Abstract :
This paper aims to analyze ever growing trend among Turkish nationalist toward creation of a common literary language for all Turkic peoples. The issue is not indeed new. It may trace back to the nineteenth century, but got a great acceleration during the establishment of Turkish Republic in the first quarter of the twentieth century. Although the modernization movement led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and his comrades had a different agenda excluding and/or ignoring Turkic elements of Central Asia, this policy faced severe resistance from traditionalists, that is, from both Turkist-nationalists and Islamists since the very beginning of the modernist reform movement.
The dispute between modernists and traditionalists which may be classified as
Islamists and Turkists, arose from their different perceptions of national identity, but
continued in terms of their different ideological, methodological and linguistic approaches as well. This paper aims to mainly focus on the nationalists’ political behaviors regarding creation of a common Turkic language. Nevertheless, it is essential, in this juncture, to reflect briefly the general tendencies of all groups regarding the language policy that should have
been implemented in Turkey.
