ABSTRACT
Most people will agree that the change of alphabet was a good thing and an essential step in the modernization of Turkey. The case for modifying the Arabo-Persian alphabet so as to make it a better medium for the writing of Turkish had been put forward as early as 1851, by Ahmet Cevdet, and various people thereafter tried their hand at the problem. At the first Kurultay, in September 1932, speaker after speaker rose to declare that Turkish was the mother of the world's principal languages, and the resemblances between Turkish and Sumerian were discussed at length. The presumption is that they were voicing Atatürk's ideas. The alphabet proposed by the Commission is in truth the Turkish alphabet and is definitive. It is adequate to meet all the Turkish nation's needs. The laws of grammar and spelling will evolve in step with the improvement of the language and with the national taste.
