Language is one of the unifying elements of societies. The Ottoman Empire also became aware of this feature of the language, especially in its last periods. Intellectuals and statesmen developed language policies; They pioneered the conduct of studies related to Turkish.
In this study, descriptive analysis method, one of the qualitative research methods, was used and content analysis was also used. Archive documents and printed and electronic resources related to the subject were scanned. By making use of the studies in the literature, the language policy of the last period of the Ottoman Empire and the parts related to Turkish education in the 1869 Maarif-i Umumiye Nizamnamesi were examined.
In conclusion; The administrators of the Ottoman Empire saw Turkish as a unifying element in order to ensure the unity and peace of the people. As a result of the long Turkish discussions, the official language was Turkish with the first constitution, Kanun-ı Esasi, and many regulations were made in this regard. Teaching Turkish to the new generation has been the primary goal. Especially in schools, Turkish lessons have been made compulsory. Turkish had an important place in the Ordinance of General Education in 1869. However, financial inadequacies and shortage of teachers made the implementation of the legislation difficult. It has been tried to spread Turkish through measures such as the simplification of the language, the increase of translated works, the encouragement of copyrighted works, the training of Turkish teachers, the fact that those who do not speak Turkish are not allowed in schools and cannot be civil servants, posters and announcements are in Turkish.