A fact from Citizen, speak Turkish! appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 15 January 2013 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
Did you know... that due to a campaign in Turkey, speaking a language other than Turkish was illegal in many parts of the country?
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"British citizens who were speaking French were reportedly attacked in public." IMO they have deserved it; how come speak French when you have a much easier language -like English- to use? :-) Or were they speaking French simply not to speak Turkish and they asked British citizenship? Or what? Every time I go to France and try to communicate in English they insist in speaking French to me, although I see that they understand I do not speak it and that they also understand what I am saying. Maybe I run into people that come from Mersin. BTW there is a saying in Turkish (maybe originating from this event) like "Herkes gider Mersin'e, onlar gider tersine." Possibly this was related to the fact that everybody in the new Turkish Republic was happy with the revolution but some wanted to go back to XVIth century capitulations to French speaking local people (called Tatlısu Frenkleri, for pretending to be Westerners without being so). --E4024 (talk) 16:41, 15 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Well as you may know, back then English wasn't considered an international language like it is today for obvious reasons. In fact, English wasn't required in the Turkish curriculum until after the military coup of 1980 (as far as I know only Robert College taught English). Just ask your parents about it! Lol. But French was considered the global language at the time. Additionally, many Arabs spoke French due to France's mandate over Syria that lasted until 1943. The merchants M. Chalfoun spoke with were Arab for example. Anyways, I dont know why those British citizens were speaking French but even if they spoke English, I believe they would end up in the same predicament anyways. Proudbolsahye (talk) 17:24, 15 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
You think you know Turkey but you know nothing about it. Only one example to help heal your ignorance is Tarsus American College founded in 1888 or many Anatolian High Schools opened in the Republican era. I am over age to ask my parents or grumpy old men who yearn to bring the clock back hoping not to repeat their past mistakes; the "honest" ones or the other mistakes. My mother speaks some French for having attended one of the first girls schools opened in Ottoman Turkey, thanks to the "Young Turk" reforms; and has been lucky enough to study in the new Turkish alphabet, introduced by Atatürk, and she has had the joy of seeing him in life and the sorrow of walking after his funeral. --E4024 (talk) 18:43, 15 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
English was taught at specialty schools who were opened by American missionaries like Christopher Robert and Cyrus Hamlin. These specialty schools, such as the Tarsus American College and Robert College, were of the few places that English was taught. English was taught as an elective but not as part of the official curriculum until the 1980s. I'm sure you have read Ahmet Eskicumali and Humeyra Turedi's important article called The Rise of Teaching English in English Curriculum where it clearly states that English became a compulsory language in the Turkish curriculum in replace of French and German (which shifted to elective class status) in the 1980s. You should also read Yasemin Kirkgoz's English Language Teaching in Turkey: Policy Changes and Their Implementations, which gives a fascinating insight into the implementation of English in bureaucratic, educational, and institutional life in Turkey. The article also mentions that English became a compulsory language for elementary students in the language reforms of 1997. If you are interested in these articles I can send them to you. Anyways, this is an interesting discussion however I do believe we are getting off-topic. Proudbolsahye (talk) 19:14, 15 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
