News: 11/20/2015 (North Syria) (21st Century)

November 20, 2015

ALEPPO, NORTH SYRIA - Today, Bill NS-40 also known as the "Turkish Language Bill", recieved Royal Assent and signed into law by King Fahad. Now, Turkish is the third official language of the Kingdom, joining Arabic and French.

The bill was introduced by the opposing Progressive Party in September 30, 2015. Perhaps, its more-less of their "revenge" against Bill NS-35 that was introduced by the ruling Free Democratic Party and signed into law by King Fahad last spring 2015.

Princess Razia, the leader of the Progressive Party rejoiced in the King's decision. She said, "I am really stoked, and really excited that our bill recieved Royal Assent, now Turkish-speaking citizens can and will enjoy equal rights as non Turkish-speaking citizens. It's a great day for the Kingdom, and we have much more to accomplish."

Tomorrow, the King, as well as some of his daughters including Princess Razia herself, will be travelling to the city of Ras al-'Ayn, located in the north near Turkey's southern borders, the city is over 90% inhabited by ethnic Turks to meet with Ras al-'Any mayor Mohamet Kamal.

Prime Minister Muhsin el-Hussein commented his opposition and said, "Well, you win some, lose some. It was a loss for us today, we will continue to preserve and protect our Arabic and Levantine heritage."

The Progressive Party had rejected many bills by the Free Democratic Party, that would officiate Syriac, an Aramaic dialect spoken by North Syria's native Christian population. The Progressives "feared" that it would "encourage" Christian militants to terrorize Muslims. Razia had repeatedly stated her frustration with she referred to as "Christian intolerance" of Islam.

In addition to the bill, the King also encouraged Turks to revive the use of Ottoman Turkish script, an Arabic-based script that was used for the Turkish language during the days of the Ottoman Empire until 1922 when it replaced with the Latin script.