Have you ever considered studying Turkish? Turkish may not leap to the front of your mind as a language with a great strategic and historical significance, but in fact a knowledge of Turkish gives you access to a number of important and dynamic cultures, political systems, and economies, each of which is becoming increasingly important in the 21st century.
With a population of over 70 million, the Republic of Modern Turkey occupies a central political, cultural, and economic position in Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East. The Turkish economy is the world’s 17th largest, according to 2010 IMF data and with its liberal political climate, Turkey is a key U.S. ally in the region. Turkey’s influence is evident in its long-time membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Council of Europe and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Consider also that, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Turkey has formed close cultural and business ties with the Turkic states of the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Turkey not only has economic relations to many parts of the Caucasus and Central Asia, the Turkish language itself is also closely related to many languages spoken these regions, such as Kazakh, Turkmen, Azeri, Kyrgyz, and Uzbek, for example. And there is a high degree of mutual intelligibility between many of the Turkic languages. Viewed in this light, a knowledge of Turkish can provide access to numerous opportunities in business, politics, law enforcement, and non profit work both in the U.S. and abroad.
Studying Turkish also offers entry into to the rich cultural and religious heritage of Turkey and can open research opportunities in the field of Eastern European studies, Ottoman history, and archeology. Turkey has long been a vital bridge between Asia and Europe and has been home to a rich variety of tribes and nations of people since 6500 B.C. These peoples include the Hittites, Lydians, Ionians, Persians, Romans, Byzantines and Seljuks. One of the important markers of Turkish history is the multilingual and multinational Ottoman Empire, which lasted from 1299 to 1922 and which is one of the largest and longest lasting empires in the world. The study of modern Turkish also provides a foundational skill for individuals interested in learning classical Ottoman Turkish.
If you are intrigued, we invite you to join professors Hulya Yilmaz and Yasemin Muhammad for the introductory Turkish language sequence offered at University Park this summer, starting June 11 (LANG 196A LANG 196B and LANG 296A). With one of our scholarships from the Strategic and Global Security Program, you can have a large part of your tuition covered (between $500 – $2,000 per course in the sequence). Scholarship applications are posted on our Language Institute website.
I would like to thank Yasemin Muhammad for contributing much of the information in this post.