Uzbek Scholar Proposes Unified Writing System for Turkic Languages
Across the Turkic-speaking world, debates over language policy and writing systems are gaining renewed importance. More than 300 million people across Eurasia speak Turkic languages, yet they use different scripts, Cyrillic, Latin, and Arabic. Uzbek scholar Bakhtiyor Karimov argues that this diversity of alphabets weakens cultural and intellectual connections among Turkic societies. Karimov, a linguist and professor who helped develop the pan-Turkic auxiliary language Ortaturk, is an academician of the Turon Academy of Sciences and director of its Ortaturk Language Research Institute. Together with Shoahmad Mutalov, he developed the concept of the Ortaturk language. In this interview, he discusses the challenges posed by alphabet diversity, his proposal for a new writing model, and his view that language policy is closely linked to political and geopolitical developments. A fragmented writing landscape Karimov describes alphabet diversity as one of the most serious challenges facing Turkic-speaking communities. “Roughly thirty Turkic languages exist,” he said. “About twenty use the Cyrillic alphabet, three use the Latin alphabet, two are transitioning toward Latin, and many communities still rely on the Arabic script. In numerical terms, around 100 million Turkic speakers use Arabic, another 100 million use Latin, and another 100 million use Cyrillic.” The situation has deep historical roots. Over the past century, shifting political systems and state policies have shaped the writing traditions of Turkic languages. As a result, speakers of closely related languages often find it difficult to read each other’s texts. For example, Uyghurs in China write using the Arabic script, while Uzbeks in Afghanistan also rely on Arabic-based writing. In Uzbekistan, both Cyrillic and Latin scripts are used. Azerbaijani communities in Iran use the Arabic script, whereas Azerbaijan employs a Latin-based alphabet. Most Turkic languages within Russia continue to use Cyrillic. Karimov also notes legal constraints. He points to Russian legislation requiring languages used in official contexts to employ the Cyrillic alphabet, arguing that this limits the ability of Turkic-speaking communities in Russia to adopt Latin scripts even if they wish to do so. “About twenty Turkic peoples living in Russia are effectively restricted to Cyrillic,” he said. Meanwhile, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan have fully adopted Latin alphabets. Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are gradually transitioning, although the process has been uneven. Kyrgyzstan continues to rely primarily on Cyrillic. “All of this means that the Turkic world is linguistically connected but graphically divided,” Karimov said. Efforts toward a common alphabet Recognizing this challenge, the Organization of Turkic States established a working group of linguists to explore the creation of a unified Turkic alphabet. Experts from Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Turkey participated in the initiative. “They worked together for about two years and produced a draft proposal,” Karimov said. “However, the project remains under discussion and has not yet been formally adopted. Ultimately, political leaders must reach a consensus.” Karimov believes the draft proposal contains technical shortcomings, particularly in how certain sounds are represented. “In some cases, a single phoneme is represented by more than one graphic symbol,” he said. “From a computational...
