"Herkese Mahsus Yeni Harflerle Resimli Türkçe Alfabe", "For Everyone Turkish Alphabet With New Letters and Images". Ibrâhim Hilmi, Hilmi Kitaphânesi, Istanbul 1928, reprint present from Derin Tarih magazine July 2014, Haluk Perk collection.

ABSTRACT

In 1929, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the first president of the newly established Republic of Turkiye, implemented the Alphabet reform. The reform aimed to modernize the Turkish language and promote literacy by replacing the Arabic-based Ottoman script with the Latin script. The Alphabet reform was part of several other reforms that were conducted at that time. Also known as the 'Language Revolution', was a major cultural and political change. It also encouraged romanization in the language, calendar, and metric system. Today, the Latin-based Turkish alphabet is used throughout Turkiye and has become an important symbol of the country's modernization and secularization. In my essay, I will focus on the difference between the two writing systems and analyze the alphabet which letters and sounds got lost in transliteration. I’m using the Alphabet reform as a framework to understand what happened with an important craft and tradition; Islamic calligraphy and printing, during the Ottoman past. How the reform forced to find new ways to create new art forms. I am curious how I can contribute to new approaches, by reconnecting to Turkish and Islamic heritage. How can I reconnect with the traditions in Arabic calligraphy and typography, before the reform in Turkiye, and how can we reimagine the art of abjad numerals today?

INTRODUCTION

While wandering through an antique market in Istanbul, in Bomonti, I came across these two sheets of stamp collections. What made these stamps particularly intriguing for me is that, despite both being from the same country and century, they have completely diverse graphic styles. They are representing Turkiye in the 20^th century. This significant difference is especially visible in typography, Where two separate writing systems have been used to display the Turkish language. The cause of this separation happened on 1 November 1929, during the Alphabet reform encouraged by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. This reminded me of my grandpa, who was born in 1928 in Turkiye and was part of the first generation ‘Cumhuriyet çocukları’ or ‘children of the Republic’. He went through the Alphabet reform as a peasant at a young age. My mom explained that he used to talk about his experiences and how it affected him and his surroundings, but sadly my mom doesn’t remember much anymore. My curiosity about stamps started with my grandpa. He used to collect stamps and was a philatelist. He left a book behind filled with stamps that he gathered himself, but also got many gifted from his friends. It’s a collective collection that he created. The stamp collection was like a precious piece of history that my grandpa carefully curated and treasured. The objects that he left with us are a beautiful way to remember him and traces of memories to learn. These objects can provide a unique insight into the beliefs, values, and experiences of people in the past.¹ 1. He ordered the pages by countries and by time. The last 2 pages are a mix with many different countries as Haiti, Indonesia, Suriname and even Jugoslav. My mom told me that he would carefully dip the envelopes, letters or postcards into water, so the stamp would loosen up easily and be removed. He would damp the stamps with a cloth and add it to his collection. After that stage he would admire them for hours looking through the pages. Sadly I found this collection in the attic when he had already passed away. I would have loved to hear stories from his perspective about the stamps and about his fascination and passion. He was in his late stage of his dementia when I was young, so I didn't had the chance to really get to know him, nor did he know who I was unless we told him. Still I loved him, he was a great man. These past years I found out that we have a lot in common in the things we like. I think my fascination comes more from a curiosity, to get to know someone who isn't there anymore.↩ The objects can be seen as a tangible link to the past and a way to learn from the experiences of those who came before us, a way for me to reconnect with my heritage.

Ottoman language and Arabic script may have gone, but for me as a Muslim practicing Islam, Arabic is ingrained in my daily life, from prayers to reading texts, to reading the Quran. I only understand Arabic from an Islamic perspective, which I have been memorizing prayers and verses since a young age. Being this visible in my life, the letters were always a stranger to me, but the elegance and delicateness of the script have mesmerized me. I have been curious about the cultural aspect and artistic practices of the letters. It was all very unknown to me, until in recent years when my interest grew. In my previous projects my attempt to reconnect with my heritage was by learning a calligraphic script ‘Thuluth’. Another aim was to learn reading and writing in Ottoman, to understand the poetic literature ‘Divan edebiyatı’, which was literature based on divine poetry.

Different understandings encourages viewing tradition as a living and dynamic entity that can inspire us to create something new, rather than as a fixed and unchanging set of values that limit our behavior. The reform caused a break from tradition and religion, to enter modernist and secular era. It created a barrier between the past and the future and encouraged (forced) people to change. With this in mind, facing the past, how can I use the barrier as an opportunity to reimagine traditions in calligraphy and typography today? How can I contribute by gaining knowledge from the past to make changes in this time? I’m interested in how people found new approaches to create traditional practices. I want to explore how I can make it meaningful and relevant to the present. I want to delve into the past, to see what was created, and compare it to the present.

It was a huge new era for Turkiye, that forced change and a shift in identity. This was a turning point to search for new ways to reimagine a new identity, by learning from a traditional approach. This essay will explore the Alphabet Reform of 1929 and what happened during that time. I will only focus on several short histories, with the Alphabet reform as the framework. My approach will mainly be analyzing the writing systems, from there focusing on the art and design history. Understanding what the motivations were, what it brought to a reform, and understanding how much was changed and what got lost in the process, through focusing on a lost art Abjad numerals, which was a system to convey meaning with numerals. Further, I will explore how this reform affected Arabic calligraphy, which was a highly regarded profession in the past and lost value through the reform. I will also include a very brief history of printing during the Ottoman Empire and the contribution to Arabic type, and how this shifted to Latin. To conclude I will discuss what kind of approach I want to take with this knowledge in my future practice.

