On the Question of Latin Alphabet of the Kazan Tatars

Abstract

Writing the alphabet historically used by the Turkic-speaking peoples and their struggle for the adoption of the alphabet have always been the main topic of research in the field of Turkology. The Tatar lan-guage is a part of the Kypchak group, one of the three major branches of the Turkic languages. Until today, Tatar Turks have used three different alphabets.Alphabet as an integral part of culture, has a long history. The Tatar alphabet has passed a difficult path of dеvelopment. This path has been closely connected with the whole history of the Tatar people. Fundamen-tal political and socio-economic changes have repeatedly led to profound transformations of the Tatar alphabet, but it never ceased to develop along with its people.Until IX th century, the ancestors of the Tatar people had used runic writing. Subsequently (from the 9th century), Uyghur and Ara-bic letters were used in parallel with it. With the recognition of Islam as the official religion, the ancestors of the Tatars switched to Arabic script, which was used by the Tatars until 1917.In our opinion, the history of the Tatar alphabet requires large-scale and comprehensive research, as it reflects the most important aspects of national life: the formation of national identity, culture and historical tra-ditions. In this article we will try to explore the struggle of the Tatar Turks for the adoption of the Latin alphabet.