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· 3 min read

The president signed the new alphabet law

On 21 October 2026, Uzbek Language Day, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed the law refining the Latin-based Uzbek alphabet. Saida Mirziyoyeva, head of the Presidential Administration, announced it.

From when

The law takes effect six months after official publication — on 22 April 2027. Nothing is mandatory before then, but you can start writing in the new alphabet today.

What the alphabet looks like

It used to be 26 letters and 3 letter combinations; now it is 28 letters and the tutuq belgisi ʼ.

  • Oʻ oʻ → Ö ö
  • Gʻ gʻ → Ğ ğ
  • Sh sh → Ş ş
  • Ch ch → Ç ç

ng is no longer a separate letter, though the text itself does not change.

What happens to things in the old spelling

  • Documents, the national currency and securities remain valid.
  • Symbols of state bodies, coats of arms on buildings, signs and indicators with geographic names may be used until they wear out or until a deadline set by the implementation programme.
  • Textbooks, signs and indicators are replaced step by step as they expire. According to Saida Mirziyoyeva, this route was chosen to keep costs to a minimum.

What comes next

The government will draw up a programme of measures to implement the law. According to UzDaily, it has two months to do so. Sector deadlines will be in that programme.

On 5 November, in an interview with Gazeta.uz, Yorqin Odilov and Zohida Muqimova, linguists at the Academy of Sciences' Institute of Uzbek Language, Literature and Folklore, said a Cabinet of Ministers resolution is being prepared. In their words, the alphabet is introduced in stages and no one will be forced into anything. Odilov stressed that only four letters change, so no confusion is expected.

The revised orthography rules have not been published yet. What happens to the separator in words like Isʼhoq is still an open question.

What you can do today

There is no need to wait. Our converter moves text between all three scripts without sending it to a server, and the keyboard pages show how to type the new letters.

Sources