Turkish stamp issued in 1927, Mustafa Kemal Pacha. Source: lastdodo.fr

Turkish stamp issued in 1929. Mustafa Kemal Pacha. Source: lastdodo.fr

ALPHABET REFORM

In 1922 The Ottoman empire, Devlet-i ʿAlīye-i ʿOsmānīye, came to an end. It reigned for more than 600 years in the Anatolian region extending from Vienna to Yemen. It was a Sunni Islamic state and Sharia law formed its fundamental legal system. After the Turkish independence war in 1919-22, the parliament officially abolished the sultanate. Turkiye became the Republic of Turkey by referred as ‘the founding father’ and first president Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Atatürk created a single-party regime ‘The People’s Republican Party’, still known to this day as CHP. He instigated a series of revolutions during his regime in order to raise Turkiye to the level of a ‘modern civilization’, by reshaping the country. The purpose was to redesign the Islamic Ottoman state and enter into a new secularist era. Before handing the empire over to the republic, Turkiye had experienced many modernization attempts and efforts since the 16^th century, but none of them were revolutionary as Atatürk’s reforms.² 2. Akyol, Mustafa. "Turkey’s Troubled Experiment with Secularism. Lessons from Turkey’s Struggle to Balance Democracy and Laiklik." The Century Foundation, 25 April 2019.↩

Arabic alphabet leaving the country. Cemal Nadir Güler, Hicret (emigration) caricature, Akşam newspaper, 1 October 1928, Page: 1.

The Announcement of Alphabet reform. Vakit newspaper, 2 Teşrinisani [November], 1928, Page: 1.

On 1 September Cumhuriyet newspaper published a poll asking its readers to choose from 4 different headlines. The last option got chosen and has been part of the newspaper for 87 years. Notable detail in the news article is seen in the headline, in the word 'hankisini', whereas now it’s written as 'hangisini'. Cumhuriyet, 1 September, 1928. Source: bilimdili.com

On 1 November 1928, it was proudly announced in the newspapers of Cumhuriyet and Vakit, that from that day onwards Turkiye was going to use the Latin script for the Turkish language. The headline is saying “It is a day of success that dazzles us, this new horizon, so that in a few years the need of this nation will be fully satisfied, with a change that has not been addressed for centuries.” The adoption of the Latin script, which had already become the dominant script in Europe, facilitated greater interaction and communication with the Western world and helped to establish Turkiye as a secular and modern nation-state. The main purpose was to fight against high illiteracy, to ‘purify’ and improve the Turkish language, and to enable more affordable and convenient printing in Turkiye. More accessibility to the general population needed to be created. With the reform the republic tried to adapt to the new writing system, by Romanizing the press, educational books, literature, newspapers, military, banks, government offices, institutions, political associations, magazines, advertisements, signs, film subtitles, laws, printed matter etc. All had to adapt to the Latin before the deadline, in 1930 the whole country was Romanized.³ 3. Yilmaz, Hale. “Learning To Read (Again): The Social Experiences Of Turkey’s 1928 Alphabet Reform.” International Journal of Middle East Studies, vol. 43, no. 4, 2011, pp. 677–80↩

'To adopt the Turkish alphabet and retire the Arab alphabet is to get off the camel and ride the automobile'. Ramiz Gökçe (1900–1953), The Turkish Alphabet leaves the Arabic Alphabet in the dust, Cumhuriyet, November 30, 1928, Atatürk Kitaplığı, Istanbul.

'Latin script: Watch out, you are going to get kicked! 'Arabic script: Doing this is as hard as reading me!' Ramiz Gökçe, Akbaba, 1926.

Atatürk’s ideology came from secularist and nationalist movements, his policies and theories became known as Kemalism. He created Turkish nationalism to ‘purify’ Turkish, extracting the Ottoman, which was influenced by Persian and Arabic, from the language and culture. His aim was to modernize and latinize the country, by creating a nationalistic and authoritative state through cultural domination and language. Turkiye is known for being the bridge between the east and west, geographically and culturally.⁴ 4. Perry, John R. “Language Reform in Turkey and Iran.” International Journal of Middle East Studies, vol. 17, no. 3, 1985, pp. 298–299.↩Atatürk believed that by breaking the cultural ties between the eastern image of Turkiye and its Ottoman past and including it in the ‘enlightened’ western culture, he could diminish the confusion between Turks and Arabs. The misconception between the two cultures existed for centuries. While Turks and Arabs share some cultural and historical ties, they are two distinct ethnic groups with unique histories, languages, and cultures.

The cartoon was captioned as: "New, civilized Turkish letters replace the squiggly old Arabic letters that have prevented people from reading and writing for centuries." Turkish letters in the cartoon says "Come on, you too to the ruins of the sultanate!" Ramiz Gökçe, Akbaba magazine, August 1928.

