Turkish minister inaugurates highway in Mongolia

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Yazici said the words "Turk" and "Turkish" appeared for the first time in the Orhun Monuments. "The monuments were not only important for Turkish nationals, but for all Turkic people living in the world," he added.

Yazicioglu said Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan laid the foundation for Bilge Khan highway in 2005, adding that more visitors would come to the region after the construction of the new highway.

Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) undertook the construction of the Bilge Khan highway connecting Hoso Saydam and Karakurum where the Orhun Monuments are situated.

The Orhun Museum was built to protect the Orhun Monuments, while Ataturk's bust was erected in front of a school named "Mustafa Kemal Ataturk" in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator.

The first written scripts of the Turkish language are the Orhun Monuments. They were carved on stone tablets towards the end of the 7th and the first half of the 8th century. The Orhun monuments, which were raised first in honor of Kultigin in 732 AD, then for Bilge Khan in 735 AD and for Tonyukuk in 720 AD, are still considered masterpieces of Turkish language, literature and history from the point of view of their content and language.

The perfection of the language used in the records, which document the social and the political life of the Gokturk Dynasty, proves that Turkish, as a language of letters, has been in use since ancient times.