4 ms·

Actually it was never illegal in Turkey. Q, W, X just not allowed to be used in people/company names because they're not in Turkish alphabet. I think this news

by diorray 13y ago

Actually it was never illegal in Turkey. Q, W, X just not allowed to be used in people/company names because they're not in Turkish alphabet. I think this news mislead by AKP as usual.

teamonkey 13y ago
The Turkish 'Q' layout is the most commonly used in Turkey and includes these 'illegal' letters. If these letters were truly illegal it'd be hard to imagine this keyboard standard existing.
- vidarh 13y ago
  That's like saying it'd be hard to imagine being able to buy alcohol due to prohibition. But in any case, there little doubt that Turkey has reformed a lot over the last two decades in particular, but the original claim I addressed was the claim that "it was never illegal in Turkey". I posted a link to a copy of the text of the law in question. Maybe it's an inaccurate copy. Maybe it was repealed before it came into force. Maybe the translation is even more broken than it appears. Yet if so, it ought to be easy for the people that are so insistent that it was never illegal to find documentation, such as the real text of the law, a better translation, or documentation of its repeal. Yet none of that appears to be forthcoming, just a stream of examples of recent usage of the letters from after Turkish society started reforming, 50-60 years or so after the law in question was passed. It's great if the problem has been rectified. But that is far away from claiming it never existed in the first place.
  - teamonkey 13y ago
    > That's like saying it'd be hard to imagine being able to buy alcohol due to prohibition. That really is quite a stretch. I'm imagining the absurdity of internet cafes all over Istanbul hiding their bootleg keyboards during a bust. It's entirely anecdotal but I have Turkish relatives on one side of my family. They were allowed - encouraged - to learn English and French growing up, so the letters themselves certainly weren't illegal. There was no ban on newspapers or books written in other languages. However Turkish was the only officially recognized language in Turkey and Turkish, literally by definition, does not have those letters.
vidarh 13y ago
Every reference I've found claims that the relevant law made the use of the Turkish alphabet compulsory in all public communication. E.g. "Minorities and Nationalism in Turkish Law", by Derya Bayir repeats the claim that the Law on the Turkish Alphabet of 1928 "obliged the use of the Turkish alphabet", as part of a section describing legal decisions used to outlaw use of Kurdish and other languages in official communication, and that has also been used to oust elected officials that have allowed use of other languages than Turkish. In private there has been more flexibility, though until recently, everything I've found (including the book above) indicates there were strict restrictions on use by e.g. private businesses when communicating privately with customers too. If you have references that contradicts the above mentioned book on these points, I'd love to see them. EDIT: While the Google Translate translation of the text of the law itself here is atrocious at best, it does seem to also support the linked article: http://www.idealhukuk.com/hukuk/hukuk.asp?mct=mevzuatdetay&x=kanun&y=Kanunlar&id=910 http://www.idealhukuk.com/hukuk/hukuk.asp?mct=mevzuatdetay&x...
- diorray 13y ago
  The legislation you gave shows Turkish alphabet and Q, W, X is not included in this alphabet. AFAIK, generally country laws only accepts people/company names in their alphabet. Think that legislation like USA's alphabet. They didn't have Ğ, Ş, İ etc. in their alphabet so people/company names doesn't have these letters. Is that means Ğ, Ş, İ is forbidden? News like this for dramatize the status of kurds in Turkey :)
  - vidarh 13y ago
    The legislation goes far beyond restricting that. Unless the english translation is completely wrong, it also required e.g. newspapers and books to use the Turkish alphabet. That is far beyond legal restrictions in most other countries in the world, and had the defacto effect of placing a lot of restrictions on communication in other languages.
    - diorray 13y ago
      http://www.idefix.com/kitap/avesta-yayinlari-kurtce-kitaplar-dizisi/firma_urun.asp?fid=592&dzid=8729 http://www.idefix.com/kitap/avesta-yayinlari-kurtce-kitaplar... Does it look like books that contain those letters are banned?

