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Cyprus Language
The Turkish dialect spoken by Turkish Cypriots is
closely
related to other dialects of Anatolia, but distinct from
the urban
dialects of Istanbul, Ankara, and zmir. Turkish Cypriots
faced few
difficulties communicating with mainland Turks. The
differences
that exist were much less significant than those found
between
Turkish and other Turkic languages of Central Asia.
Atatürk's
language and educational reforms brought sweeping changes
in
standard Turkish. A Latin alphabet was introduced in place
of the
Arabic script, and the heavily Arabicized and Persianized
court
dialect was rejected as the basis for standardization. The
Turkish
Cypriot community was the only Turkish minority in former
Ottoman
territories outside mainland Turkey to quickly adopt
Atatürk's
linguistic changes as well as the other revolutionary
principles of
his program.
Data as of January 1991
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