TATARSTAN'S ROAD TOWARD LATIN-SCRIPT-BASED INTERNET MEDIA

Alik Guilmoulline, RFE/RL Tatar-Bashkir Service

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Relatively few nations have used four different written alphabets in their history. The Tatars are one that has.

Latin script was introduced for the Tatar language at the beginning of the 20th century. Before that, Tatars and their predecessors used a Turkic runic script and, later, an Arabic script for many centuries. The Arabic alphabet, however, was ill suited for Tatar, which makes liberal use of vowels. All attempts to adjust this script failed.

Many specialists, however, argued that Latin script is the most suitable writing system for Tatar, and in 1927 the Tatar Republic -- together with other Soviet Turkic republics -- introduced a new alphabet called Yanalif, comprising the 26 classic Latin-script letters and eight additional letters standing for specifically Turkic phonemes. Courses were quickly organized throughout the republic, and the switch to the new alphabet occurred surprisingly quickly. Magazines, newspapers, and books were published using the new script.

In 1939, however, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin issued a decree that mandated that the alphabets of all the peoples of the Soviet Union except the Armenians and Georgians be based on the Cyrillic alphabet. This alphabet, however, is also problematic for representing Tatar. Repeated attempts to modify it during the Soviet era were undertaken, but they were thwarted by the Communist authorities.

With the onset of perestroika in the mid-1980s, a strong national movement arose in Tatarstan, which eventually led to a new constitution for the republic and considerable sovereignty under a power-sharing agreement with President Boris Yeltsin's federal government. At that time, Yeltsin's oft-cited instruction to the subjects of the Russian Federation was to "take as much sovereignty as you can swallow."

Inevitably, the alphabet issue was one of the hot topics during this period, and many Tatars called for a return to a Latin-based script. There was wide-ranging discussion in the media and in academic circles, with people advocating either a return to the Yanalif script or the introduction of an alphabet closer to the Turkish one. In 1991, a Yanalif newspaper called "Donya" (The World) was launched, and other publications began to print articles in Latin-based script. Those specialists who argued that Latin-based script was the most suitable for Tatar emphasized several facts. First, such an alphabet would eliminate the problem presented by Cyrillic whereby a single Cyrillic letter is used to represent two different phonemes in Russian and Tatar, the republic's two state languages. Second, a Latin-based script would facilitate the use of Tatar on the Internet and in other new information technologies. Finally, it would ease communication with Tatars abroad who do not use Cyrillic.

In 1997, the World Congress of Tatars decided to restore a Latin-based script. In the end, the republican Academy of Sciences chose a compromise alphabet based on Latin script, and that choice was endorsed by the republican parliament in 1999. That year, Tatar President Mintimer Shaimiev issued a decree on the restoration of the Latin script over the period from 2001-11. Under this decree, during the decade-long transition period, Cyrillic- and Latin-based scripts will be used simultaneously. Code standards to use in computer technologies and special software elaborated by the Academy of Sciences are approved by government. Educational programs are being developed in schools, Latin-script books are being published, and street signs in Kazan have been reposted in both alphabets.

However, the political winds shifted in Moscow, and the introduction of Latin script in Tatarstan was seen as a threat to the federation's national security. The Russian parliament amended the law on state languages to mandate the use of Cyrillic-based scripts in all the subjects of the Russian Federation. President Vladimir Putin then signed this amendment into law.

Tatar officials called the amendment a violation of the Russian Constitution and of the rights of the Tatar people. They have said they will take their case to Russia's Constitutional Court and, if necessary, to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

In the meantime, street signs in Kazan still bear both alphabets, and local publications still devote space to articles published in the Latin-based alphabet. And, of course, many prominent local Internet sites use Latin letters. In addition, the official site of RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service (http://www.azatliq.org) was the first Tatar news site to use Latin characters.

SCRIPTS SAMPLES:
Orkhon or Turkic runes, until 10th century
Arabic script, 10th century - until 1927
Latin based script (Yañalif), 1927 - 1939
Cyrillic based script, 1939 - until recent