Kazakhstan approved the final version of the alphabet in Latin. Why do the CIS countries translate writing into Latin? Why do we need to switch to Latin

President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev instructed the government of the country to draw up a schedule for the transition of the Kazakh alphabet to the Latin alphabet. Why was this necessary and what are the possible consequences?

Kazakhstan chooses between Russia and Turkey?

Nazarbayev's author's article in "Egemen Kazakhstan" ("Independent Kazakhstan") states that "before the end of 2017, after consultations with scientists and members of the public, a single standard for the new Kazakh alphabet and graphics in Latin should be developed."

"From 2018, it is necessary to train specialists to teach the new alphabet and publish textbooks for secondary schools. In the next two years, organizational and methodical works", - added the head of state. At the same time, Nazarbayev assured that at first, along with the Latin alphabet, the Cyrillic alphabet would also be used.

Professor, Doctor of Philology, Head of the Laboratory of Linguistic Conflictology at the National Research University Higher School of Economics Maxim Krongauz explained why Kazakhstan is switching to the Latin alphabet. According to the expert, there are political reasons for translating the alphabet: in this way, Kazakhstan seeks to get closer to Turkey. "This is a matter of the political choice of the country and rapprochement with this or that civilization. In this case, the choice of the Latin alphabet means rapprochement with other Turkic languages. First of all, it is Turkish," the scientist told the National News Service.

Previously, experts spoke about other aspects of the problem that are typical for many post-Soviet states, including Kazakhstan.

For example, Head of the Department of Diaspora and Migration of the Institute of CIS Countries Alexandra Dokuchaeva believes that all post-Soviet states build their independence as independence from Russia. "We, adults, remember that no external prerequisites, no national liberation struggle of peoples Soviet Union didn't exist. So, there were no real reasons for the collapse of the country. But independence must be justified. And the justification for independence is built everywhere on the anti-Russian platform," she told Pravda.Ru.

Speaking, Alexandra Dokuchaeva noted that "the departure of the Russians continues, and it is quite obvious that the reason for the departure is the concern of the Russians about their situation in connection with the attack on the Russian language." Recall that Russian speakers live in the majority in the northern regions of Kazakhstan, bordering on Russia.

“Parents of Russian-speaking children note, for example, that Russian schools are much more dense than Kazakh ones, that is, the conditions for learning are more difficult. education, the need for Russian schools is closing," she said.

"Throughout the entire post-Soviet space, processes of consolidation of ultra-liberal and nationalist forces are underway. These are ultra-liberal forces that adhere to Western views, and nationalists who adhere not only to an anti-Russian position, but in general to exalt their titular nationality. The leadership of Kazakhstan is trying to achieve some kind of balance, although nationalists , especially in intellectual circles, the liberals are trying very successfully to promote their ideas," he noted in an interview with Pravda.Ru. expert Russian Institute Strategic Research Dmitry Alexandrov.

. “The period of Kazakhstan being part of the first Russian Empire, and then the Soviet Union is assessed in the new textbooks of sovereign Kazakhstan as a period of colonial oppression,” Alexandra Dokuchaeva noted earlier in an interview with Pravda.Ru.

However, it is worth noting that attempts to switch to the Latin alphabet were also made in Russia itself, and more precisely, in Tatarstan. In 1999, the republic adopted a law on the transition to the Latin alphabet. The transition was to start in 2001 and last ten years.

However, the Committee of the State Duma of the Russian Federation on Nationalities in December 2000 came to the following conclusion: "The study of the problem shows that there are no linguistic or pedagogical grounds for this reform of graphics. Modern Tatar literary language develops successfully using the Cyrillic-based alphabet. As for entering the Latin written Turkic world, such an orientation may lead to the isolation of the Republic of Tatarstan from the multinational Turkic-speaking population living in various subjects of Russia, including ethnic Tatars using the Cyrillic script, and ultimately to possible interethnic conflicts.

As a result, in November 2004, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation issued a verdict, which rejected the attempts of the Tatarstan authorities to translate the alphabet from Cyrillic to Latin. On December 28, 2004, the decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan satisfied the application of the prosecutor of the Republic of Tatarstan to recognize law No. 2352 "On the restoration of the Tatar alphabet based on the Latin script" as invalid.

