It is well known that the world's languages are different in terms of structure, vocabulary, and other linguistic features. In order to study the history of the particular people, researchers must trace their historical trajectory. The traces of the past are not only found in historical sources but also in contemporary materials: elements of ethnic identity and stereotypes preserved in ethnography, collective memory, language and dialects, mythology, and folklore serve as valuable national sources for understanding history. If we examine the development of the Azerbaijani Turkish language in the Middle Ages, we can observe that some of the earliest written literary monuments in the mother tongue, dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries, emerged primarily in Eastern Anatolia and adjacent regions. It is an undeniable fact that Azerbaijani Turkish served as a common language of communication during the Tsarist Russian period, becoming a second language for non-Turkic-speaking communities in the Caucasus and Iran. Naturally, as Russian political influence expanded over these territories, bilingualism shifted in favour of the Russian language, replacing Azerbaijani Turkish in many domains—a transformation that is not a distant historical event. Regarding the issue of a common alphabet for the Turkic peoples, some linguists prioritized the Arabic script based on religious unity, while others strongly advocated for the adoption of the Latin script as a necessary step toward standardization. As we know, certain linguistic issues carry political significance, and therefore, the acceptance, study, and implementation of linguistic policies require time and careful consideration
Turkish alphabet, Turkish language, source, common alphabet, common language, language family, Turkology