimat reforms.[...]It is true that French was not an ethnic language of the Ottoman Empire. But it was the only Western language which would become increasingly widespread among educated persons in all linguistic communities." Johann Strauss, author of "Language and power in the late Ottoman Empire," wrote that "In a way reminiscent of English in the contemporary world, French was almost omnipresent in the Ottoman lands."{{cite book |last=Strauss |first=Johann |title=Imperial Lineages and Legacies in the Eastern Mediterranean: Recording the Imprint of Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Rule |date=2016-07-07 |publisher=Routledge |editor=Murphey, Rhoads |chapter=Language and power in the late Ottoman Empire}} ({{ISBN|1317118456}}, 9781317118459), p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=XI-kDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA122 122]. Strauss also stated that French was "a sort of semi-official language",{{cite book |last=Strauss |first=Johann |title=Imperial Lineages and Legacies in the Eastern Mediterranean: Recording the Imprint of Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Rule |date=2016-07-07 |publisher=Routledge |editor=Murphey, Rhoads |chapter=Language and power in the late Ottoman Empire}} ({{ISBN|1317118448}}, 9781317118442), Google Books [https://books.google.com/books?id=gY-kDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT192 PT192]. which "to some extent" had "replaced Turkish as an 'official' language for non-Muslims".{{cite book |last=Strauss |first=Johann |title=Imperial Lineages and Legacies in the Eastern Mediterranean: Recording the Imprint of Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Rule |date=2016-07-07 |publisher=Routledge |editor=Murphey, Rhoads |chapter=Language and power in the late Ottoman Empire}} ({{ISBN|1317118448}}, 9781317118442), Google Books [https://books.google.com/books?id=gY-kDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT193 PT193]. Therefore late empire had multiple French-language publications, and several continued to operate when the Republic of Turkey was declared in 1923. However French-language publications began to close in the 1930s.{{cite web |author=Tanatar Baruh, Lorans |author2=Sara Yontan Musnik |title=Francophone press in the Ottoman Empire |url=https://heritage.bnf.fr/bibliothequesorient/en/francophone-press-ottoman-art |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180416115120/https://heritage.bnf.fr/bibliothequesorient/en/francophone-press-ottoman-art |archive-date=2018-04-16 |access-date=2019-07-13 |publisher=French National Library |url-status=dead }} As the Treaty of Lausanne went into effect and was intended to protect languages of instruction for ethnic minorities, French was not included, and so schools for Jewish children teaching in French converted into being Turkish medium schools. The quantity and quality of French instruction declined in those schools for Jewish children, and so many Jewish students began attending other language-medium private schools.

When French-medium schools operated by Alliance Israélite Universelle opened in the 1860s, the position of Judaeo-Spanish (Ladino) began to weaken in the Ottoman Empire areas. In time Judaeo-Spanish became perceived as a low status language.{{cite web|last=Alphan|first=Melis|author-link=Melis Alphan|url=https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/opinion/melis-alphan/ladino-a-judeo-ottoman-language-that-is-dying-in-turkey-123826|title=Ladino: A Judeo-Ottoman language that is dying in Turkey|newspaper=Hurriyet|date=2017-12-09|access-date=2023-12-25}} Hebrew was the instructional language of Judaism, and so the Treaty of Lausanne protected instruction in Hebrew, but not in Judaeo-Spanish, a language passed along in families but never used in school instruction. Judaeo-Spanish was still the native language of 85% of Turkish Jews in 1927; there was still relatively low fluency in Turkish in that population, which meant they encountered issues with the Citizen, speak Turkish! campaign.{{cite journal|first=Reyhan|last= Zetler|url=https://www.sagw.ch/fileadmin/redaktion_judaistik/dokumente/Judaistik/2014/III.%20R.%20Zetler%20-%20Bulletin%20SGJF%20Nr.%2023%20%282014%29.pdf |title=Turkish Jews between 1923 and 1933 – What Did the Turkish Policy between 1923 and 1933 Mean for the Turkish Jews?|journal=Bulletin der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Judaistische Forschung|issue= 23 |oclc=865002828|page=27 (PDF p. 15/28)|year=2014}} However, as time progressed, Judaeo-Spanish language and culture declined, and in 2017 writer Melis Alphan described Judaeo-Spanish as "dying in Turkey".