But the story didn't end there. In December 2012, the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan adopted Law 1-ZRT "On the Use of the Tatar Language as the State Language of the Republic of Tatarstan". According to the law, the Cyrillic-based alphabet is considered the official alphabet, but the use of Latin or Arabic letters is allowed when citizens apply to government bodies. Cyrillic is used in the official responses of state bodies, but the possibility of duplicating the Cyrillic text in Latin or Arabic is also provided. So one cannot say that Tatarstan has given up on attempts to "legitimize" the Latin alphabet.

President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev approved a new version of the Kazakh alphabet based on the Latin script. There will be 32 letters in the alphabet, which the country is to switch to over the next seven years. In the Cyrillic version of the Kazakh alphabet, which was used for almost eighty years, there were 42 of them.

At the end of October, Nazarbayev signed a decree on a phased transition to the Latin alphabet until 2025. Initially, the head of the republic was presented with a choice of two versions of the Kazakh alphabet in Latin: in the first, some specific sounds of the Kazakh language were proposed to be indicated using digraphs (combinations of two letters), the second option was to transfer these sounds in writing using apostrophes.

The head of the republic approved the version with apostrophes, but linguists and philologists criticized this version of the alphabet. According to scientists, the excessive use of apostrophes would seriously complicate reading and writing - out of 32 letters of the alphabet, 9 would immediately be written with a superscript comma.

The project was sent for revision - in the final version, approved on February 20, there are no apostrophes, but new diacritics like umlauts (for example, á, ń), as well as two digraphs (sh, ch), are used.

Expensive pleasure

Despite the fact that the authorities agreed to finalize the originally proposed version of the alphabet, the transition to the Latin alphabet itself will be fraught with great difficulties. Critics and scholars warn that older people will find it difficult to get used to the Latin script, which could create a generation gap.

The alphabet of the Kazakh language, based on the Latin script, against the background of the flag of Kazakhstan, Gazeta.Ru collage

Akorda

Another danger is that future generations will not be able to refer to many scientific and other works written in Cyrillic - most of the books simply cannot be republished in Latin.

A potential problem is also the decrease in the interest of young people in reading - at first it will be difficult to readjust to the new alphabet and you will have to spend much more time reading. As a result, young people may simply stop reading.

While the country still uses a slightly modified Russian Cyrillic alphabet, the transition period will last until 2025. New passports and identity cards will begin to be issued to citizens of Kazakhstan from 2021, and in 2024-2025 government agencies, educational institutions and the media will switch to the Latin alphabet - on February 13, such a plan was announced by Deputy Minister of Culture and Sports of Kazakhstan Yerlan Kozhagapanov.

The process of switching to the Latin alphabet will also be costly. At the very least, it assumes professional retraining teachers.

According to data published on the website of the government of Kazakhstan, 192,000 teachers will have to be "retrained" in the next seven years. This pleasure will cost Astana 2 billion rubles, and another 350 million rubles will be spent on reprinting school textbooks.

In September, Nazarbayev said that the first grades of schools would begin teaching in Latin in 2022. At the same time, he stressed that the transition process would not be painful - the president explained that in schools, children learn English and are familiar with Latin script.

The head of the department for Central Asia and Kazakhstan also expressed concern that the high cost of romanization could lead to abuse and corruption. “The allocation of such a volume of funds with a very weak mechanism for controlling costs will lead to a situation where a significant part of the bureaucratic class, especially in the regions, will be tempted to spend money without reporting. The widest field for abuse opens up, ”the expert believes.

Why does Astana need the Latin alphabet: Nazarbayev's version

Nazarbayev first spoke about the introduction of the Latin alphabet in 2012, delivering an annual message to the people of Kazakhstan. Five years later, in his article "Looking to the Future: Modernizing Public Consciousness," the president argued the need to abandon the Cyrillic alphabet by the features of "the modern technological environment, communications, as well as scientific and educational process 21st century".