These stamps picture Kemal Atatürk, referred as “the first teacher of his people”, teaching his people. The stamps were issued in 1938 as a celebration of the 10th Anniversary of Alphabet reform. The image on the stamps is from a photo in Kayseri, in 1928. Before the deadline, Atatürk went on a tour through Anatolia, by giving a performative act to promote the new alphabet. In every town he visited, he teaches his citizens as ‘the first teacher of Turkiye’ with his blackboard, in town. He would encourage the crowd to learn the alphabet by asking: “have you learned the new Turkish letters?” and ask people from the crowd to demonstrate the letters this way to show that’s easy to learn the new letters and to motivate them to teach each other. source: cankayamuzayede.com

Republican People's Party (RPP) propaganda poster 1930, showing simplified version of the alphabet; modern people and peasants entering school and showing old people reading. The poster translates as: "Old script was very difficult, new script simplified reading and writing. After the reform the nation schools have opened and have increased: old, young everyone is learning." Source: birparcatuhaftik.com

As part of a broader initiative to promote literacy and teach citizens the new Turkish letters, Millet mekteplerı, or the Nation's schools, were utilized as symbols during the transition from Ottoman to modern Turkish. There is archival evidence that people still continued to write or take notes in Arabic script. From archives, Hale Yılmaz observed the reaction of Turkish citizens and saw how they coped with change in their daily lives. She explains, ”While some of these responses were likely ideologically oriented and should be seen as “everyday forms of resistance,”⁵ 5. Yilmaz, Hale. “Learning To Read (Again): The Social Experiences Of Turkey’s 1928 Alphabet Reform.” International Journal of Middle East Studies, vol. 43, no. 4, 2011, p. 688.↩ many were simply copying mechanisms created to deal with social change on an individual level.” Especially the older generation, that was from the Ottoman era, had difficulty with adapting. For the people that were already familiar with Latin script, because they had taken French classes or traveled to Europe regularly, it was way easier for them to learn. Furthermore, the children that grew up with the letters had no issue with adapting to the new alphabet, but it took some generations before the new letters became the norm.⁶ 6. Ibid., p. 689.↩ Simultaneously the adhan and the Quran were translated from Arabic to Turkish. This meant the prayer call was chanted in Turkish for 18 years,⁷ 7. For listening to the Turkish Adhan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noCboYAyhsw.↩ and the Quran was read in Turkish in mosques. This created an understanding of what the adhan and Quran conveyed, but this also implied a loss in meaning from its origin. During the reform, this particular act caused the most controversy.⁸ 8. Slavs and Tatars. Naughty Nasals. Arsenal Gallery, 2014. Pp. 61-63.↩ As professor Geoffrey Lewis called the reform "a catastrophic success."⁹ 9. English Professor of the Turkish language at the University of Oxford. Chris, Gratien. "A Farewell to ع: Living Language Reform in Turkey." Georgetown University, 31 Dec. 2013.↩

The new letters promoted all over the city in Istanbul. A shop near Beyazıt Mosque, Istanbul, Turkish man looking at the new Latin script. Maynard Owen Williams, 1929 National Geograpic magazine, January.

Theaters announcing there shows in both scripts and in French. A store in istanbul, showing a shop sign "New students store" in 2 scripts. Selling the new alphabet. Maynard Owen Williams, 1929 National Geograpic magazine, January.

Source: lepetitprince.id

A JOURNEY TOWARDS LATINIZATION

In the novel one of the Turkish clothing reforms was also described. The narrator in the story explains why new planets are given by numbers rather than names when they are discovered. The narrator is sure that the prince belongs from Asteroid B-612, which was discovered in 1909 by a Turkish astronomer. He got mocked during his presentation at the International Astronomical Congress in that year, because he wore traditional Turkish clothes. His traditional clothes made him not intellectual enough and looking backwards, which made his claims unworthy. Finally a Turkish dictator saved him from the mockery, by implementing a hat and clothing law. Forbidding the hat and Islamic clothing. In 1920 the astronomer presented again, this time his presentation was well received by the public, and he was perceived as a worthy intellect, cause he was modernly clothed. In short, he resembled a western noble man with his clothing, which made his claims worthy. De Saint Exupèry, Antoine, and Richard Howard. The Little Prince. Translated by Ros Schwartz, Wordsworth Editions Ltd, 1995.

For years writing systems have been a tools to form civilizations, which evolved through humans to represent languages. Among the Turkic languages, the Turkish language is the major branch within the Altaic language group. It is spread all over Europe and Asia, spoken by the Azeri, the Tatars, the Turkmen, the Kirgiz, the Kazakh, and other dialects. The oldest discovered form of Turkish was written in Orkhon script between the 8^th to 10^th centuries. The famous French novel ‘The Little Prince’ by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, has over 446 translations, in effort to preserve endangered languages. For that reason there is a translation in modern Turkish, but also in various Turkish dialects, into Orkhon script, Ottoman, Laz language (spoken in Trabzon, northern Turkiye), and in Çita Mapaskiri (another form of Laz language).¹⁰ 10. “National Language—Turkish.” https://lepetitprince.id/listing/turkey/.↩

Map showing the immigration of Turkic tribes from central Asia to the west. Source: guncelkpssbilgi.com

A map from the dictionary Divan-ı Lügat-it-Türk by the Uyghur linguist Mahmud al-Kashgari. It was created around 1072 and it’s regarded as the first world map made by Turks. It’s showcasing where the Turks inhabited, while representing various Turkish dialects. The map centers in the center of Asia, the region Kashgari, in Xinjiang, in China.

Turkish was formed by Turkish tribes. They originated in the east, but the Mongols kept pushing the Turks over to the west, so they eventually spread all over Europe. As the nomads were moving, they changed the script many times adopting from Uyghur, to Tibetan, and Syrian alphabets. In the 11^th century, the Turkic nomads settled in Anatolia. After the Turks converted to Islam, they started using the Arabic script, because Islam was represented in Arabic script.

