Turkish

Turkey, located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, is a country rich in history and culture. Its capital is Ankara, while Istanbul, straddling both continents, is its largest city. Turkey’s landscape includes diverse features such as mountains, plains, and a long coastline along the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas. It is known for its rich historical sites, including remnants of the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman empires. Turkish cuisine, famous for dishes like kebabs and baklava, reflects a blend of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean influences. The country also has a vibrant art and music scene.

The Turkish language

The Turkish language, known as Türkçe, belongs to the Turkic language family. It is an agglutinative language, meaning that grammatical functions are expressed through the addition of suffixes to root words. Modern Turkish was heavily influenced by language reforms introduced by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the 1920s, which replaced the Arabic script with the Latin alphabet. Turkish grammar follows subject-object-verb (SOV) order, and vowel harmony plays a key role in word formation. Over 80 million people speak Turkish, primarily in Turkey and Cyprus, with communities in Europe and Central Asia.

Asterix speaks Turkish

Asterix has a long history in Turkey. It was first published in bootleg editions in the 1960s under the name Bücür (meaning “shorty”). Early translations adapted character names: Asterix became Bücür, Obelix was Hopdedik, and Panoramix was Hokusfokus. Official translations were later published by various Turkish publishers, including Alfa and Kervan. The phrase “Bu Romalılar kafayı yemiş!” (“These Romans are crazy!”) remains a popular reference.