Kazakh Writer Calls for All Central Asian Countries to Adopt Common Latin Alphabet

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 11 – Since the end of Soviet times, the countries of Central Asia have been wrestling with the question of the alphabets their languages should use, with some still accepting the Cyrillic-based scripts the Soviets imposed and others moving toward Latin scripts. (Some intellectuals are interested in moving back to Arabic but they are marginal.)

            Now, Kazakh writer Rasul Shybantay has taken the next step and proposed that all the titular languages of the region adopt a common alphabet based on the Latin script, something he argues will help integrate the five and also allow them greater access to the outside world (ceasia.org/forum/815-rasulshinibaykazakhstan.html).

                Interviewed by Vladimir Paramonov of the Uzbekistan-based Central Eurasia analytic group, Shybantay says that the countries of the region need democracy, transparency, and the formation of an economic union. But promoting cultural exchange is also important and requires “the introduction of a single alphabet.” 

            “Except for Tajikistan,” Shybantay continues, “the remaining countries are united by their Turkic language. However, the variety of alphabets they use – Cyrillic and Latin and beyond the borders of the region Arabic –is giving rise to a problem for their rapprochement” and integration.”

            According to the Kazakh writer, “an alphabet based on Latin script must and can be introduced as a common ‘denominator’ for the region, something that will make links among the states there easier.  At the same time,” he says, “the study of Russian is also needed, Teaching of Russian should be included as an obligatory course along with English.”

            “This will help to draw the countries of the region into the world’s cultural continuum, will lower risks which Western globalization brings with it. More than that, this will also have an important political dimension: union relations with Russia are extremely important for the preservation of stability in Central Asia.”

            Shybantay’s argument is intriguing because, on the one hand, he is pushing for something that Moscow will see as undermining Russian influence in the region but, on the other, is suggesting that links with Moscow will remain important for the countries of the region. Maintaining that balance won’t be easy, but it may be the path to a breakthrough.