by diorray 13y ago

Actually it was never illegal in Turkey. Q, W, X just not allowed to be used in people/company names because they're not in Turkish alphabet. I think this news mislead by AKP as usual.

teamonkey 13y ago

The Turkish 'Q' layout is the most commonly used in Turkey and includes these 'illegal' letters. If these letters were truly illegal it'd be hard to imagine this keyboard standard existing.

vidarh 13y ago
That's like saying it'd be hard to imagine being able to buy alcohol due to prohibition. But in any case, there little doubt that Turkey has reformed a lot over the last two decades in particular, but the original claim I addressed was the claim that "it was never illegal in Turkey". I posted a link to a copy of the text of the law in question. Maybe it's an inaccurate copy. Maybe it was repealed before it came into force. Maybe the translation is even more broken than it appears. Yet if so, it ought to be easy for the people that are so insistent that it was never illegal to find documentation, such as the real text of the law, a better translation, or documentation of its repeal. Yet none of that appears to be forthcoming, just a stream of examples of recent usage of the letters from after Turkish society started reforming, 50-60 years or so after the law in question was passed. It's great if the problem has been rectified. But that is far away from claiming it never existed in the first place.
- teamonkey 13y ago
  > That's like saying it'd be hard to imagine being able to buy alcohol due to prohibition. That really is quite a stretch. I'm imagining the absurdity of internet cafes all over Istanbul hiding their bootleg keyboards during a bust. It's entirely anecdotal but I have Turkish relatives on one side of my family. They were allowed - encouraged - to learn English and French growing up, so the letters themselves certainly weren't illegal. There was no ban on newspapers or books written in other languages. However Turkish was the only officially recognized language in Turkey and Turkish, literally by definition, does not have those letters.

vidarh 13y ago

Every reference I've found claims that the relevant law made the use of the Turkish alphabet compulsory in all public communication. E.g. "Minorities and Nationalism in Turkish Law", by Derya Bayir repeats the claim that the Law on the Turkish Alphabet of 1928 "obliged the use of the Turkish alphabet", as part of a section describing legal decisions used to outlaw use of Kurdish and other languages in official communication, and that has also been used to oust elected officials that have allowed use of other languages than Turkish. In private there has been more flexibility, though until recently, everything I've found (including the book above) indicates there were strict restrictions on use by e.g. private businesses when communicating privately with customers too. If you have references that contradicts the above mentioned book on these points, I'd love to see them. EDIT: While the Google Translate translation of the text of the law itself here is atrocious at best, it does seem to also support the linked article: http://www.idealhukuk.com/hukuk/hukuk.asp?mct=mevzuatdetay&x=kanun&y=Kanunlar&id=910 http://www.idealhukuk.com/hukuk/hukuk.asp?mct=mevzuatdetay&x...

diorray 13y ago
The legislation you gave shows Turkish alphabet and Q, W, X is not included in this alphabet. AFAIK, generally country laws only accepts people/company names in their alphabet. Think that legislation like USA's alphabet. They didn't have Ğ, Ş, İ etc. in their alphabet so people/company names doesn't have these letters. Is that means Ğ, Ş, İ is forbidden? News like this for dramatize the status of kurds in Turkey :)
- vidarh 13y ago
  The legislation goes far beyond restricting that. Unless the english translation is completely wrong, it also required e.g. newspapers and books to use the Turkish alphabet. That is far beyond legal restrictions in most other countries in the world, and had the defacto effect of placing a lot of restrictions on communication in other languages.
  - diorray 13y ago
    http://www.idefix.com/kitap/avesta-yayinlari-kurtce-kitaplar-dizisi/firma_urun.asp?fid=592&dzid=8729 http://www.idefix.com/kitap/avesta-yayinlari-kurtce-kitaplar... Does it look like books that contain those letters are banned?