page_title: Citizen, speak Turkish!
section_title: "Citizen, speak Turkish!" campaign
hierarchical_section_title: Citizen, speak Turkish! / Political background / "Citizen, speak Turkish!" campaign
caption_attribution_description: English: Cumhuriyet newspaper of Gönen dictrict of Balıkesir on May 21st of 1936
context_page_description: The Citizen, speak Turkish! campaign was a Turkish government-funded initiative created by law students which aimed to put pressure on non-Turkish speakers to speak Turkish in public in the 1930s. In some municipalities, fines were given to those speaking in any language other than Turkish. The campaign has been considered by some authors as a significant contribution to Turkey's sociopolitical process of Turkification.
context_section_description: On January 13, 1928, the student union at the Darülfünun Law School in Istanbul started a campaign with the objective of preventing the use of languages other than Turkish to be used in public. Signs were held by campaign organizers that proclaimed, "We cannot call Turk to those who do not speak Turkish". Some campaigners also chanted, "Speak Turkish or leave the country!". 
  The campaigners placed posters in the major cities of the country with the slogan "Citizen, speak Turkish!" and the message further spread into the mass media, press, and political circles throughout the country. Signs in theaters, restaurants, hotels, and ferries urged everyone to speak Turkish and many people were harassed in public or criminalized for using a language other than Turkish.
  Citizens found to be using a language other than Turkish may sometimes have been charged with violating Article 159 (now defunct) of the Turkish penal code for "insulting Turkishness" as a legal justification.
  In the 1960s, the movement saw its revival as posters and signs were placed and hung throughout the country.
caption: Cumhuriyet newspaper of the Gönen district of Balıkesir, 21 May 1936
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