In mid-September 2017, Nazarbayev even said that the Cyrillic alphabet "distorts" the Kazakh language. “In the Kazakh language there is no “u”, “yu”, “ya”, “b”. Using these letters, we distort the Kazakh language, therefore [with the introduction of the Latin alphabet] we come to the basis,” the head of Kazakhstan noted.

Experts, by the way, argue the opposite: according to them, it is latin graphics does not cope well with the task of reflecting all the sounds of the Kazakh language in writing - this is evidenced by problems with additional diacritics like apostrophes.

By signing a decree on the transition to the Latin alphabet in October last year, Nazarbayev assured that these changes "in no way affect the rights of Russian speakers, the Russian language and other languages."

The deputy director of the Institute of the CIS countries notes that there is a certain amount of slyness in such statements. “The money will be spent from the taxes of all citizens, this also applies to the Russian-speaking population,” the expert explained.

The President of Kazakhstan also hastened to dispel fears that the transition to the Latin alphabet signals a change in Astana's geopolitical preferences. "Nothing like this. I will say this for sure. The transition to the Latin alphabet is an internal need for the development and modernization of the Kazakh language. There is no need to look for a black cat in a dark room, especially if it has never been there,” Nazarbayev said, recalling that in the 1920s and 40s, the Kazakh language already used the Latin alphabet.

Until 1920, the Kazakhs used Arabic script in writing. In 1928, a unified alphabet for the Turkic languages ​​based on the Latin alphabet was approved in the USSR, but in 1940 it was nevertheless replaced with the Cyrillic alphabet. In this form, the Kazakh alphabet has existed for 78 years.

At the same time, some other union republics, after the collapse of the USSR in 1991, hastily switched to the Latin script - thereby wanting to indicate their own independence from the former USSR.

In particular, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan tried to introduce the Latin alphabet, although there were certain problems with the use of the new alphabet. In Kazakhstan, such changes were rejected for a long time, since the majority of the population was Russian-speaking. Nevertheless, attempts were also made in the country to designate and strengthen their own identity - in particular, Russian toponyms were replaced by Kazakh ones.

Goodbye Russia - hello West?

Despite Nazarbayev's assurances that ditching the Cyrillic alphabet does not signify a shift in the republic's geopolitical aspirations, many in Russia and Kazakhstan itself believe the move's purpose is to emphasize "independence" from Moscow.

Astana pursues a "multi-vector policy", that is, it tries to develop relations simultaneously with the countries of the post-Soviet space, and with China, and with the West. At the same time, Kazakhstan is the most developed and richest of the Central Asian republics, the European Union is Astana's second trading partner after Russia. Kazakhstan, in turn, is the main partner in Central Asia, although its share in the EU trade turnover is, of course, very small.

According to Vladimir Evseyev, deputy director of the Institute of CIS Countries, it is the desire to emphasize the "multi-vector nature" of one's policy that is the main reason for switching to the Latin alphabet.

“As part of this multi-vector approach, relations between Kazakhstan and the West are developing – for this, Astana is switching to the Latin alphabet. This is necessary, among other things, in order to receive cheap investments, cheap loans, and so on, ”the expert explained.

At the same time, Andrei Grozin, head of the department for Central Asia and Kazakhstan at the Institute of CIS Countries, sees no reason to believe that Kazakhstan's switch to the Latin alphabet indicates a reversal in foreign policy. “Kazakhstan is maneuvering between Beijing, Moscow and Washington, it has always been like this, and it will continue like this,” the expert stated.

Experts interviewed by Gazeta.Ru say that Moscow is not very concerned about the alphabet the Kazakhs will use.

“In Moscow, this decision did not cause much tension and is unlikely to cause, in our country this topic is perceived as abstract, not related to real politics,” Grozin said.

Vladimir Evseev, in turn, notes that Russia is trying to treat this step of Astana with understanding. “It just makes communication difficult. This is the right of Kazakhstan, how to write to them - they can use at least Chinese characters, ”admitted the interlocutor of Gazeta.Ru.

