Ocal Oguz: Int’l Turkic Language Day may be declared international in November

It is expected that the International Day of the Turkic Language will be approved at the 42nd General Conference of UNESCO in Paris in November this year, head of the Turkish National Commission to UNESCO Ocal Oguz told Report.

“In fact, this is a simple, but rather long process. According to the rules of UNESCO, first of all, it is necessary to prepare a draft joint decision. This requires coordination work both with the national commissions of the Turkic states, and their ministries of foreign affairs and permanent representatives to UNESCO. We started this process in 2017 in Türkiye, then we invited the national commissions of the Turkic states and held several meetings,” he said.

Ocal Oguz added that in every TURKSOY country there is a special day of the national language, but there was no common day and it is no surprise that the choice fell on the date of December 15: “We chose December 15 because on this day the Turkic runic alphabet was deciphered and this was announced to the international community,” said the head of the Turkish National Commission for UNESCO.

He noted that at the end of April the resolution will be submitted to the Directorate General of UNESCO, a meeting with the Executive Committee of the organization is planned in May, and in November of this year, the 42nd General Conference of UNESCO is expected to approve December 15 as the International Day of the Turkic Language.