Seeking to strengthen understanding and cooperation among the world’s 170 million Turkic people, the international bloc of Turkic states on Wednesday agreed on a proposal for a common 34-letter alphabet, Report informs via Anadolu.
“As a result of this dedicated work, a proposal for a Common Turkic Alphabet consisting of 34 letters was agreed upon. Each letter in the proposed alphabet represents different phonetic sounds found in Turkic languages,” the Turkic Academy Organization of the Organization of Turkic States said in a statement.
The proposal was agreed upon at the third Turkic World Common Alphabet Commission meeting held in the Azerbaijani capital Baku.
The common Turkic alphabet project, drawing from the Latin alphabet, was first proposed by scholars in 1991, it said.
The creation of the common Turkic alphabet fosters "mutual understanding and cooperation among Turkic peoples," while safeguarding their linguistic heritage, it added.
Praising the “invaluable contributions” of the Organization of Turkic States and the commission members, the statement called on all institutions concerned "to effectively support the implementation of the proposed Common Turkic Alphabet."