Three Different Views Related to the Alphabet Discourse before the Alphabet Reform

The Alphabet Reform one of the most profound and successful attempts of the Turkish Revolution was the subject of debate –including the Ottoman period-for a long time. While most of the intellectuals defended the preservation of Arabic letters only a few of them supported the adoption of the Latin alphabet. Tahsin ？mer was one of the earliest defenders of the adoption of the Latin alphabet. He tried to persuade his readers by showing the secular origins of both alphabets and by suggesting that the Latin script was a more developed version of the Arabic script. Avram Galanti, a Jewish-Turkish intellectual, was one of the most prominent figures in defence of the preservation of the Arabic letters. As there was also a debate on the adoption of the Latin alphabet among the Jewish community at the time, his antithesis to this idea influenced his strong opposition to the adoption of the Latin alphabet in Turkey. Galanti argued that adoption of the Latin alphabet would cause a cultural decadence. Finally there were also intellectuals like ？smail ？ükrü, who suggested inventing a new, modern and ‘perfect’ alphabet by removing the deficiencies of old alphabets and by choosing the most suitable letters in light of modernist principles. This article will discuss the discourse on the alphabet reform through these three different views