Language Policy in Kazakhstan

Russification in the Kazakh SSR

The policy pursued by the leadership of the Soviet Union to build a state in accordance with the proclaimed rights, equality and sovereignty of peoples led to a campaign for the indigenization in the 1920s and 1930s. Office work in the country was translated into Kazakh , the number of representatives of the Kazakh people in power was increasing, a translation into Latin and then into Cyrillic graphics was carried out, party and economic workers were trained in Kazakh, numerous agitation and propaganda activities were carried out ^[4] . Indigenous generation faced strong resistance. Heads of institutions opposed the opening of Kazakh language courses for European workers, and the training of Kazakh workers was not conducted well ^[5] .

In the same years, talented Kazakh theoretical and methodological linguists (A. Baitursynov, K. Zhubanov, N. Turekulov, T. Shonanov, E. Omarov, H. Dosmukhamedov, K. Kemengerov), writers and compilers of primers and manuals on the Kazakh language (S. Seifullin, B. Maylin, M. Dulatov, M. Zhumabaev, J. Aymautov, T. Zhurgenov). By 1937, not a single professional linguist remained and Kazakh linguistics had to be re-created ^[6] . Political repressions reduced the number of Kazakh intelligentsia , and the new bilingual layer of educated Kazakhs used their native language only in everyday life. All this made the Russification of the next generation of this segment of the population inevitable ^[7] .

The main reason for the Russification in the Kazakh SSR is associated with a change in the national composition, which resulted in a sharp decline in the percentage of the indigenous population that was affected by the following factors:

• The loss of the indigenous population during the famine in Kazakhstan in the early 30s (more than 1 million people) ^[8] ;
• The resettlement of dispossessed peasants from the Slavic republics in the 20s and 30s (about 250,000 people) ^[9] ;
• The arrival of immigrants from other republics in the course of the industrialization of the Kazakh SSR, which began in the 30s ^[10] ;
• Deportation of peoples to the Kazakh SSR from 1937 to 1949 (about 1 million people) ^[11] ;
• The resettlement of citizens who fell under the Stalinist repressions into the Kazakh SSR from the end of the 20s to the beginning of the 50s (more than 5 million people) ^[12] ;
• The arrival of immigrants from other republics during the development of virgin lands in the Kazakh SSR, which began in 1954 (640,000 people arrived only at the first stage of 1954-1956) ^{[13] [14]}

Russification in Kazakhstan led to widespread Kazakh-Russian bilingualism , but there was practically no reverse Russian-Kazakh bilingualism ^[15] . The “ prestigious ” Russian language in the Soviet period became a guarantee of social mobility and professional career ^[16] . In the 1920–1930s, the number of speakers of Russian among Kazakhs was insignificant ^[17] . By 1970, 42% of Kazakhs were fluent in Russian, while the Kirghiz had a figure of 19%, while Uzbeks , Tajiks and Turkmen were completely below - 15%. By 1989, 63% of Kazakhs spoke Russian (an increase of 1% per year — a very high rate). 30% of urban Kazakhs did not know their native language and spoke only Russian ^[18] .

In 1959, the Kazakhs accounted for about 30% of the total population of the republic, by 1962 the proportion of Kazakhs had fallen to 28.9% (Slavic peoples - 57%). It was at this time that the assimilation policy of the country's population reached its peak ^[19] . As a result of the resettlement of the Slavic peoples (mostly Russian), until 1996 the Kazakhs were an ethnic minority in the republic (the Kazakh SSR was the only republic of the USSR whose titular nation became a minority ^[16] ), Russian became the language of the majority of the population, and It became strictly due to the need ^[20] . Western authors ^{[ who? ]} called the resettlement of Russians into national republics “ colonization ”.

Practically all higher education of the Kazakh SSR was Russified, this also affected a significant part of primary and secondary education ^[21] . In 1938, the decree “On compulsory study of the Russian language in schools of the national republics and regions” ^[18] was issued, and in 1979, the study of the Russian language became mandatory in preschool institutions ^[22] . In 1955, the teaching of the Kazakh language in the Russian-speaking schools of the country was canceled (Decree of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR dated June 4, 1955 "On exemption from compulsory study of the Kazakh language in Russian schools").

