President of Turkey Urges Transition to New Alphabet: TRNC Ready for the Change

At the 11th Summit of the Turkic Council of Heads of State, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called on the participating countries to implement necessary reforms based on the new Turkish alphabet.

"Turkey, Azerbaijan, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus are prepared for this transition. It would be beneficial if Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan also took the initiative to adopt the new alphabet," President Erdoğan stated during his speech at the summit.

He reminded the audience that work on creating the new alphabet began in 2022, with the aim of establishing a common language for the Turkic world. This process was completed in September 2024. Four countries – Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan – have now agreed on a unified alphabet based on the Latin script.

"As a result of dedicated efforts, an agreement was reached on a common Turkic alphabet consisting of 34 letters," said the Turkish Academy, located in Astana.

With the addition of five letters used in Kyrgyz, Azerbaijani, and Kazakh alphabets, the total number of letters in the Turkish alphabet has increased from 29 to 34.

The new letters added to the Turkish alphabet are Q, X, Ū, Ñ, and Ə, while the original 29 letters remain unchanged.

Now, these countries must approve their national alphabets, which will be based on this unified system.