Hakob Martayan – Father of the modern Turkish language:
Platform – September 27, 2019 – //ORIGINE SOURCES-yerkir.am//
Yesterday, September 26, the 87th anniversary of the modern Turkish language was celebrated in Turkey. In Turkey with a population of more than 80 million, few know that Hakob Dilachar, the creator of the Latin alphabet and grammar of Turkish origin, is of Armenian descent. To conceal the fact that Hakob Dilachar, of Armenian descent, is almost everywhere inscribed as A. Dilâçar in order not to appear in the Armenian name.
Hakob Martayan was born in 1895 in Yerevan. In Constantinople, study at one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the Ottoman Empire, Robert College. He fought on the Caucasian front during World War I, but was a reserve officer and taught German soldiers in Turkish. It was during the war that he met Mustafa Kemal, the future founder of Turkey. After the war, Armenian studies began in a number of Armenian communities – Beirut, Sofia. 1932 In September, Martayan and two other Armenian linguists, Stepan Gurdikyan and Gevorg Simkeshyan, were invited to the Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul (the architect of the palace is a famous Palyans dynasty;
Thanks to Hakob Martayan, for most of Turkey, the Latin alphabet and modern Turkish came to replace the incomprehensible Ottoman and Arabic script, and this is one of the major reforms of Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
There is an interesting story behind Ataturk’s language reform program. In one of his letters to Ataturk, Kemal’s name was written not camel (Kemal) but jemal (camel), which caused the anger of the Turkish leader.
In addition to the alphabet, Martayan also played a huge role in shaping grammar. He gave Mustafa Kemal the Ataturk surname, addressing the Turkish Grand National Assembly. After playing the surname law, Ataturk gave Hakob Martayan the Dilachar surname (in Turkish) after the passage of the law on surnames, and Ataturk was considered the greatest honor in Turkey at that time. By the way, Martayan has repeatedly told his students that while giving his surname Ataturk has mentioned that his name is not Hakob Dilachar but Hakob Martayan-Dilachar.
Martayan became the first general secretary of the newly established Turkish Linguistic Society, while Turkish President Mustafa Kemal, Prime Minister and future President Ismet Inonu held the post of founding president. Martayan also contributed greatly to the creation of the Turkish Encyclopedia (holding the position of chief consultant). During the creation of the Encyclopedia, when it was supposed to be written about Armenians, Martayan assumed that responsibility. The encyclopedia’s articles were published at that time. After the publication of the article on Armenians, there was a great wave of dissatisfaction. The encyclopedia’s creation committee insisted that this article was an Armenian propaganda, and immediately all copies were recalled and, unfortunately, destroyed, and the obligation to write an article on Armenians was given to another person.
K. Robert Hatejian, editor-in-chief of the Armenian Marmara daily in Constantinople (from 1967 to present), who had close relations with Martayan, told an interesting story about Martayan himself. Ataturk loved organizing parties every night with many intellectuals, discussing important topics. At one of the gatherings, attended by Hakob Martayan, Ataturk asks the audience to sing a song. A Greek sings about the friendship of Turks and Greeks, and when it comes to Martayan, he starts singing the song of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. There is a big uproar, but Ataturk intervenes and says that everyone has their national sanctity.
Hakob Dilachar has also been active in Armenology, authoring a number of works, making translations. According to various sources, he has mastered about two dozen languages. He was a specialist in Turkic languages, including Uighur and Azerbaijani. Dilachar died in 1979 Istanbul.
Argam Yeghiazaryan
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ENGLISH TRANSLATION “lousavor avedis“
