Each letter in the proposed alphabet represents different phonetic sounds found in Turkic languages,” the Turkic Academy Organization of the Organization of Turkic States said in a statement.

Turkey's outspoken President Erdogan wants Turkish students to learn the Arabic script and old tongue of long-gone Ottoman rulers.

There was, admittedly, a real mismatch between Turkish sounds and Arabic letters, although by 1928, they had been successfully used to write Turkish for a millennium or so. Ottoman script included a ...