Cypriot Turkish

Cypriot Turkish grew out of the speech of Turks who settled on the island after 1571. It is mostly seen as an offshoot of southern and central Anatolian dialects, though it also resembles dialects from other parts of Anatolia.

Over the centuries it borrowed words from Greek, Italian and English. Although standard Turkish is the written language, the Cypriot dialect is heard at school, in government offices, on radio and television and even in parliament.

Unlike dialects in Türkiye, it enjoys prestige in Northern Cyprus, and the children of settlers who came from Türkiye after 1974 often adopt it.