Article 3 of the Constitution of Turkey defines Turkish as the official language of Turkey.{{cite web |title=Constitution of the Republic of Turkey |at=Article 3 |publisher=Republic of Turkey }}

Article 42 of the Constitution explicitly prohibits educational institutions to teach any language other than Turkish as a mother tongue to Turkish citizens.{{cite web |title=Constitution of the Republic of Turkey |at=Article 42 |publisher=Republic of Turkey }}

{{blockquote|No language other than Turkish shall be taught as a mother tongue to Turkish citizens at any institutions of training or education. Foreign languages to be taught in institutions of training and education and the rules to be followed by schools conducting training and education in a foreign language shall be determined by law. The provisions of international treaties are reserved.|Art. 42, Constitution of the Republic of Turkey}}

Due to Article 42 and its longtime restrictive interpretation, ethnic minorities have been facing severe restrictions in the use of their mother languages.

Concerning the incompatibility of this provision with the International Bill of Human Rights, Turkey signed the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights only with reservations constraining minority rights and the right to education. Furthermore, Turkey hasn't signed either of the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, or the anti-discrimination Protocol 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights.{{sfn|European Commission|2005|pp=35 f.}}File:Galatapostcard.jpg in Constantinople (Istanbul), showing signage in Ottoman Turkish, French, Greek, and Armenian|188x188px]]This particular constitutional provision has been contested both internationally and within Turkey. The provision has been criticized by minority groups, notably the Kurdish community. In October 2004, the Turkish State's Human Rights Advisory Board called for a constitutional review in order to bring Turkey's policy on minorities in line with international standards, but was effectively muted.{{sfn|European Commission|2005|p=35}} It was also criticized by EU member states, the OSCE, and international human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch who observe that "the Turkish government accepts the language rights of the Jewish, Greek and Armenian minorities as being guaranteed by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. But the government claims that these are Turkey's only minorities, and that any talk of minority rights beyond this is just separatism".{{cite book |title = Questions and Answers: Freedom of Expression and Language Rights in Turkey |publisher = Human Rights Watch |date = April 2002 |location = New York |url = https://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2002/04/19/questions-and-answers-freedom-expression-and-language-ri}}{{Cite journal |last=Kaya |first=Nurcan |date=2015-11-24 |title=Teaching in and Studying Minority Languages in Turkey: A Brief Overview of Current Issues and Minority Schools |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/ymio/12/1/article-p315_13.xml |journal=European Yearbook of Minority Issues Online |language=en |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=315–338 |doi=10.1163/9789004306134_013 |issn=2211-6117|quote=Turkey is a nation–state built on remnants of the Ottoman Empire where non-Muslim minorities were guaranteed the right to set up educational institutions; however, since its establishment, it has officially recognised only Armenians, Greeks and Jews as minorities and guaranteed them the right to manage educational institutions as enshrined in the Treaty of Lausanne. [...] Private language teaching courses teach ‘traditionally used languages’, elective language courses have been introduced in public schools and universities are allowed to teach minority languages.|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite web |last=Uras |first=Umut |title=Vox Pops: Life as an Armenian in Turkey |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/4/23/vox-pops-life-as-an-armenian-in-turkey |access-date=2023-10-07 |website=www.aljazeera.com |language=en|quote=The population of Armenian Turkish citizens living in Turkey is unclear, with estimates ranging up to 70,000. With a legal minority status in Turkey as defined by the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923 for all non-Muslim minority groups, they are entitled to “an equal right to establish, manage and control at their own expense, any charitable, religious and social institutions, any schools and other establishments for instruction and education, with the right to use their own language and to exercise their own religion freely therein”.