Turkish As A Heritage Language In Skopje

Abstract

Today, one of the countries where Turkish language teaching is common is the Republic of North Macedonia, located in the Balkan peninsula. Many ethnic communities live in North Macedonia. Macedonians, Albanians, Turks, Bosnians, Serbs, Vlachs and Romani constitute the different ethnic national structure of North Macedonia. As in many countries of the Balkans, Turks living in North Macedonia have preserved their mother tongue, culture and traditions. In addition, ethnic groups in North Macedonia were given the right to education in their mother tongue, and thus education and training in Turkish continued. Since Turkish was the language of education, science, art and commerce in this region during the Ottoman period, it has been able to maintain its influence and existence until today. The speakers of Turkish as a heritage language in this region are not only Turks. Other ethnic groups (Romani, Bosnian, Serbian, Vlach, Torbesh, Bulgarian), especially Albanians, are both carriers and protectors of Turkish as a heritage language. In the Balkan geography, where linguistic and cultural heritage is a richness that creates mutual understanding, Skopje is one of the places where individuals from different cultures and ethnic origins come together. The aim of this study is to reveal the socio-cultural role of Turkish in intercultural interaction in Skopje. Today, the existence of Turkish as a heritage language in the Balkans, especially in Skopje, is influenced not only by the Turks in the region, but also by the existence of other ethnic groups. In the study, non-interactive qualitative research design was used. In this study, it is aimed to define the existence of Turkish in Skopje and to evaluate it within the scope of heritage language. In this context, it is thought that the study will contribute to the field by adding new and different dimensions to the concept of heritage language due to the presence of Turkish in the Balkans.

Keywords

• heritage language
• multilingualism
• multicultralism
• intercultural interaction
• Turkish teaching

References

1. Arif, A. (2008). Makedonya Cumhuriyeti’nin azınlık politikası ve eğitime etkisi. Unpublished Master Thesis. Yıldız Technical University Graduate School of Social Sciences. Istanbul.
2. Bakırcılar Nimet, A. (2010). Makedonya Coğrafyasında Sosyo-Kültürel Hayat (XIX. Yüzyıl Öncesi). Unpublished Doctoral Thesis. Akdeniz University. Antalya.
3. Baki, E. (2020). Yabancı dil olarak Türkçe öğrenen Kuzey Makedonyalıların yazılı anlatım yanlışlarının incelenmesi. (Unpublished Doctoral Thesis). Gazi University Graduate School of Educational Sciences. Ankara. Barın, E. & Temizyürek, F. (2018). Balkanlarda yabancı dil olarak Türkçe öğretiminde materyal ihtiyacı. Uluslararası Türk Kültürü ve Dili Sempozyumu, Skopje, Macedonia, 3-5.
4. Çayırlı, N. (2015). Makedonya Türk kimliği bağlamında Makedonya’daki Türk sivil toplum kuruluşları. Avrasya Etüdleri, 48(2), 143-188.
5. Fishman, J. A. (2001). Why is it so hard to save a threatened language? In J. A. Fishman (Ed.), Can Threatened Languages Be Saved? (1-22). Multilingual Matters. doi: https://doi.org/10.21832/9781853597060
6. Hamzaoğlu, Y. (2010). Balkan Türklüğü. C.1. Skopje: Logos A.
7. Haznedar, B. (2021). Miras diller, iki dilli – çok dilli çocuklar ve dil öğrenme süreçleri. Ö. Çangal, M. E. Çelik (Ed.), Çocuklara Türkçe öğretimi (349-366). Ankara: Nobel Publishing.
8. Kara, A. (2021). Kuzey Makedonya'da miras dil olarak Türkçe ve Türk kimliği. Unpublished Master Thesis. Kocaeli University. Pars, M. (2000). Makedon ve Sırp romanlarında Türkler ve Türk izleri. Unpublished Doctoral Thesis. Hacettepe University. Ankara. Polinsky, M. (2018). Heritage languages and their speakers. Cambridge University.

9. Rothman, J. (2009). Understanding the nature and outcomes of early bilingualism: Romance languages as heritage languages. International Journal of Bilingualism, 13 (2), 155–163.
10. Şaşmaz, A., & Arslan, M. (2016). Yurt dışında yaşayan Türk çocukların ana dil kullanım düzeylerine yönelik öğretmen görüşleri: Balkanlar örneği. The Journal of International Social Research. 9 (44), 984-993.
11. Tufan, M. (1995). Balkanlar’da bin yıllık Türk kültürü. Tarih Boyunca Balkanlardan Kafkaslara Türk Dünyası Semineri Bildirileri, 1-14.
12. Yıldız Yalçındağ, E. (2021). Üsküp’te Türkçe eğitimi ve Türkçenin genç nesil tarafından öğrenilmesi üzerine. Balkanlarda Türk Dili ve Edebiyatı Araştırmaları, 3 (1), 39-52.
13. Yusuf, Ş. (2022) Miras dil kavramı ve miras dil konuşucuları. Kafkasya Çalışmaları, 7(13), 25-44.
14. Van Deusen-Scholl, N. (2003). Toward a definition of heritage language: Sociopolitical and pedagogical considerations. Journal of language, identity, and education, 2(3), 211-230.