Turkish language policies in the Republican era

Abstract

For the survival of the state one of the main elements required is language. The language policy and planning followed by states make them effective in the international arena. The language of the State of the Republic of Turkey is Turkish, and based on the deep-rooted history of the Turkish nation, Turkish has maintained its existence in every period. The Turkish Language Institution, founded by Atatürk, undoubtedly has been working to establish the well-deserved value of Turkish language among the world languages and to maintain its existence since 1932. Diplomatic institutions, Organization of Turkic States, Türsoy, Turkmep, Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities, Yunus Emre Institute, Maarif Foundation are the leading ones among these institutions. While the state was planning the teaching of Turkish both as a native tongue and as a foreign language with diplomatic institutions, the strategic plans prepared, council decisions and the eleventh development plan also clearly demonstrated the importance given to this issue. Today, Turkish, is trying to overcome the obstacles on the way to becoming the language of science. The most important prerequisite in this regard is to raise generations in which the society will not consider their language inferior to other languages and will always protect their language. Since the 19th century, from the sultanate to the republic, the bond between the state and the language has been tightened with an increasing dose, and the sensitivity of the state, which has been put into a modern form in the Republican era, has reached the highest level. Thus, language has become almost the most important tool of the determination to take firm steps towards the future by strengthening the cultural, political and scientific aspects of the modernization carried out by the state and by strengthening social cohesion.