Azerbaijani alphabet

In the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani alphabet refers to a Latin script used for writing the Azerbaijani language. This superseded a previous versions based on Cyrillic and Arabic alphabet.

In Iran, the Perso-Arabic script is used to write the Azeri language, with several characters borrowed from other Arabic-based writing systems or invented for Azeri. While there has been a few standardization efforts, the orthography and the set of letters to use differs widely among Iranian Azeri writers, with at least two major branches, the orthography used by Behzad Behzadi and the Azari magazine, and the orthography used by the Varliq magazine (both are quarterlies published in Tehran).

History and development

From the 19th century there were efforts by some intellectuals like Mirza Fatali Akhundov to replace the Arabic alphabet and create a Latin script for Azeri. In 1922, a Latin script was created by Yeni türk əlifba komitəsi (New Turkish Alphabet Committee; Јени түрк əлифба комитəси) in Baku. In 1929, the Uniform Turkic Alphabet was introduced to replace the varieties of the Arabic alphabet in use at the time. In 1939, because Stalin wished to sever the ties between the Republic of Turkey and the Turkic peoples living within the Soviet Union, he decreed that only the Cyrillic alphabet be used. When the Soviet Union collapsed and Azerbaijan gained its independence, one of the first laws passed in the new Parliament was the adoption of a modified...
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