Baku, 11 September 2024. We, the Turkic World Common Alphabet Commission members (hereinafter “the Commission”), have convened for our third meeting in Baku from 9 to 11 September 2024, which the Turkic Academy and the Turkish Language Association of the Ataturk High Institution of Culture, Language and History organized, in coordination with the Secretariat of the Organization of Turkic States.

Our gathering aimed to further our collective efforts in agreeing on a common alphabet for Turkic languages, enhancing communication and cultural and educational exchange among Turkic nations.

In alignment with the objectives outlined in the Nakhchivan Agreement and the Turkic World Vision 2040, which aim to achieve unity in alphabet and terminology to facilitate better communication among Turkic nations,

Following Article 2 of the Agreement on the Establishment of the Turkic Academy, which mandates the launch of a consolidated alphabet applicable to all Turkic languages,

Acknowledging the previous great efforts of linguists, educators, and cultural advocates from across the Turkic world in developing a common alphabet for Turkic people,

Committed to fostering a sense of unity, mutual understanding, and cooperation among Turkic societies,

Recognizing the importance of preserving unique linguistic characteristics while striving for a standardized writing system,

Taking into account the outcomes of the previous two meetings of the Commission, held on 29 May 2023 in Astana and 6 May 2024 in Baku,

We, the Turkic World Common Alphabet Commission members, have diligently worked towards finalizing the Common Turkic Alphabet.

During our deliberations, we engaged in comprehensive discussions on various aspects related to the common alphabet initiative. More specifically, we:

1. Reviewed existing 34-letter Latin-based Common Turkic Alphabet project, proposed by scientists in 1991, that accommodates the phonetic diversity of Turkic languages while ensuring ease of learning and usage,
2. Focused both on strengths and areas for improvement of the 34-letter Common Turkic Alphabet project, leading us to refine our approach based on contemporary linguistic research,
3. Carefully considered the unique linguistic characteristics of Turkic languages and emphasized the importance of inclusivity in representing distinct phonetic features within a single alphabet framework,
4. Guided by the principle that each distinct phoneme should correspond to a single letter, we aimed to create an alphabet that maximizes clarity and facilitates easier learning and usage for all speakers,
5. Recognized the necessity of incorporating special characters to accurately represent sounds that are not found in the basic Latin alphabet and agreed on a standardized approach to these marks,

The primary objective of this Declaration is to formalize the agreement reached by the Commission and affirm the adoption of the following Latin-based Common Turkic Alphabet:

IPA: International Phonetic Alphabet

ST: International Phonetic Transcription based on Latin scripts, adopted by the Editorial Board of the Sovetskaya Tyurkologiya (1974)

We invite all relevant stakeholders to actively support this proposal.

This Declaration will be distributed to the relevant institutions of each member and observer of the Organization of Turkic States as part of the ongoing efforts to promote cooperation and integration among the Turkic peoples.

The Declaration is prepared in English and can be translated into other languages.

This Declaration was signed on behalf of the members of the Commission by the President of the Turkic Academy on 11 September 2024 in Baku.

Prof. Dr. Shahin MUSTAFAYEV,

President of the Turkic Academy