April 12, 2017 President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbaev in his program article "Bolashakka bagdar rukhani zhangyru" the final time periods for the transition of Kazakh writing to the Latin alphabet: the end of 2017 - the approval of the final version of the graphics, and " by 2025, all business documents, periodicals and books should begin to appear in the Latin alphabet. Now the big preparatory work will begin. The government should prepare a timetable for the transition to the Latin alphabet". Starting from 2018, a consistent process for the introduction of the Latin alphabet will begin.

Why are we moving away from Cyrillic

History of origin and early stages The spread of the Cyrillic alphabet is closely connected with the spread of the Orthodox religion among the Slavic peoples. Following the colonization of the Eurasian expanses Russian Empire and later, in the Soviet era, the Cyrillic alphabet was introduced as a single alphabet for the peoples of the empire, who spoke a wide variety of languages: Finno-Ugric, Indo-Iranian, Romance, Turkic and Mongolian.

In the early 1920s, a campaign was launched in the USSR for the Latinization of national alphabets. In 1929, the Latin alphabet for the Kazakh language was introduced, which was used until 1940. If the reforms of the 1920s were in the wake of the Bolshevik policy to separate, first of all, the Muslim peoples of the USSR from the heritage of the Islamic world, away from religion and former values, then the transition of national alphabets to Cyrillic became a milestone in the process of creating the “Soviet man”. Pan-Islamic and pan-Turkist sentiments had to be reduced to zero.

Domestic linguists created an extensive layer of linguistics on the basis of Cyrillic Kazakh. Over the decades, a lot of borrowed words have entered the language, which, following the letter, gravitated towards the phonetics and spelling of the Russian language. Today, the Cyrillic alphabet is officially used by countries that were once part of the USSR ( Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan), post-Soviet territories (Abkhazia, South Ossetia), countries with dominant Orthodoxy (Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro), as well as Mongolia. There are no developed countries in the above list. Cyrillic writing is often associated with communism and unfreedom. Partly for these reasons, many peoples, including the Slavic ones, who once used the Cyrillic alphabet, decided to change it in favor of the Latin alphabet.

In the same Serbia and Montenegro, in parallel with the Cyrillic alphabet, the Latin alphabet, which is gaining more and more popularity, is also used. There are no new countries willing to introduce the Cyrillic alphabet for their languages. With the collapse of the USSR, the scope of this alphabet narrowed.

Use of the Latin alphabet in the world

Among the six official languages ​​of the UN, three (English, French and Spanish) use the Latin alphabet. If we take the largest international economic organizations, then all three official languages ​​of the WTO also use the Latin alphabet (English, French and Spanish). The main languages ​​of the Olympic Movement are also English and French.

The Latin alphabet is now common on all continents inhabited by mankind. The alphabet, in addition to, in fact, the territory of Europe (except for a number of the Eastern European countries mentioned) covers the entire Northern and South America, most of the states of Africa, Australia, the densely populated and growing economic power of Southeast Asia (including Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia). Also, the Latin alphabet is widely known and is in supporting roles in many other countries of the world, such as India, Pakistan, Japan, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and even China (several systems for transcribing Chinese dialects into Latin exist and are widely used).

According to the World Bank data for 2015, of the top thirty countries by nominal GDP, the largest economies in the world, 22 countries use the Latin alphabet, from the top ten - 7 countries. If we consider GDP per capita, then among the richest nations, Latinized alphabets are used 18 countries from the top twenty. In the Doing Business ranking of the same World Bank among the thirty most attractive countries for doing business 25 use Latin-based alphabets. At the same time, in almost all the countries under consideration, a latinized font or English is used in parallel.

English language factor

Today, English is the dominant language throughout the world. Historically, this is due to the expansion of the British Empire, the economic rise of the United States, as well as a powerful wave of mass culture that accompanies the processes of globalization. Today English is the world language of business, science and culture.

Never before in the history of mankind has any language been as dominant as English in modern world. In addition, English is the official language of programming and development of information technology. Not surprisingly, over half of the websites today are published in this language. In the world information space English is the largest source of deep and reliable information. According to various estimates, annually from 45% to 57% scientific literature in the world is published in English.

