Turkish language reform

This article is part of a series about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Timeline Personal life Cult of personality Atatürk International Peace Prize Atatürk Centennial Military career Attempted assassination Death and state funeral Mausoleum Reforms Abolition of the sultanate Abolition of the caliphate Republicanism Secularism Educational reform Turkish language reform Women's rights Westernization Industrialization Nation-building Turkification Citizen, speak Turkish! Sun Language Theory Turkish History Thesis Surname Law State Art and Sculpture Museum Kemalism "Peace at Home, Peace in the World" Republican People's Party Historiography Nutuk
v t e

The Turkish language reform (Turkish: Dil Devrimi), initiated on 12 July 1932, aimed to purge the Turkish language of Arabic and Persian-derived words and grammatical rules, transforming the language into a more vernacular form suitable for the Republic of Turkey.

Under the leadership of president Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the reform commenced and persisted with varying degrees of intensity and momentum until the 1970s, following the most profound period of transformation between 1932 and 1938. The closure of the former Turkish Language Association in 1982 was officially recognized as the end of the language reform. Aligned with the alphabet reform in 1928, the language reform stands as one of the fundamental pillars of the significant structural alterations undergone by the Turkish language in the 20th century.