Page from the Ladino newspaper in Hebrew script. Sephardic Jews in Turkey were told to assimilate. El Tiempo, Ladino.

Armenian journal of New Folk Songs 1871. Language: Turkish, Alphabet: Armenian. Source: scroll.in

Saint Abraham the Sacrifice Story, of Great Use to Many Souls. Language: Karamanli, Alphabet: Greek. Istanbul, Ignatious printing house, 1836.

Tongue of the Nation. Beirut, 1928. Language: Syrian, Arabic, Turkish, Alphabet: Syriac. Beirut, 1928.

During the Ottoman Empire, Constantinople became a cosmopolitan city and was inhabited by many cultures, although they were minorities. Around the 15^th century, these minority groups were printing in their own writing systems in Turkish, with Hebrew, Syrian, Cyrillic, Greek, and Armenian Alphabets. This consisted an explorative use of writing systems, because the Arabic printing press wasn’t established yet. It's interesting to observe the variety of writing systems used to write Turkish.

Translation by, Erika Hitzigrath Gilson:
[Turk] What news from your country?
[Christian] I know nothing to tell you.
[T] Do you have a companion with you?
[Ch] No, I came alone.
[T] Do you want to come with me?
[Ch] Is your house far?
Source: languagelog.ldc

It’s evident that the Latin script wasn’t something new for Turkiye, it was used 500 years ago in the 16th century.¹¹ 11. The Cooper Union. "Movable Type, Multiple Scripts, & Changing Alphabets in the late Ottoman Empire (and after)." Youtube, 27 Nov. 2019.↩

From the Turkic languages Azerbaijan was the first country to reform in 1919, followed by Turkiye. The other countries reformed to Cyrillic: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, etc. Azerbaijan even experienced three script changes this century, from Arabic to Latin, to Cyrillic, and back to Latin again.¹² 12. Anar. "Reading Between the Lines Personal Reflections on the History of Alphabet Reform in Azerbaijan." Azarbaijan International Spring 2000.↩ Kazakhstan is also now in the process of returning back to the Latin script by 2023.¹³ 13. Rozanskij, Vladimir. "Kazakhs to return to the Latin alphabet, abandoning Cyrillic by 2023." Pime Asia News, 19 April 2021.↩

It’s intriguing to see how almost all Turkic languages are latinizing and I believe it’s mainly, because of globalization and an union between Turkic languages.¹⁴14. Warner, Andrew. "Alpha. Bravo. Cyrillic." JSTOR Daily, 7 Dec. 2022. ↩ This standardization resembles the concept presented in Orwell's theory, where manipulation of language is used to regulate people's thoughts and uniformity in communication is employed to eliminate societal distinctions. The significance of language as a political tool to suppress minority communities is evident, and those who managed to maintain their language were able to survive, while the others are left to become extinct, a part of the past.¹⁵15. Yaguello, Marina. Imaginary languages: Myths, Utopias, Fantasies, Illusions, and Linguistic Fictions. Translated by Erik Butler, The MIT Press, 2022. P. xi.↩

Script vs. Language

Republic celebrating 10 year of Alphabet reform. The promotion of the Turkish alphabet continues. NTV Tarih, issue:21, collection of Emin Nedret Isli.

The notion that the script didn’t fit the language interested me the most. Atatürk claimed that the goal of his ideology was to combat ignorance and illiteracy (cehalet) and to establish freedom among citizens who were civilized (medeniyet).¹⁶16. A difficult script may have been a problem, but I don’t think it was the vehicle to lead to an illiterate society. Ottoman era existed more out of an oral history, hence the gap between spoken and written Turkish all contributed to illiterate nation. In my opinion learning Arabic isn’t that difficult. It’s just a matter way of learning. When I was young I went to Quran classes to learn to read Arabic, which took me approximately 2 weeks. In 2021 I started learning to read in Ottoman for a project, which took me a week. I agree that figuring out which vowel was used, added a complexity in learning to read and write, but it’s similar to math you learn some formulas and when you know how to apply it’s easy. Especially if the letters are ingrained in your culture and tradition, it makes it easier, rather learning a foreign language, which only a small portion of the nation's population resembled. Nevertheless that it was the reason to illiteracy doesn’t sound promising.↩ The problem of illiteracy was connected to the Arabic script. The problem with Ottoman was it had too many sounds, then letters. Therefore some letters in the alphabet would contain 3 different sounds representing 1 letter. For example, the letter kef ك could be read as the letter k, g, or ğ, referred to as the ‘soft g’. Both are very different letters and read differently. The vowels were seen as the main problem. The alphabet had only 4 vowels اه و ى, and the language has 8: a, e, ı, i, o, ö, u, ü. For example, in Ottoman, you can read the word كل as in gül, kel, gel, göl, and gol. The multiplicity caused speculation. This made reading and writing in the Ottoman language more complex.¹⁷17. Yılmaz, Hale. “Learning To Read (Again): The Social Experiences Of Turkey’s 1928 Alphabet Reform.” International Journal of Middle East Studies, vol. 43, no. 4, 2011, pp. 680. ↩

If you look at the history of the Turkish language, it was always in a search of a script that represents the alphabet. There were many critics through time, especially the 18^th century researchers, who were critiquing the alphabet and agreeing for a reform to happen. Apparently the alphabet reform wasn’t that unexpected. In 1851 Ahmet Cevdet —scientist, historian, lawyer, and poet— was one of the critics that shared his views on changing the alphabet, to make the alphabet easier to read. Mirza Fath-Ali Akhundzadah —author, playwriter, philosopher, and modern literary critic— is one of the most significant names of Azerbaijan literature and is regarded as the founder of modern literature in Azerbaijan. He insisted in 1863 to add more letters for the vowels in the alphabet.