Factor of the Turkic world

However, the use of the Latin alphabet by close Turkic peoples is of greatest interest to Kazakhstan. Today there are six independent Turkic states in the world. Four of them officially use the Latin script for their state languages: Turkey, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. If the translation of the Turkish language into Latin next year turns 90 years old, then the rest of the Turkic post-Soviet countries have less experience.

In Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, this process had a number of difficulties related primarily to the quality of the implementation of the reform and the lack of political will. For many years there was a parallel circulation of the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets. Nevertheless, the process of switching to the Latin alphabet, which began in these countries back in the 1990s, has now been largely completed, at least among the younger generation.

The most effective and consistent example seems to be Azerbaijan, where the transition to the Latin alphabet began at the dawn of independence in 1992 and, somewhat slowing down in the mid-90s, finally ended on August 1, 2001 - the day when the whole country completely switched to the new alphabet.

It is important that on the eve of this significant event the president Heydar Aliyev signed a decree on "Deeper introduction of the Azerbaijani language", a language reform that served as a guarantee for the purification and further development of the language. Kazakhstan is an integral and significant part of the Turkic world, which cannot and should not remain aloof from important pan-Turkic processes.

The experience of the above countries has taught us a number of valuable lessons. The reform should affect not only the alphabet, but also broad layers of linguistics, morphology, spelling and grammar. In parallel with the written language, a language reform should be carried out, thanks to which Kazakh will become the dominant language in all spheres in Kazakhstan. Reform for the sake of reform does not make sense. It must have clear goals and objectives. The most important thing is the quality of implementation, how effectively the state apparatus and society will be able to implement this large-scale labor-intensive transition.

The transition should not be long. After carrying out the preparatory measures, it is necessary to outline the line after which the use of the Latin alphabet becomes widespread and final.

The financial side of the issue

At the moment, neither the state nor the expert community has a final understanding of how much the transition of the state language to the Latin alphabet will cost. I am convinced that with a competent approach and a reduction in the corruption component, it is possible to significantly reduce the burden on the republican budget. However, one should not be surprised if the total government spending exceeds $200 million what is about 1% from the expenditure part of the republican budget (and will be divided into several years).

Already now we can distinguish the following main items of expenditure.

Seal. Schools and universities should be fully provided with new educational literature. At the same time, these costs should be considered not so much as part of the transition to the Latin alphabet, but rather in the context of providing students with printed materials. The costs that the state would incur in any case. Also necessary and very significant will be the translation into Kazakh and the printing of the latest scientific literature, as well as world art classics.

Change of signs and fonts. If signs in state institutions and city streets will have to be spent from the republican and local budgets, then signs in the private sector can be transferred to the Latin alphabet gradually, within 1-2 years, which will reduce pressure on business. As you know, entrepreneurs pay taxes on the external design of buildings, due to which the change of signage can be partially compensated. A similar approach can be applied to the replacement of documents. Changing fonts in the computers of printing houses and government agencies requires the installation of appropriate software, the creation of which does not require huge expenses.

Citizen education. In any case, it is necessary to organize mass courses to train civil servants and the general population in the new alphabet. Borrowed words must be adapted and exist in the language, taking into account the orthoepy of the Kazakh, and not the third language, which Russian served under the Cyrillic alphabet. Having put all the people at their desks, we will get an excellent opportunity to implement the most important language reform, the purpose of which is to strengthen the role of the state language, which, to our shame, is still not spoken by a significant part of our compatriots. Modern information technologies and the widespread use of electronic mobile devices will help reduce costs and ensure the speed of change.

What will the Kazakh Latin alphabet look like?

To date, there are several main variants of the Kazakh Latin alphabet. None of them seems to me to be completely successful. For example, in the Latin script used by the MIA “KazAkparat”, the letter “U” is strangely denoted as “W”, and the letter “X”, as in the Azerbaijani script, is identical to the Cyrillic “X”, in the Latin alphabet Pinyin, which is used by the Chinese Kazakhs , there are digraphs ("ng", "kh"), etc.

