Konflikten i Syrien

Both Turkish and Arabic are still widely spoken in Antakya

Until annexation, Turkish and Arabic were both spoken, after Ataturk's Reforms, however, the use of Arabic began to decline. Less than a generation ago, a child of an Arabic-speaking family would start school unable to speak Turkish; these days, most children of Arabic families start school unable to speak much, if any, Arabic. Some Arabic speakers will deny being "Arab," a term that can be derogatory in Turkey. [21]
Turkey's policies on language have focused on imposing homogeneity. The degree of imposition peaked in 1983, when the military government introduced a law prohibiting (to varying degrees) languages other than Turkish. For speakers of some languages (those not using a first official language of a country recognized by Turkey), the law forbade the use of those languages, even during private conversation. (Rumpf, 1989) Although the law was repealed in 1991, the Constitution still prohibits any institution from teaching a language other than Turkish as a mother tongue (Article 42.9; provisions in international treaties are ostensibly upheld even today). [22]

85% of Arabs in Hatay believe that the use of Arabic is decreasing, however, 15% who hear it on a daily basis, disagree that such is happening in the region. An interesting scenario has arisen in the case that the Arab Christian minority has the right to teach Arabic, under the Treaty of Lausanne, however, they refrain from doing so because of the tensions that would be cause by doing so. [23]