Was the initial y primary in the turkic languages?

The article deals with one of the unresolved problems of Turkic studies: the question of the primacy of the initial (anlaut) sound y in the Turkic languages. The authors of the article give opinions on this issue of famous scientists such as V. A. Bogoroditsky, G. I. Ramstedt, N. N. Poppe, S. E. Malov, A. M. Shcherbak, N. A. Baskakov. The authors also express their point of view on this issue. At the end of the article, they emphasize that the hypothesis of the primacy of the sound j and the secondary nature of the sound y cannot be considered sufficiently substantiated.