The question of how the new Kazakh Latin alphabet will look like remains open. Here I would like to note that it would be extremely wrong to make of the alphabet a "sacred cow", a reclusive product of linguists. Language is the creation of the people. There should be initiated broad public discussions, during which citizens themselves will make a choice. In this regard, I propose my balanced version of the Kazakh Latin alphabet. For the purpose of a holistic phonetic perception of letters, the choice was made in favor of diacretic marks, instead of digraphs and trigraphs, potentially facilitating writing on a standard English keyboard. At the same time, the alphabet is maximally directed towards the English and Turkish alphabets. Below is a transliteration from Cyrillic and a general view of the new alphabet, consisting of 36 letters.

prospects

The new alphabet of the state language should serve as a powerful tool for uniting the young nation. We must avoid linguistic division by supporting the decision of the head of state, based on the opinion of citizens.

Speaking about the economic effect of the reform, it is very important to understand that the Latin script will not automatically build a developed economy for us and civil society. Latin by itself will not increase the level of education and knowledge of the same of English language. It is almost impossible to calculate the economic effect of changing the alphabet. Latin is used by many different countries.

We determine our own destiny by our actions. We have a lot of work ahead of us. The Latin script is our sovereign civilizational choice in an effort to become a developed democratic state.

Enter text in Russian letters:

Translate Clear

How will it be in Latin letters:

Why translate Russian letters into Latin?

Since our Russia is not very good yet rich country and most companies can't afford to give away free samples to advertise their product, at the moment most freebie offers come from overseas.

Since the most common language is English, the order forms for free samples are often in English.

Address information and full name of the recipient in such forms must be filled in Latin. Since both our postmen and those companies that distribute freebies will understand the Latin alphabet.

If you write in Russian, then there is a risk that the organizers of the action simply do not want to spend time translating and understanding what is written there.

If you write in English, then our postmen will not understand to whom and where to deliver.

The best option is to write the freebie delivery address and the full name of the freebie recipient in Latin.

Now the Internet is full of different translators, but most of them are either not convenient, or they need to be searched for a long time.

We offer to constantly use our free translator of Russian text into Latin.

When you order a freebie through forms written in English, then write the delivery address and full name in Latin.

Translate Russian text into Latin will allow our free, simple and convenient service. When we order samples from foreign sites, we always do this and it's a freebie, not always of course :-), but it comes. So the way is correct.

The new Kazakh alphabet, based on the Latin script, was approved by the decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev.

“I decide to approve the attached alphabet of the Kazakh language, based on the Latin script,” reads the decree, published on the website of the head of state on October 27.

The Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic should form a national commission, as well as ensure the transition of the Kazakh language from Cyrillic to Latin script. The government has been given a deadline of up to 2025 to implement the project.

Recall that earlier Nazarbayev ordered the government to create a detailed schedule for the translation of the state language into Latin. As early as 2018, the country will begin training specialists and teaching aids to learn a new alphabet.

It should be noted that the translation of the national language from Cyrillic into the Latin alphabet was carried out earlier by Moldova, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. According to experts, the experience of Azerbaijan can be considered the most successful - rather quickly overcoming the difficulties of the transition period, the country switched to a new script. But in Uzbekistan, the translation into Latin took place only partially - the population continues to actively use the familiar Cyrillic alphabet.

In Kyrgyzstan, they also talk about the need to switch to the Latin alphabet. For example, Kanybek Imanaliev, a deputy from the Ata Meken faction, came up with such an initiative earlier. However, this idea ran into criticism from the head of state - according to the President Kyrgyz Republic Almazbek Atambaev (whose term expires on November 30), the arguments of the supporters of the Latin alphabet sound unconvincing.

“Each time the desire to change the alphabet is given a new explanation. Here, for example, is such a reason: the Latin alphabet is the alphabet of all developed countries, the transition to the Latin alphabet will help the development of the country's economy. But did the fact that they use hieroglyphs prevent Japan and Korea? - the politician noted, speaking at the international forum "Altai civilization and related peoples of the Altai language family." At the same time, the use of the Latin alphabet in a number of African countries did not at all help them escape from poverty, the politician added.

According to Atambaev, another popular argument is also untenable, according to which this measure will help unite the Turkic peoples. “For hundreds of centuries, the Turkish language already in the 19th century had little resemblance to the language of the Turkic Khagans,” Atambayev said.

spirit of the times

For their part, the authorities of Kazakhstan explain the rejection of the Cyrillic alphabet by the requirements of the era.

