Karamanoğlu Mehmet Bey

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Statue depicting Karamanoğlu Mehmet Bey declaring Turkish as the official language of the state and all its institutions.
Statue depicting Karamanoğlu Mehmet Bey declaring Turkish as the official language of the state and all its institutions.

Karamanoğlu Mehmet Bey was the second ruler of the beylik of Karamanoğlu. He was renowned for declaring Turkish the official language of the state and all its institutions. In his firman dated 13 May 1277, he ordered : "Starting from today, in dervish convent, in council, in the palace, in parliament and in squares, no language other than Turkish is allowed."[citation needed] Before him, The Seljuk elite in Anatolia used Persian in literature and Arabic in government and science. The Turkmen however could not understand these languages. Although not ultimately successful, Mehmed Bey's firman is important because for the first time in Anatolian history, Turkish became the official language.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

Languages