}}{{Cite journal |last=Toktas |first=Sule |date=2006 |title=EU enlargement conditions and minority protection : a reflection on Turkey's non-Muslim minorities |url=https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/42732 |journal=East European Quarterly |language=en |volume=40 |pages=489–519 |issn=0012-8449|quote=Turkey signed the Covenant on 15 August 2000 and ratified it on 23 September 2003. However, Turkey put a reservation on Article 27 of the Covenant which limited the scope of the right of ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion or to use their own language. This reservation provides that this right will be implemented and applied in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Turkish Constitution and the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. This implies that Turkey grants educational right in minority languages only to the recognized minorities covered by the Lausanne who are the Armenians, Greeks and the Jews.}}{{Cite web |last=Refugees |first=United Nations High Commissioner for |title=Refworld {{!}} Turkey: A Minority Policy of Systematic Negation |url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/46963b010.html |access-date=2023-10-07 |website=Refworld |language=en|quote=As mentioned above, the Jews, the Greek Orthodox Christians, and the Armenian Orthodox Christians are the only recognized minorities in Turkey.}}{{Cite book |url=https://www.ayk.gov.tr/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/KOM%C5%9EUO%C4%9ELU-Ay%C5%9Feg%C3%BCl-T%C3%9CRK%C4%B0YE-ERMEN%C4%B0LER%C4%B0N%C4%B0N-K%C3%9CLT%C3%9CREL-K%C4%B0ML%C4%B0KLER%C4%B0N%C4%B0-KORUMASINI-SA%C4%9ELAYAN-FAKT%C3%96RLER.pdf |title=38. ICANAS (Uluslararası Asya ve Kuzey Afrika Çalışmaları Kongresi), 10-15 Eylül 2007, Ankara, Türkiye: bildiriler: kültürel değişim, gelişim ve hareketlilik =: International Congress of Asian and North African Studies 10-15 September 2007: papers: cultural change, growth and mobility |date=2011 |publisher=Atatürk Kültür, Dil ve Tarih Yüksek Kurumu |isbn=978-975-16-2433-8 |editor-last=Akbulut |editor-first=Mustafa |series=Atatürk Kültür, Dil ve Tarih Yüksek Kurumu Yayınları |location=Ankara |editor-last2=Özer |editor-first2=Zeynep Bağlan |editor-last3=Gürses |editor-first3=Reşide |editor-last4=Taşkın |editor-first4=Banu Karababachapter=TÜRKİYE ERMENİLERİNİN KÜLTÜREL KİMLİKLERİNİ KORUMASINI SAĞLAYAN FAKTÖRLER|quote=The legal status of Armenians designed by the Treaty of Lausanne gave them the opportunity to establish their own schools, religious and secular organizations, to teach younger generations the Armenian language, to publish books and newspapers in Armenian, to worship in their churches etc. These regulations helped them to live as a community, to maintain their cultural values, i.e. to prolong Armenian identity.}} Bulgarian-speakers are also officially recognized by the Turkey-Bulgaria Friendship Treaty ({{lang|tr|Türkiye ve Bulgaristan Arasındaki Dostluk Antlaşması}}) of 18 October 1925.{{sfn|Bayır|2013|pp=88–90, 203–204}}{{Cite journal |last1=Toktaş |first1=Şule |last2=Araş |first2=Bulent |date=2009 |title=The EU and Minority Rights in Turkey |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25655744 |journal=Political Science Quarterly |volume=124 |issue=4 |pages=697–720 |doi=10.1002/j.1538-165X.2009.tb00664.x |jstor=25655744 |issn=0032-3195|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Köksal |first=Yonca |date=2006 |title=Minority Policies in Bulgaria and Turkey: The Struggle to Define a Nation |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14683850601016390 |journal=Southeast European and Black Sea Studies |language=en |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=501–521 |doi=10.1080/14683850601016390 |issn=1468-3857|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |first=Kader |last=Özlem |date=2019 |title=An Evaluation on Istanbul's Bulgarians as the "Invisible Minority" of Turkey |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=802933 |journal=Turan-Sam |language=English |volume=11 |issue=43 |pages=387–393 |issn=1308-8041}}

