The day I was most afraid of!

Oh, no! There came the day I was most afraid of! But before, let me explain what I am talking about. It is the Azeri alphabet. Rather, Azeri alphabets.

Being under strong Arabic and Persian influence, for centuries the Azeri language has developed its own unique alphabet based on Arabic script. It started with poetry by Naseer of Baku (XIV century), and still continues with around 25 million Iranian Azeris' daily usage of it.

However back in 1920s, local intellectuals with the help of Soviet Authorities diverted alphabet for literary (Northern) Azeri language from an Arabic to a Latin script. What was hailed then as a progressive measure to modernize the language and educate illiterate masses, turned into a huge gap between Northern Azeris and their Iranian brethren, while deprived the former from their 5-century-old literary heritage.

After Ataturk also decided to switch Turkish from Arabic to Latin script, 1930s saw an abrupt overhaul with literary Azeri switching from Latin to Cyrillic script. Beware of any Turkish influences in Azerbaijan, the Soviet Authorities decided that the Cyrillic script would be the best bond for the friendship of Soviet nationalities.

1950s saw a major reformation of Cyrillic Azeri, but history showed that all these culture shakes weren't over yet!

In 1990s, after Azerbaijan gained independence from the Soviet Union, it once again switched to Latin script (a new version based on Turkish) with two later enhancements. What was seen as a progressive move, it once again failed to be analyzed as a potential deprivation of our cultural heritage. From 1930s to 1990s, Azerbaijani writers and scientists have created an immense literary heritage - starting from philosophy and linguistics to physics and space sciences. And, then, with one move, we have deprived our future generations from accessing it.

And there came the day I was most afraid of! I met a young Azeri who couldn't read Cyrillic script of his native tongue. No portion of it, and for him, it was pretty normal.

This is the way how great disasters settle among us, and ruin our house while we sleep.