“The transition to the Latin alphabet is not a whim, it is a trend of the times. When I talk about an able-bodied state, I am talking about able-bodied citizens. You need to know the international language - English, because everything advanced rests on it, ”Nursultan Nazarbayev believes.

In addition, Astana believes that this measure will help rally the Kazakh community, including those Kazakhs who live abroad.

Recall that until the 10th century, the population of the territories of modern Kazakhstan used the ancient Turkic script, from the 10th to the 20th - almost a thousand years - the Arabic script was used. The spread of Arabic script and language began against the backdrop of the Islamization of the region.

In 1929, by a decree of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the Latinized Unified Turkic alphabet was introduced in the Kazakh territories.

Note that in the 1920s, the young Republic of Turkey switched to the Latin script of the alphabet - such a decision was made by Kemal Atatürk as part of a campaign to combat clericalism.

• Reuters
• Ilya Naymushin

In the 1930s, Soviet-Turkish relations deteriorated noticeably. According to a number of historians, this cooling was one of the factors that pushed Moscow to abandon the use of the Latin alphabet in the national republics. In 1940, the USSR adopted the law “On the transfer of Kazakh writing from Latinized to a new alphabet based on Russian graphics”.

It should be noted that Ankara has been most actively promoting the idea of ​​turning to “common Turkic roots”, which has been trying to attract former Soviet republics to its orbit of influence. The ideas of pan-Turkism, actively promoted by the Turkish side, serve as a tool for the implementation of Ankara's ambitious plans. Recall that for the first time the concept of pan-Turkism was formulated in the newspaper "Translator-Terdzhiman", published in Bakhchisarai by publicist Ismail Gasprinsky in late XIX century.

The creation of a single Turkic alphabet is an old dream of the ideologists of Turkic unity, such attempts have been made more than once. One of the most successful dates back to 1991 - following the results of an international scientific symposium held in Istanbul, a unified alphabet for the Turkic peoples was created. The basis for it was the Latin graphics of the Turkish alphabet. The new alphabet was adopted in Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. True, later Baku made a number of changes to the Turkic alphabet, and Tashkent and Ashgabat completely abandoned it.

Although Kazakhstan takes an active part in Turkic integration projects (for example, it is a member of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States. — RT) and cooperates with Ankara in a number of areas, it is not worth exaggerating Turkish influence in Central Asia, experts say.

“The translation of the Kazakh language into Latin is welcomed by Ankara, the Turkish side has long been promoting the idea of ​​​​a common Turkic alphabet in Latin, but Turkish influence has many limitations that cannot be overcome with the help of linguistic measures alone,” said the head of the Central Asia and Kazakhstan Department of the Institute of CIS Countries in an interview with RT Andrei Grozin. - Of course, Ankara is interested in creating additional incentives for the consolidation of the Turkic world, in which it plays a leading role. However, in this case, the role of Turkey should not be overestimated.”

"Destiny of Ukraine"

Recall, according to the Constitution of Kazakhstan, the state language of the republic is Kazakh, and the Russian language is officially used “on a par with Kazakh” in state bodies.

“The state takes care of creating conditions for the study and development of the languages ​​of the people of Kazakhstan,” the basic law of the Republic of Kazakhstan says.

The reform of the alphabet will affect only the Kazakh language, the authorities of the republic emphasize.

“I especially want to emphasize once again that the transition of the Kazakh language to the Latin alphabet in no way affects the rights of the Russian-speaking, Russian and other languages. The status of the use of the Russian language remains unchanged, it will function in the same way as it functioned before, ”the press service of the head of the Republic of Kazakhstan quotes Nursultan Nazarbayev as saying.

• Nursultan Nazarbaev
• globallookpress.com
• Kremlin Pool/Global Look Press

It should be noted that the leadership of the republic considers any initiative to ban or restrict the use of the Russian language in the country harmful and dangerous.

“Suppose we legally ban all languages ​​except Kazakh. What awaits us then? The fate of Ukraine,” Nazarbayev told the Khabar TV channel in 2014. According to the politician, the role of the Kazakh language is growing naturally along with the growth in the number of Kazakhs.