A book and newspaper printed with Hurûf-ı munfasıla. Source: twitter.com/bahtiyarim.

Ismail Enver Pasja —an Ottoman military officer— had an idea to make the alphabet unified. He worked for years on the writing system, but during those times he was also at war, so he didn’t have much time to focus on his proposal for a new writing system Hurûf-ı munfasıla, which caused many mistakes in the system and didn’t look very appealing to the eye. In 1917 he published a book to learn the alphabet.¹⁸18. Arseven, Tülin. "Türk Harf Devriminin Kültürel Temelleri." Folklor/Edebiyat, vol. 23, no. 90, 2017. P. 167.↩

Sample pages from the children’s book ‘Shouf Baba Shouf’ in Unified Arabic. (Image courtesy of Unified Arabic Archives.)

Nasri's sketching sheet of his typeface. source: blog.29lt.com.

The idea of finding a way to unify the script was continued in Lebanon, by a Lebanese architect and type designer, Nasri Khattar. He invented the ‘Unified Arabic (UA)’ alphabet system. It’s a simplified version of the Arabic script, with a set of 30 letterforms. In effort to unify the Arabic characters, by eliminating letter variations of each letter. This system would have been able to support the typewriter, which was available with only 44 keys. It’s a vast improvement since Arabic involves up to 450 glyphs, depending on the used typeface. His motivation was to fight illiteracy and make printing with the press easier and more convenient. He got support and funding from several foundations, this could have easily meant a language reform for the Arabs, to solve centuries long printing problem. However, it faced opposition from the Arab world, because it didn’t support the relation between language and form. Sacrificing the calligraphic nature of the script, which was an important aspect of Arabic cultural identity, to gain efficiency in western technology, didn’t seem to be an ideal. UA's concessions to Western standards were perceived as a rejection of Arab culture and heritage. Additionally, since the Quran was revealed in Arabic, the language is considered absolute and holy. It forms an unity in all Muslims in the world, making the reform a highly complex and sensitive issue with moral implications.¹⁹19. Khoury Nammour, Yara. "Fighting Illiteracy With Typography." Works That Work.↩

Arabization to Latinization

The Romanized Turkish we know now is a descendant of the Ottoman language. The origins stem from old Anatolian Turkish. Modern Turkish started using the Latin script after the Alphabet reform. The Turkish alphabet has a total of 29 letters and is written from left to right.²⁰20. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Turkish language". Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 Sep. 2022.↩ The 8 vowels that existed in the language, were all given a representing letter, to make writing and reading easier. For the remaining other sounds ğ, ş, ç, ö, ü and I, new characters were added to the alphabet. These letters â, î, û with a circumflex are dominant all over the language for translation purposes from the Ottoman language, but are not included in the official alphabet now. Some letters were also left out, such as the q, w, and x. Which were significant letters used in the Kurdish language. These letters were even illegal, until 2013, although they weren’t included in the alphabet.²¹21. Rielly, Lucas. "Why the Letters Q, W, and X Were Once Illegal in Turkey." Mental Floss, 31 Oct. 2018.↩ The law was created to impose cultural homogeneity and assimilate Turkey's minorities, particularly Kurdish people who compose about 20 percent of Turkey's population. The rise of literacy caused the elimination of regional dialects, because of the standardization of the language and spelling more people started taking over the Istanbul dialect.

Left image: Colored Atatürk's alphabet. Source: #TTTarşiv. Right image: Ottoman alphabet schoolbook. I couldn't find a full page. I gathered all the images I could find. Source: twitter.com/michaeltalbotuk.

A significant contrast between Ottoman and Turkish lies in their vocabulary origins. Ottoman Turkish evolved from Old Anatolian Turkish, drew heavily from Persian and Arabic, while modern Turkish remained in the old Anatolian language and has incorporated French and English loanwords in the past century. The Ottoman Alphabet was used in the Ottoman Empire and is formed with the Arabic script. Written from right to left and has a total of 33 letters. The alphabet integrated 5 other characters ﭖ (pe derived from Iran), چ (çe derived from Iran), ﮊ (je derived from Persia), ﮒ (gef derived from Persia) and ڭ (nef derived from Iran) to represent the language. Ottoman Turkish became the dominant language for approximately 8 centuries in the region. After the reform, the letters ڭ, ع, غ, and خ didn’t make it to the new alphabet.

• The letter ḫı (خ) sounds as ch in Latin, and made it through Kurdish and Azeri alphabet as the letter x.
• The letter gayn (غ) sound as a deep g. The sound gayn is written with the letter ẍ in the official Kurdish international writing.
• The letter ayn (ع) was used for writing at the beginning of a letter as a vowel or at the end to make it sound longer. With the new alphabet, it's transliterated as '.
• The letter nef (ڭ), or kêf-î nûni is a specific Anatolian sound that comes from the nasal, and also named as the Nasal ñ.

