One form of gaf

Gaf or Gāf may be the name of four different Perso-Arabic letters, all representing [ɡ]. They are all forms of the letter kāf, with additional diacritics, such as dots and lines. There are three forms, each used in different places:

• گ‎ in Persian, Uyghur & Urdu
• ݢ‎ in Malay
• ݣ‎ in Moroccan
• ګ‎ in Pashto

Gaf with line[link]

گ‎ is based on kāf with an additional line. It is rarely used in Arabic itself, but may be used to represent the sound [ɡ] when writing other languages. It is frequently used in Persian and Kurdish and it is one of four letters which are not found in Arabic.

Gaf with single dot[link]

ݢ‎ is derived from a variant form (ک‎) of kāf with the addition of a dot. It is not used in the Arabic language itself, but is used in the Jawi script of Malay to represent a voiced velar stop [ɡ]. Unicode includes two forms on this letter: one based on the standard Arabic kāf, ك‎, and one based on the variant form ک‎. The latter is the preferred form.

Gaf with three dots[link]

ݣ ‎ is based on a variant form (ک‎) of kāf with the addition of three dots. It is used in informal Moroccan Arabic to represent /ɡ/. The letter is also used officially to transliterate the voiced velar plosive as in many city names such as Agadir (أݣادير‎, also written: أغادير‎) and family names such as El Guerrouj (الݣروج‎, also written: الكروج‎).

Its initial and medial forms are identical to ڭ‎, which represents [ŋ] in some languages. However, their final and isolated forms are different.

See also Ng (Arabic).

In Pashto[link]

In Pashto:

See also[link]

• ڨ‎, a letter derived from qāf and used for [ɡ] in Tunisia and Algeria

External links[link]

• Notes on some Unicode Arabic characters: recommendations for usage (PDF)

Devlet Bahçeli (born 1 January 1948 in Bahçe, Osmaniye) is a Turkish politician and has been the second chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) since 6 July 1997.^[1]

An academic in economics at the Gazi University in Ankara until 1987, he has been during three years a Deputy prime minister in the coalition government of Bülent Ecevit (1999–2002). Elected in the province of Osmaniye,^[2] he has been a MP in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey since 22 July 2007.^[3]

Education and work[link]

Born in the rural district of Bahçe in the province of Osmaniye, he attended primary school there. He moved to Istanbul for his secondary education. Bahçeli received his higher education from the scientific academy in Ankara and his doctorate from the Gazi University in Ankara. Bahçeli served as a lecturer for economics at the Gazi University before entering the political life in 1987.

Political career[link]

In 1987, Devlet Bahçeli became a member of the board of the Nationalist Task Party (MÇP), which was officially renamed the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) during a congress on 24 January 1993. Following the death on 5 April 1997 of the founder and leader, Alparslan Türkeş, he became on 6 July 1997 the second chairman of the MHP. From 1999 to 2002, Bahçeli served as a Deputy prime minister in the coalition government (DSP-ANAP-MHP) of Bülent Ecevit.

On September 19, 2010, the Armenian Cathedral of the Holy Cross at Lake Van saw its first Christian mass for 95 years. This upset a group of Turkish nationalists who, led by Bahçeli responded on October 1, 2010 by gathering at the Armenian Cathedral of Ani to say Muslim prayers.^[4]

Elections[link]

In the 2007 general elections, Devlet Bahçeli led the MHP list in the province of Osmaniye. His parliamentary list polled 44.90% (99,565 votes) and won two of the four provincial seats.^[5]

In the 2011 general elections, he led the MHP list in the province of Osmaniye. His parliamentary list polled 41.22% (110,708 votes) and won two of the four provincial seats.^[6]

References[link]