Abstract
Dagestan as an Example of Voluntary Turkification at the Beginnig of the 20th Century
Historically Turkic languages have served as lingua francas in Dagestan, which is a multilingual region. Kumyk, Azeri and Noghay had been influential in various parts of Dagestan at different proportions. Peculiarly the influence of Kumyk had been beyond the borders of Dagestan. In 1917, after the declaration of Northern Caucasia as an independent state, this practical situation as gained formality as the new republic declared Turkic as its official language. But after the abolishment of this republic by the Red Army, the Soviet administration had made great effort to dilute the influence of Turkic in the Caucasus. However local communist leaders in Dagestan had managed to keep Turkic as the language of education. Caucasic languages like Avar, Lezgi, Dargi etc has become both official and education languages as a result of language, education, nationalities and migration policies implemented after this date. As a result of these endeavors these languages has become languages of hundreds of thousands of people and the influence of Turkic in Dagestan has been diluted. <
Keywords
Turkish, Dagestan, language of education, official language, Turkification