Nef and gayn and ḫı can still be encountered in some Anatolian dialects, but didn’t have an representative letter in the new Turkish alphabet. ²²22. "Osmanlıca dersleri V- Türkçede karşılığı bulunmayan harfler." Fikriyat, 31 Jan. 2019.↩

LOST IN TRANSLITERATION

Abjad Numerals

The ‘Ebced hesabi’ or ‘Abjad numerals’ was one of the Ottoman traditions I felt suffered the most during the reorganization of the Alphabet reform. During the Ottoman era, the script was not only used to display in a visual art form, but also to define meaning in a deeper connection, by using Abjad numerals. It’s a system where each letter is assigned a numeral, which creates a calculation system. It is known that Hebrew, Nabataean, and ancient Greek cultures used the abjad system. The Ottomans used abjad in the order of the Arabic letters, stemming from Persian literature. The Abjad system was used in many ways as an artistic layer in Ottoman culture, as ‘Tarih düşürme’, or literally translated as ‘date dropping’. It means you can assign a date by calculating the letters, which have a numeral value. It's been estimated that this practice emerged to ease learning and memorizing. This in turn created an important role in Ottoman literature to convey an artistic meaning, which could be used for: birth, marriage, war, peace, death, architectural structure, symbolizing, poetry, gravestones, books, printing, music, etc.…²³23. Yakit, Ismail. TÜRK – Islâm Kültüründe Ebced Hesabi Ve Tarih Düşürme. ÖTÜKEN NEŞRIYAT A.Ş, 2022.↩ In a way, this created historical evidence in Turkish heritage.

The tulip and the crescent are used to symbolize Allah, because they all share the same value 66. The crescent and tulip share a special and high importance in visual culture of Turkiye, to represent Islam. The tulip has become the national flower of the Turks and is part of several Turkish folk tradition. In ebru (marbling) art, tulips are usually depicted alone, symbolizing that Allah is one and only. The crescent you can find on the national flag and is placed at the highest point of mosques. Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan used the abjad system often for the constructions in mosques.²⁴24. Ibid.↩

Why didn’t we continue this tradition? Latin also has numeral system named as chronograms. It could easily be implemented to the present. Reimagining it today brings many creative explorations and meaning back as an art form into the letters. Although I first have to learn how to use it, while researching this I came across many possibilities. As a graphic designer student, adoring typography, excites me to discover this tradition. I’m interested in using it for symbolizing, for measurements in calligraphy, or in coding. It reinvents a new way of meaningful expression, thinking and construction.

Islamic Calligraphy

Mehmed Şefik (1819-1880), calligrapher. Elifba cüzü. 1852 or 1853. Manuscript of a Quran teaching book. Intended as a gift to an elite Ottoman student school. Islamic prayer is written as a headline, “Rabbi yessir velâ tüassir Rabbi temmim bi'l-hayr." Translation, “Oh, Lord, faciliate my situation and don't make it harder and let everything end nicely.” This was usually done in calligraphic practice sheets by the Ottomans, to ease practicing. Artist: Unknown. Arabic Primer of Calligraphy. JSTOR, https://jstor.org/stable/community.28497976. Accessed 6 Jan. 2023.

Islamic calligraphy faced a loss in value as a craft. In the past being a calligrapher used to be regarded as being someone with high professional and important status. Today, Ottoman calligraphy continues to be practiced and appreciated as an art form, and it remains an important part of Islamic culture and heritage. Throughout the empire they improved and perfected several scripts. It was a flourishing tradition for around 1000 years. The Ottomans have been at the forefront of Islamic calligraphy for over five centuries.

One of the most notable features of Islamic calligraphy is its emphasis on the use of curved lines and flowing, organic shapes and make excellent use of space and contrast. The letters may vary in shape depending on their position in the word. The word is seen as the word of god, as a reminder for this world. It creates an aesthetic path to a religious experience of worship. The texts vary from, poetry, quotes, Quran inscriptions, philosophic texts and secular texts. Calligraphy was also used for official documents, to prevent fraud. Ottoman calligraphers developed a script Divani for the Ottoman court in 16^th century. Only calligraphers were able to produce bureaucratic documents, which is now replaced by printing and digital space.²⁵25. Junod, Benoit. Treasures of the Aga Khan Museum. Arts of the Book & Calligraphy. Sakıp Sabancı Müzesi, 2010. Pp. 12-15.↩

Left image is a mashq of Seyyid Mehmed Hamdi Efendi (v. 1785). Right image is a practice sheet to learn the Latin script. Left image source: https://www.facebook.com/ketebeorg. Right image source: #TTTarşiv, “Muhtelif Şekilleriyle Alfabemizdeki Harfler” adlı levha (The plate named “Letters in Our Alphabet in Various Shapes”), 1928. 32,5x23 cm.

Islamic calligraphy (hüsn-I hatt) traditionally evolved through practice. Observing and studying forms and proportions of specific styles. Simultaneously copying letters or words, writing them repeatedly to strengthen your hand, gain discipline and perfection. Ottoman calligraphers would use a practice called taklid (to copy), to develop calligraphic skills. It’s basically a practice of inheritance, by copying and observing as an apprentice the practice of previous masters or their teachers. Aiming to achieve a level of perfection in writing, rather than creating ‘new’ forms. After developing their practice they would form their own ‘uslub’ (style). ²⁶26. Yazicigil, Onur. “The genealogy of Ottoman nashk printing types (1729 to 1928).” Arabic Typography History and Practice, edited by Titus Nemeth. Niggli and Salenstein, 2023, pp. 160–161.↩ Students practiced calligraphy on sheets of paper, named mashq (exercise) or siyah mashq (black exercise), because they would practice that much on a sheet, that it would become black in the end, taking on an abstract form. Later in Iran and Ottoman empire mashq gained popularity and formed a separate art form. Sheets were embellished in the corners, framed, and were even exchanged as gifts.²⁷27. Ekhtiar, Maryam D. How To Read Islamic Calligraphy. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018. P. 114.↩

Hilye-i Şerif. Esmâ İbret Hanım, Ottoman, circa 1725. 50 x 32 cm, finial 14 x 17,5 cm, naskh, thuluth, Kufic, muhaqqaq and ghubari hands. Sadberk Hanım Museum 15501.

