When was the Bible translated into Turkish?
The most accurate answer to this question is this: it depends on which translation you mean. The translation of the Bible into Turkish was not a single event completed on one date. Translations of some portions for Turkish-speaking communities existed earlier. In particular, the…
The most accurate answer to this question is this: it depends on which translation you mean. The translation of the Bible into Turkish was not a single event completed on one date. Translations of some portions for Turkish-speaking communities existed earlier. In particular, the work associated with Ali Ufki in the seventeenth century is often treated as an important milestone. Later, in the nineteenth century, complete Bible translations and printed editions became more visible. In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the language was renewed and new translations were prepared for different kinds of readers.
For that reason, giving only one year to answer “When was it translated into Turkish?” can be misleading. If the question concerns the earliest major translation efforts, the answer is earlier; if it concerns the wider circulation of a complete Bible in modern printed form, the answer is later. Historically, this process moved through manuscripts, mission press editions, Ottoman Turkish, modern Turkish, and various revisions.
Denominational difference is not central here. Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant communities may at times prefer different Turkish editions, but the basic historical fact remains the same: the Turkish Bible tradition is the product of a translation and revision process spread over several centuries. The most honest summary, then, is that the Turkish Bible did not appear all at once but developed gradually.
A Turkish reader of the Bible today is therefore receiving the fruit of a long translation history. Translation is not only a matter of changing language, but of conveying meaning faithfully, shaping an understandable style, and making the text accessible to new generations. For that reason, it is natural that new editions and revisions have appeared in different periods. The main point is that serious effort has been invested for centuries so that Turkish-speaking people could read and understand the Holy Scriptures.