In Ukraine, a new spelling of the Crimean Tatar language, developed on the basis of the Latin alphabet, has been officially approved. Thus, the process of transition from Cyrillic to Latin was completed, reported Representation of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
Work on the new spelling has been ongoing since 2023. On April 4, 2025, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the initiative of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience and approved it for official use.
The new rules are recommended to be applied by all state authorities, including local and military administrations, including in the temporarily occupied territories of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.
“The spelling is based on the alphabet approved in September 2021 and involves the use of Latin graphics, which corresponds to modern language trends and the historical tradition of the Crimean Tatar language”, the department explains.
The Crimean Tatar language was translated into Cyrillic in Soviet times. After the declaration of Ukraine’s independence, language experts repeatedly raised the issue of returning to the Latin script, which better conveys the phonetic features of the Crimean Tatar language. Approval of the new spelling is considered the final stage of this transition.
“The development of the spelling of the Crimean Tatar language is an integral part of the implementation of the Strategy for the Development of the Crimean Tatar Language until 2032, which is coordinated by the National Commission for the Crimean Tatar Language. This decision has an important symbolic and practical meaning: it not only ensures the realization of the rights of the indigenous people of Ukraine, but also supports intercultural dialogue in a multinational state.”, the message says.
