How did the Turkish language reform change Ottoman Turkish?

The Turkish language reform, initiated by the republican government following the founding of the Turkish republic in 1923, fundamentally transformed Ottoman Turkish into the modern language used today.1

Key changes included:

• Script Reform: In 1928, the Arabic script—which had been used for centuries—was replaced by the Latin alphabet. This shift was a significant step toward secularism and was intended to make learning the language easier.12
• Vocabulary Purification: The government sought to "purify" the language by reducing the number of words of foreign origin, particularly those absorbed from Arabic and Persian during the Ottoman period.12
• Literary Shift: These reforms led to the emergence of an essentially new literary language, rendering the older Ottoman form obsolete.1

Despite resistance, these efforts successfully reorganized the language to align with the new national identity, moving away from the linguistic and cultural structures of the Ottoman era.12