Hilye-i Şerif. Esmâ İbret Hanım, Ottoman, naskh, thuluth. Türk ve İslam Eserleri Museum, nr. 2763.

One of my favorite calligraphers recently is the Ottoman Esmâ İbret Hanım, born in 1970. She was one of the famous women calligraphers in her time. She made beautiful calligraphic and embellished work. Following the traditional style of master calligrapher, Hafiz Osman (1642–1698), who was the founder of Hilye-i Şerif.²⁸28. Kazan, Hilal. Dünden Bugüne Hanım Hattatlar Female Calligraphers Past & Present. ISTANBUL KÜLTÜR VE SANAT ÜRÜNLERI TIC. A.Ş, 2010. Pp. 47-50.↩

Work of Emin Barın, both images there’s Allah written. Source: sanal-sergi.msgsu.edu.tr.

Emin Barın (1913-1987) was a Turkish calligrapher and he experienced the Alphabet reform. He took the reform as a challenge for his practice, to lead Islamic calligraphy into a new direction. He made explorations in combining the Latin and Arabic script and calligraphic characteristics in his works.²⁹29. Selamet, Sevim. TÜRK HAT SANATI, HARF DEVRİMİ ve TİPOGRAFİ ÜZERİNE BİR DEĞERLENDİRME. Elektronik Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 2012, pp. 178-179.↩

This space of exploration between tradition and modern work excites me. I believe it’s beautiful to create an act of worship, and practice of gaining patience out of my future profession. After my studies I definitely want to take classes in Islamic calligraphy to master in the craft and form my own Uslub.

The Letterpress

Ottomans printing. Source: dailysabah.com

One of the motivations for the Alphabet reform was convenient and cheaper printing. The letterpress was a great tool for encouraging literacy and making learning available to the masses. However, historians mention about a decline, whenever talking about the letterpress development in the Islamic world.³⁰30. "Arabic and the Art of Printing." Saudi Aramco World Magazine. Issue March/April 1981. 11 Sep, 2008.↩ One of the several reasons for this delay is that calligraphers rejected the letterpress. They were afraid that their job would be taken over by printing. Calligraphy was a significant industry, and one day calligraphers from all across Constantinople marched to the Royal Palace to protest against the Letterpress. They were carrying a coffin that contained their pens and ink.³¹31. Al Muqaddimah. "Why did the Islamic World Reject the Printing Press | Al Muqaddimah." Youtube, 23 Aug. 2021.↩ Although the first printing press in the Islamic world was in Constantinople, set up by Jewish refugees in 1493, who were exiled from Spain. Armenians, Greeks, and Syrian Christians also established their printing press.³²32. "Arabic and the Art of Printing." Saudi Aramco World Magazine. Issue March/April 1981. 11 Sep, 2008.↩

I’m not a professional, but I wanted to see how bad the mistakes were. It was bad. I stopped halfway, because it didn’t make sense anymore, and could understand the frustration of the Muslims. Regardless I appreciate the attempt, it motivated the Islamic world to innovate their own press.

Reasons why it was difficult to print in Arabic: https://printinghistory.org/challenges-of-early-arabic-printing/
- Letterpress derived from an artform, which was more visually expressed. Translating that into type was difficult;
- numerous ligatures: every letter contains an initial, medial, final and isolated letterform. each letterform has at least four glyphs and Some letters even have more representing ligatures depending on the script your using;
- The square shaped type resisted letters to flow in to each other, because of the vast solid. It created awkward kerning;
- vocalization marks;
- Slow process of laborious typesetting process;
- The letterpress cuts letters vertically, which is convenient for Latin script, but Arabic is written vertically. This creates difficulty in connecting letters and adapting to the letterpress.

The first Arabic-printed Quran was around 1537 in Venice by Alessandro Paganini. It was produced to sell in Constantinople, which ended as a commercial failure. It wasn’t much appreciated by Muslims, because it contained many spelling, grammer and type mistakes. This motivated the Muslims to create their Letterpress, to avoid messy mistakes and improve the characters. The Making of Arabic letters was a complicated process, and there were many reasons why.³³33. "Arabic and the Art of Printing." Saudi Aramco World Magazine. Issue March/April 1981. 11 Sep, 2008.↩

Ibrahim Müteferrika’s best known printed books was the edition of Kâtip Çelebi’s Cihannüma. It was a historical survey of Ottoman sea-power. Kitab-ı Cihannüma / Kâtib Çelebi .-- İstanbul : Darü't-Tıbaati'l-Âmire (İbrahim Müteferrika Matbaası), 1145 H [1732 M] [28], 698 s. ; 29x18 sm. + 36 pln. (şkl., hrt.)

The Bulgarian Ibrahim Müteferrika was the first Muslim who printed in Arabic script with the letterpress in 1729 the Ottoman empire, in Istanbul. He was an intellectual, diplomat, and polymath. In total, he printed 17 books, which he edited, printed, and contributed to the writing and research. What made his publication so special was his contribution and involvement in the process from start to finish.³⁴34. Erginbaş, Vefa. "Enlightenment In The Ottoman Context: Ibrahim Müteferrika And His Intelectual Landscape.” Historical Aspects of Printing and Publishing in Languages of the Middle East, edited by Geoffrey Roper, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2014. P. 60.↩

Şad kelime-I Hazret-I ‘Âlî, printed by Muhēndisian in 1869. Page from Thomas Milo, private collection. Source: Arabic Typography History and Practice, edited by Titus Nemeth, 2023.