In 2012, the Ministry of Education included Kurdish (based on both Kurmanji and Zazaki dialects){{cite web |url=http://www.milliyet.com.tr/-kurtce--ilk-kez-mufredata-girdi-gundem-1594953/ |title=Kürtçe İlk Kez Müfredata Girdi |date=12 September 2012 |department=Hürriyet Eğitim |website=Milliyet.com.tr |publisher=Milliyet |language=tr |trans-title=Kurdish Is on the Academic Programme for the First Time }} to the academic programme of the basic schools as optional classes from the fifth year on.

Later, the Ministry of Education also included Abkhaz, Adyghe, Standard Georgian, and Laz languages in 2013, and Albanian as well as Bosnian languages in February 2017.{{cite web |url=http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/bosnakca-ve-arnavutca-mufredata-girdi-40375183 |title=Boşnakça ve Arnavutça Müfredata Girdi |date=23 February 2017 |department=Hürriyet Eğitim |website=Hurriyet.com.tr |publisher=Hürriyet |language=tr |trans-title=Bosnian and Albanian Languages Are on the Academic Programme }}

In 2015, the Turkey’s Ministry of Education announced that as of the 2016-17 academic year, Arabic courses (as a second language) will be offered to students in elementary school starting in second grade. The Arabic courses will be offered as an elective language course like German, French and English. According to a prepared curriculum, second and third graders will start learning Arabic by listening-comprehension and speaking, while introduction to writing will join these skills in fourth grade and after fifth grade students will start learning the language in all its four basic skills.Al-Monitor: [https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/11/turkey-arabic-education-divides-country.html Turks divided over plans to introduce Arabic-language teaching], 2 November 2015, Retrieved 29 December 2017.Hürriyet Daily News: [http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/arabic-to-be-offered-as-second-language-in-turkish-elementary-schools--90244 Arabic to be offered as second language in Turkish elementary schools], 23 October 2015, Retrieved 29 December 2017.

The last publicly published census for languages was 1965 census.

Main article: 1927 Turkish Census

File:Turkish language (1927).png|Turkish

File:Kurdish language (1927).png|Kurdish

File:Arabic language(1927).png|Arabic

File:Circassian language (1927).png|Circassian

File:Greek language(1927).png|Greek

File:Armenian language(1927).png|Armenian

File:Yiddish language(1927).png|Yiddish

File:Predominant language by districts in 1927 Turkish Census.png|Districts by predominant language

Main article: 1935 Turkish Census

File:Turkish in Turkey (1935).png

File:Kurdish in Turkey (1935).png

File:Arabic in Turkey (1935).png

File:Circassian (1935).png

File:Greek (1935).png

File:Laz (1935).png

File:Georgian (1935).png

File:Pomak (1935).png

Main article: 1965 Turkish Census

{{legend2|#64b1ff|Provinces with Turkish speakers in majority|border=1px solid #AAAAAA}} {{legend2|#b2d8ff|Provinces with Turkish speakers in plurality|border=1px solid #AAAAAA}} {{legend2|#ffb3b3|Provinces with Kurdish speakers in plurality|border=1px solid #AAAAAA}} {{legend2|#FF6666|Provinces with Kurdish speakers in majority|border=1px solid #AAAAAA}}

File:Mother language in 1965 Turkey census - Turkish and Kurdish.png|Turkish- and Kurdish-speaking pluralities

File:Mother language in 1965 Turkey census - Turkish.png|Turkish-speaking population

