Erdoğan says Turkish language not getting attention it deserves

The Turkish language is not receiving the attention it deserves, Turkey’s president said Wednesday, calling for it to be protected.

"We do not give the attention deserved to the Turkish language, which is the sign of our national identity and memory," Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s 2019-2020 Special Awards Ceremony held at the Presidential Complex.

“Our Turkish has been subjected to the biggest word massacre in our history on the way to simplifying the language,” Erdoğan said.

“The prohibitions imposed on words that we have been using for centuries have not been enough to free our language from the yoke of foreign languages, as claimed. On the contrary, our beautiful Turkish in the hands of language executioners got stuck in an impasse after a while with the words of Gazi himself,” he added.

The president stressed that nations that do not protect their language and cannot enrich their language are doomed to topple, just like trees whose roots are drying up.

"I believe that we can protect our culture, identity, history and art as long as we protect our language," he added.

*Writing by Seda Sevencan