Another great printer and punchcutter was the Armenian Hovhannēs Muhēndisian, who printed his first book in 1852, in constantinople. Muhēndisian made great improvement in Arabic type-making. He accomplished Nashk typefaces that were close to the calligraphic script. He based his fonts to manuscripts of calligrapher Musatafa Izzet Efendi and offered a solution for the flattened variation of the letters خخ حح چچ جج. Müteferrika and Muhēndisian made a great contribution to the development of Arabic typesetting, especially towards the Nashk script.³⁵35. Yazicigil, Onur. “The genealogy of Ottoman nashk printing types (1729 to 1928).” Arabic Typography History and Practice, edited by Titus Nemeth. Niggli and Salenstein, 2023, pp. 179–187. ↩ Turkiye no longer required the Arabic metal types due to the reform. They preserved some or exported to the near East, where they accomplished great impact and ensured a growing reading culture.³⁶36. Ibid., p. 224.↩

Millet newspaper, translation of the headline, “Another benefit of the new letters. Letter foundries. Our Alphabet reform has prepared great news and development for Turkish foundries”. Explains in the text, that type foundries started creating new letters. Source: Milliyet gazetesi, 29 Teşrinievvel [Ekim] (October) 1928.

The two typefaces that were used during the reform, bought from Germany. Source: manifold.press.

The historian Orlin Sabev, mentions that the history of printing by the Ottomans differs from the general history of printing. According to Orlin, "In Europe, print culture emerged as a result of gradual and long-term process of complementing, alternating, and competing with the manuscript tradition. In the Ottoman milieu, print culture was in a way implanted or transplanted."³⁷37. Sabec, Orlin. Waiting for Müteferrika GLIMPSES OF OTTOMAN PRINT CULTURE. Academic Studies Press, 2018. P. 113. ↩ The implementation reoccurred again during the Alphabet reform, with the Latin type. Turkiye was already familiarized with Latin metal type and didn’t face any difficulty with printing. Graphic designer Özlem Özkal profoundly researched where the Latin typeface, used in several newspapers to announce the reform, have originated from. From the research it's clear that Ronaldson Gothic and Breite Grotesk have been used. There’s a speculation that Turkiye might have bought the Latin letters from Germany before the reform, from a company Schelter & Giesecke. The Millet newspaper announced that the Turkish printing press started making the new letters themselves, but assured that meanwhile they will import from Europe.³⁸38. Özkal, Özlem. “Tipografik Bir Hafiyelik Hikâyesi: Harf Devrimi’nin Gizemli Sans-serif’I.” Manifold, 2 Jan. 2021.↩ Özlem’s concluded her investigation with a hope, to find out more stories and exploration on typographic past that will contribute to typographic heritage of Turkiye.

The complexity in designing Arabic typefaces in the digital era hasn’t faded away in time at all, it created new problems entering the digital era, because the technology was made for western ideals. Although it’s improving currently, because of the increased interest. In an interview, Lara Captan mentions, “Here she explains why and how Arabic type design will gain its place in an industry flooded with Latin… There is a growing demand for custom type and an ever-increasing supply and demand for retail type. There are also more researchers in aspects of history which helps to deeper understand the past and the issues at hand and move forward insightfully.”³⁹39. I did my internship for my bachelor at a Lebanese, type designer and typographer, Lara Captan, based in Amsterdam. I am grateful for her to introduce me to the letterpress history and the process of designing an Arabic typeface. She taught me a lot, and shared her knowledge with me, which I'm very thankful for. "Lara Captan on the beauty and the many challenges of Arabic type design." Typeroom, 20 April 2022.↩ This space of complexity intrigues me to work myself towards becoming a type designer. After my studies I will definitely dive more into this profession.

CONCLUSION

Having completed my research into this subject and contemplating what it has meant to my own practice I am left with several things to consider. I am trying to decide, do I want to continue with a traditional approach or choose a different road? Do I want to continue working with analog, or do I want to digitize my approach? How can I find a perfect and respectful balance between past and present? All this theory and sources, left me a space to relearn and explore, through practice and exercise. I hope my preliminary thoughts on this topic will soon lead to further deeper research and richer approach in my design practice.

I want to conclude this essay with an anecdote, as a motivation for the future, from who I know as Nasreddin hoca.⁴⁰40. Nasreddin Hoca, is a satiric character in number of amusing tales told in regions all over the world, the Turkic countries, Persia, Arabia, Africa, and along the Silk Road to China and India, later also to Europe. Each tale depicts Nasreddin in a different situation. The tales are funny, filled with lesson, philosophical, and thought provoking. Nasr al-Din Khodja was a philosopher, wise, witty man with a good sense of humor.↩ Throughout my investigation the work of Slavs and Tatars helped me rediscover this legend. His tales had a profound influence in my childhood. As Antoine Compagnon defines a true modernist, as facing the past, but moving into the future. ⁴¹41. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. "Slavs and Tatars. Lecture Performance "The Transliterative Tease"." Youtube, 17 Sep. 2018.↩

Source: u.cs.biu.ac.il/~schiff/Net/t1.jpg.

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