List of lingua francas
Turkish is still in use and widely spoken in several areas formerly part of the Ottoman Empire and may be understood by older people in other parts of the Middle East.
Replacement of loanwords in Turkish
The replacing of loanwords in Turkish is part of a policy of Turkification dating back to the Ottoman Empire. Contemporary Turkish includes Ottoman Turkish loanwords—mostly of Persian and French, but also Arabic, Greek, and Italian origin—which were officially replaced with their Turkish counterparts suggested by the Turkish Language Association (, TDK) as a part of the cultural reforms—in the broader framework of Atatürk's Reforms—following the foundation of Republic of Turkey.