December 15 marked World Turkic Language Family Day, a date established by UNESCO to celebrate and promote the Turkic language family spoken by more than 200 million people worldwide.

The 43rd General Conference of UNESCO in Uzbekistan officially declared Dec. 15 as World Turkic Language Family Day to preserve, celebrate, and promote the Turkic language family. 

The Turkic language family includes a large group of related languages spoken across Eurasia, from Eastern Europe and the Caucasus to Central, Western, Northern, and Eastern Asia. The languages originated around 2,500 years ago in a region stretching from western China to Mongolia, where Proto-Turkic is believed to have been spoken, and later spread across Central Asia and further west during the first millennium.

Turkish is the largest of them, with speakers concentrated in Asia Minor (Türkiye’s Asian region) and the Balkans, roughly 40% of all Turkic-language speakers. Countries where Turkic languages are spoken include Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Lithuania, Moldova, Northern Cyprus, Russia, Romania, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, and Uzbekistan. Due to industrial-era migration, several Western European countries also have Turkic-speaking communities.

Why Dec. 15?

UNESCO selected Dec. 15 because it marks the date on which the Orkhon inscriptions, the oldest known written records of the Turkic language, were first deciphered. Used in the 8th century across Central Asia, the inscriptions formed a unified literary language of the period and today symbolize the shared cultural and artistic heritage of Turkic civilizations.

The ancient Turks left a lasting legacy by carving their history into stone slabs, believing that blue granite was a durable medium for preserving information. They also memorialized their ancestors in stone sculptures that served as sanctuaries and sites of worship.

In 1889, Russian ethnographer and archaeologist Nikolai Yadrintsev discovered Old Turkic monuments dedicated to Bilge Khagan and his brother, the military commander Kul Tegin, in the Kocho-Tsaidam Valley along the Orkhon River in central Mongolia. The inscriptions became known as the Orkhon inscriptions.

Danish scholar Vilhelm Thomsen became the first to decipher the words “Turk” and “Tengri” on the monuments. His announcement on Dec. 15, 1893 at the Danish Royal Academy of Sciences revealed an entire chapter of Turkic civilization previously unknown to the world.

The basins of the Orkhon, Selenge, and Tuul rivers contain ruins of ancient cities, including Orda-Balyk (Kara-Balasağun), Bai-Balyk, Katyn-Balyk and Tuul-Balyk. The region also holds more than 100 sacred worship sites, over 1,000 stone steles and balbals, and numerous burial complexes. In addition to Old Turkic texts, inscriptions in Brahmi, Uighur, Khitan, Manchu and Chinese have also been found.

For more than a century, the Orkhon monuments have been studied by Turkologists, historians, archaeologists, and linguists. Since the publication of atlases by Axel Heikel and Vasily Radlov in 1892-1899, the number of documented monuments has grown significantly through discoveries in Mongolia, Altai and Central Asia.

Renowned Kazakh Turkologist Karzhaubai Sartkozhauly later undertook the task of integrating Orkhon monuments into a unified research complex for systematic analysis. His work culminated in the “Complete Atlas of Orkhon Monuments,” a three-volume publication that catalogs the major ancient Turkic inscriptions of Mongolia.

A year of cultural recognition in Central Asia

This year also marks significant achievements for Central Asian countries, as several endangered traditions were inscribed on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Intangible cultural heritage encompasses crafts, customs, musical and ritual traditions, and social practices passed down through generations. UNESCO warns that many of these traditions are threatened by social, economic and environmental pressures, according to a Dec. 10 statement from the United Nations’ press service.

UNESCO is reviewing 68 nominations in 2025. Its intangible heritage lists now include 812 elements from 153 countries.

On Dec. 8 in New Delhi, the 20th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage inscribed the craft of making the kobyz, a stringed musical instrument, and the tradition of playing this ancient musical instrument.

Traditional yurts of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Karakalpakstan were also added to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The yurt is considered both a dwelling and a symbol of national identity, with craftsmanship passed down through generations.

Central Asian culinary heritage also gained recognition. Tajikistan’s sumanak, a Navruz (Nauryz) dish made from sprouted wheat, and the Kyrgyz traditional drink maksym, a thick fermented beverage made by roasting flour in lamb fat, were added to the list. Both traditions are valued for their capacity to bring communities together and to symbolize hospitality and well-being.