This article explores the historical development and contemporary transformation of writing systems used by Turkic communities, with a particular focus on the growing debate over a Common Turkic Latin Alphabet. It begins by defining writing systems as conventional visual representations of spoken language and emphasizes that no alphabet is inherently “advanced” or “backward”; rather, scripts are tools that provide orthographic unity and support the development of a standard written language. The study then traces the succession of scripts employed by Turkic peoples—from Runic (Göktürk), Manichaean, Uyghur, Brāhmī, Sogdian, Tibetan, Hebrew, and Arabic to Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic—and highlights their functional and sociopolitical contexts. Special attention is given to the Soviet period, during which the Unified New Turkic Alphabet (a 34-letter Latin-based system) was briefly used across all Turkic communities before being replaced by a set of mutually divergent Cyrillic alphabets designed to hinder inter-Turkic literacy.

In the post-Soviet era, independent Turkic republics and other Turkic communities have increasingly turned to Latin-based scripts, producing a complex landscape in which multiple, often incompatible Latin alphabets coexist. The article analyzes current reforms and controversies in Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Tatarstan, including the technical and linguistic problems posed by apostrophe-heavy orthographies and unnecessary deviations from shared Turkic conventions. It argues that the ultimate goal should not be merely “Latinization,” but alphabetic and orthographic convergence through a scientifically grounded, 32–34 letter Common Turkic Latin Alphabet. Such a shared system, the article contends, is crucial for enhancing cultural, social, economic, and political cooperation, and for strengthening mutual intelligibility among the many Turkic languages.

Turkic writing systems, Common Turkic Latin Alphabet, alphabet reform, orthographic unity

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