Paul
Goble
Staunton, September 13 – There are
today “two large groups” in Kazakhstan which are blocking the development of that
country into a nation state, “Russian speaking officials in power and Kazakhs
who have absorbed Russian culture” to the point of assimilation, according to Dos
Kushim, the head of the Kazakh Fate of the Nation organization.
Ethnic Russians living in
Kazakhstan, especially the many who have learned Kazakh and identify with
Kazakhstan, often make complaints about “how difficult it is to be a Russian in
Kazakhstan,” complaints that continue to attract Moscow’s attention (ratel.kz/# and
One of their number, Kirill Pavlov,
a journalist who has become a farmer, is a recent example. He says that he is “tired of being a Russian
in our country [Kazakhstan] because I am a Chuvash. I am tired of being a
Kazakh in the near abroad although in my passport it is written that I am ‘Russian.’”
“I want to be a Kazakhstanets [that
is, someone who identifies with Kazakhstan], and I want that not to be not
simply a word on paper but something more, something that gets the respect of
others, gives one confidence in oneself and produces pride in one’s children,”
Pavlov says on the Ratel.kz portal which often surveys people in Kazakhstan
about important issues.
According to the Regnum news agency,
“it is not easy for Russified Kazakhs or Russian-speaking officials to live in
[Kazakhstan].” Indeed, it suggests, it may be even harder because many people
blame them for the fact that Kazakhstan has not become the nation state they
hope for.
One person who does blame such people
is Dos Kushim, head of the Ult Tagdyry movement. And he outlines his reasons in an essay,
entitled “Two Big Groups are blockinghte Development of a Nation State” on his
organization’s website (ult.kz/post/dos-koshim-ulttyk-memleket-retinde-damuymyzga-eki-ulken-top-kedergi-keltirip-otyr).
“We have a Russian-speaking society,”
he says, which “every time there is a reduction in the space where Russia is
used, the Kazakh feels himself like a boat without a sail. In Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, the state
language have pushed out Russia.” And already in 1991, they are Georgia
eliminated Russian language and literature from school curricula.
He continues: “Only the Kazakhs and
the Kyrgyz have preserved bilingualism,, but our neighbors are in a better
position than we. We are a more Russified people.” And there are two groups, “Russian-speaking
officials” and “Kazakhs who have absorbed Russian culture” who are now blocking
the formation of a nation state.”
Russians haven’t learned Kazakh over
the last 27 years “not only because of their indifference” to the language issue
but also because of the country’s languages law which makes Russian “the language
of inter-ethnic communication” and defines it as having “official status.” What
Kazakhstan must do is make Kazakh the only official language, Kushim says.
The Kazakh language activist is one
of the initiators of “The Future of Kazakhstan is in the Kazakh Language,” and
he and those who believe that have made a start in implementing it in parts of
western Kazakhstan (newtimes.kz/eshche/regiony/item/37635-v-zko-propagandiruyut-gosudarstvennyj-yazyk).
Kushim says that Russian speakers
must understand that their futures will become “ever more difficult” if they do
not learn Kazakh.” Others, like Azimbay
Gali, share that view and argue that Russian should lose its official status
because only 20 percent of the population of Kazakhstan is now Russian (regnum.ru/news/polit/2175520.html).
Aleksey
Lobanov, a Russian activist in Kazakhstan, dismisses the notion that Russian
speakers don’t want to learn Kazakh simply because they “don’t want to.” There may be many reasons, he says, and they
should be investigated (ratel.kz/raw/aleksej_lobanov_ja_ne_verju_v_iskrennost_teh_kto_vyvodil_ljudej_na_mitingi).
According to him, “in the south of
Kazakhstan, ethnic Russians aged 20 to 25 already freely speak both Kazakh and
Russian, not to speak of the even younger generation. Therefore, after the
passage of a certain amount of time, all people will become bilingual,” and
that is no bad thing, he argues.
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