“Is it necessary to forcibly bring everyone to the Kazakh language, but at the same time lose independence in bloodshed, or is it prudent to solve problems?” - added the head of the republic.

According to Andrey Grozin, the innovations will also partially affect the Russian-speaking population - after all, now all schoolchildren will have to learn the state language in a new transcription.

“True, the level of teaching of the Kazakh language in the country was not high before, and ethnic Russians do not speak it particularly well. Therefore, for the Russian-speaking residents of Kazakhstan, in fact, the changes will not be very noticeable,” the expert noted.

According to Grozin, the fact that no polls were conducted in Kazakhstan on such an important topic as changing the alphabet public opinion raises some doubts.

“Assessments were made only by individual representatives of the creative intelligentsia and public figures,” Grozin explained. — But there is no data about what opinion about the new alphabet prevails among the population. This may indicate that the authorities of the country understand that the level of approval of the reform among the population is very low.”

Astana values ​​relations with Moscow, the Kazakh leadership emphasizes that Russia "remains the number one partner for Kazakhstan both in politics and in the economy." Today, Kazakhstan and Russia are working together within the framework of a number of integration projects - the SCO, the CSTO, the Customs and the Eurasian Economic Union. There is a visa-free regime between the countries, according to the 2010 census, 647 thousand ethnic Kazakhs live in Russia, about 20% of the population of Kazakhstan are Russians.

However, when it comes to the joint past, Astana changes the tone of statements. For example, Nazarbayev's speech, delivered in 2012 at the Kazakh-Turkish business forum held in Istanbul, made a great response.

“We live in the homeland of the entire Turkic people. After the last Kazakh khan was killed in 1861, we were a colony of the Russian kingdom, then the Soviet Union. For 150 years, the Kazakhs have almost lost their national traditions, customs, language, religion,” the head of the Republic of Kazakhstan said.

Nazarbayev repeated these theses in a milder form in his keynote article published in April 2017. According to the Kazakh leader, the 20th century taught the Kazakhs "in many respects tragic lessons", in particular, the natural path of national development” and “the Kazakh language and culture were almost lost.” Today, Kazakhstan must abandon those elements of the past that hinder the development of the nation, the article says.

Translation of the alphabet into Latin will allow Astana to implement this plan, experts say. True, the practical result of the introduction of such measures may not be development, but the split of the nation.

“The discussion about switching to the Latin alphabet began in Kazakhstan back in the mid-2000s, so there is no surprise in this decision,” Dmitry Aleksandrov, an expert on the countries of Central and Central Asia, explained in an interview with RT. — But for the Kazakh society, this step can turn into very ambiguous consequences. This will lead to the creation of a serious barrier between generations.”

According to the expert, the array of literature published in the Soviet and post-Soviet times will not be republished - this is simply impossible. Therefore, the result of the reform will be to limit the access of Kazakhstanis to their own cultural heritage.

• Graduates of one of the Alma-Ata schools during the celebration of the "Last Bell"
• RIA News
• Anatoly Ustinenko

“The experience of other states has shown that not only very old people, but even people of 40-50 years old, cannot retrain for a new transcription,” Andrey Grozin noted. “As a result, the baggage of knowledge they have accumulated will remain with them, regardless of their ideological orientation.”

The younger generations will no longer know the past: it is simply impossible to transfer the entire volume of literature written over more than 70 years to the new graphics.

“In the same Uzbekistan, many intellectuals are already turning to the authorities with a request to return the old alphabet - over the years since the reform, a cultural and ideological gap has formed between generations. In such cases, we are talking about a split in society no longer along ethnic lines. Dividing lines are growing inside the titular ethnic group - and this is a very dangerous trend. The authorities of Kazakhstan declare the goal of the reform to be "modernization of consciousness", but if it happens, it will be only among the younger generation. It is also about the rejection of the Soviet past. It is no secret that the entire bulk of the literature of all the Central Asian republics is associated with the Cyrillic period, and only a very small number of texts were created in the “Arab” period,” the expert summed up.