The Turkish Delegation at the 1926 Baku Turkological Congress

Abstract

The first Turkological Congress that held in Baku between 26 February – 6 March and particularly the role of the Turkish delegation in that congress is being examined in the article. The congress is an international scholarly conference where the issue of adopting a Latin-based Turkic alphabet that extensively debated, by being an important landmark in the field of the Turkic language, history and literature. The event, where total 131 participants from the Soviet Union, Türkiye and European countries attended, was reflected both the positive state of Turkish-Soviet relations of that time and the situation of scientific cooperation at the same time. A limited number of distinguished scholars such as most notably Mehmed Fuad Köprülüzade, Ali bey Huseynzade and Mészáros Gyula participated in the congress by representing Türkiye. The Turkish delegation both made valuable academic contributions, and adopted a balanced and diplomatic position in the discussions on the alphabet reform. The decision accepted favor of the Latin alphabet in the congress subsequently became one of the significant developments preparing the chance for the alphabet reform implemented in Türkiye. Particularly, the political background of the congress, and carrying the great importance of the policy of the Soviet Union not only scholarly, but also culturally and politically at the same time is revealed in the article.