Crimean Armenians Spoke a Unique Turkic Language

Did you know that for two centuries, the westernmost people speaking a Turkic language were… Armenians who migrated in the 15th-16th centuries from Crimea to Kamianets-Podilskyi, Lutsk, Lviv, and other cities of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth? Libraries in many European countries hold unusual books – they are written in Armenian script but in a Turkic language close to the language of the «Codex Cumanicus.» Scholars distinguish a separate Armeno-Kipchak language, with known monuments now numbering tens of thousands of pages, and the only printed book, «Algysh Bitiki» («Prayer Book») from 1618, is the world’s first Turkic printed book.
Based on materials by historian A. Garkavets.