At the 43rd General Conference of UNESCO, held in the historic city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan, December 15 was officially declared “World Turkic Language Family Day.” The draft resolution was approved with the participation of more than 5,000 delegates from 194 countries.
This date is closely linked to the Orkhon Inscriptions, the oldest known written records of the Turkic language. On December 15, 1893, linguist Vilhelm Thomsen announced to the international academic community that the 8th-century Orkhon Inscriptions were written in Turkic.
Türkiye’s Permanent Representative to UNESCO, Ambassador Gülnur Aybet, emphasized that this special day not only celebrates the deep historical roots of the Turkic language but also symbolizes the shared cultural richness of Turkic civilizations. She noted that December 15 serves as a historic day promoting cultural closeness and dialogue among nations.