File:Mother language in 1965 Turkey census - Kurdish.png|Kurdish-speaking population

File:Mother language in 1965 Turkey census - Arabic.png|Arabic-speaking population

File:Mother language in 1965 Turkey census - Zaza.png|Zaza-speaking population

File:Mother language in 1965 Turkey census - Circassian.png|Circassian-speaking population

File:Mother language in 1965 Turkey census - Greek.png|Greek-speaking population

File:Mother language in 1965 Turkey census - Armenian.png|Armenian-speaking population

File:Mother language in 1965 Turkey census - Georgian.png|Georgian-speaking population

File:Mother language in 1965 Turkey census - Laz.png|Laz-speaking population

File:Mother language in 1965 Turkey census - Pomak.png|Pomak-speaking population

File:Mother language in 1965 Turkey census - Bosniak.png|Bosnian-speaking population

File:Mother language in 1965 Turkey census - Albanian.png|Albanian-speaking population

File:Mother language in 1965 Turkey census - Jewish.png|Ladino-speaking population

The following table lists the mother tongues of people in Turkey by percentage of their speakers.

Ethnologue lists many minority and immigrant languages in Turkey some of which are spoken by large numbers of people.

Not included in the report by Ethnologue is the Megleno-Romanian language, spoken by the Megleno-Romanians, who number around 5,000 in the country.{{cite journal|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/nationalities-papers/article/abs/islamisation-of-the-meglen-vlachs-meglenoromanians-the-village-of-nanti-notia-and-the-nantinets-in-presentday-turkey/5F6519A83C83DD0B9728A22F58100384|title=The Islamisation of the Meglen Vlachs (Megleno-Romanians): The Village of Nânti (Nótia) and the "Nântinets" in Present-Day Turkey|first=Thede|last=Kahl|author-link=Thede Kahl|journal=Nationalities Papers|volume=34|issue=1|pages=71–90|year=2006|doi=10.1080/00905990500504871|s2cid=161615853 |url-access=subscription}}

The following languages are listed as having 50,000 or more total speakers in Turkey according to the 2022 edition of Ethnologue. Entries identified by Ethnologue as macrolanguages (such as Arabic, Persian, Pashto, Chinese, and Zaza, encompassing all their respective varieties) are not included in this section.

{{static row numbers}}

• Demographics of Turkey
• Citizen speak Turkish!

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{{noteslist}}

{{reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Bayır |first=Derya |title=Minorities and nationalism in Turkish law |date=2013 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |isbn=978-1-4094-7254-4 |series=Cultural Diversity and Law |location=Farnham|url=https://www.academia.edu/37557239}}

{{commons category|Languages of Turkey}}

• {{cite web |editor=European Commission |editor-link=European Commission |title=Turkey 2005 Progress Report |date=2005-11-09 |url=http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/2/2005/EN/2-2005-1426-EN-1-0.Pdf }}
• {{cite web|author=Turgut, Üveys Mücahit|url=http://earsiv.sehir.edu.tr:8080/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11498/51975/000130870002.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|archive-url=https://archive.today/20190717212621/http://earsiv.sehir.edu.tr:8080/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11498/51975/000130870002.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 17, 2019|title=A CONCEPTUAL HISTORY OF ULUS IN THE CONTEXT OF NATION-BUILDING AND LANGUAGE POLICIES IN TURKEY|date=May 2007}} - Thesis submitted to Istanbul Sehir University
• {{cite journal|last=Groc|first=Gérard|title=La presse francophone dans l'Empire ottoman et la Turquie de Mustafa Kemal|journal=Cahiers Balkaniques|year=2020|volume=47|language=fr|doi=10.4000/ceb.16007|doi-access=free}} - Has abstracts in English and Turkish in addition to French

{{Languages of Turkey}}

{{Asia in topic|Languages of}}

{{Languages of Europe}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Languages Of Turkey}}