In 1957, the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR adopted a decree "On compulsory learning of the native language by students of Kazakhs who study in schools where instruction is conducted in Russian." According to the Resolution, the Kazakh language was to be studied in class-based groups with at least 10 pupils studying Kazakh language in each class (in those cases when there were less than 10 such pupils in the class, it was necessary to create groups of students 2-4 and separately 5 - 7 classes with the number of students in each group of at least 10 people). ^[23]

However, in some schools at that time there were practically no lessons of the Kazakh language (the subjective opinion of the author of the text in the source concerns only one school No. 62 in Almaty ) ^[15] .

In general, the orderly teaching of the Kazakh language in schools was conducted, but had a rather formal approach ^[24] :

Even in Soviet times, the Kazakh language course was more orderly, although its teaching was conducted formally.

- Kazakh as a foreign. Vlad Filin

In 1959–1960, there were 3,123 Kazakh schools with 192,274 students in the Kazakh SSR, while 826,103 students studied in 4,199 Russian schools. Another 374,998 pupils studied in 1518 schools with a mixed language of instruction (the number of Uzbek, Uygur and Tajik schools was insignificant) ^[25] . In 1958, the proportion of Kazakh children attending Kazakh schools was 75%, but by 1991 this figure had dropped to 34.4% ^[26] . A significant proportion of Kazakh schools were located in rural areas, and in the cities there was practically no education in the Kazakh language. This is evidenced by the fact that until the end of the 1980s in the capital of the republic, Alma-Ata, there was only one Kazakh school number 12 ^[22] .

In the period (1950-1970), the number of Kazakh schools decreased from 3,891 to 2,577, while the number of Russian schools teaching in Russian increased by 1,500 ^[27] . In the 1989/90 school year, 49% of general education schools of the Ministry of Public Education of Kazakhstan, where 67% of students studied, taught in Russian, and 32% of schools - in Kazakh.

Kazakhization

The Law on Languages ​​in the Kazakh SSR ^[28] , adopted on September 22, 1989, introduced the notion “state language”, and the Kazakh language was given the status of the state language ^[29] ; Later, by amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, it was determined that “Russian is officially used along with the state language”.

On May 15, 2002, at the presentation of the public association “Russian Party of Kazakhstan” (PKK), it was announced that the primary task of the PKK was to encourage all Russians living in Kazakhstan to learn the state language . More than 3 thousand people became members of the Russian Party at its opening ^[30] .

The Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan fully translated the documentation into the state language according to the order of the Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated July 5, 2004 No. 348 ^[31] .

For 2004, according to D. O'Biken, “the government of Kazakhstan has decided that the Kazakh language will play a crucial role in the process of Kazakhization of society” ^{[32] [33]} .

Thanks to the work of the Assembly of the Peoples of Kazakhstan , languages ​​and cultures are supported in Kazakhstan (or at least there are no obstacles to their development) that do not have the status of a state ^[34] .

On September 12, 2005, speaking at the second Civil Forum, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N. Nazarbayev stated ^[35] :

By 2006, according to data voiced during the round table "The Future of Kazakhstan and the state language", in five regions ( Atyrau region , Zhambyl region , Kyzylorda region , Mangystau region , South Kazakhstan region ), the paperwork was officially translated into Kazakh . Nevertheless, even in these areas, the Kazakhization of office work faces a number of difficulties. Therefore, in the Atyrau region, only 51% of the entire official document flow was performed in the Kazakh language, in the Dzhambul region - 50%, in Kyzylorda - 49%. In 2006, 500 million tenge was allocated from the republican budget for the introduction of the Kazakh language ^[36] .

In 2007, the number of citizens of Kazakhstan who speak the state language of the republic reached about 70 percent. ... According to him (the Minister of Culture and Information Yermukhamet Yertysbayev) said 10 years ago, when the Law "On Languages ​​in the Republic of Kazakhstan" was adopted, this figure did not exceed 40 percent ^[37] .

On August 20, 2007 ^[38] at the XIII ^[39] session of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan, the Head of State N. A. Nazarbayev emphasized ^[1] :

In 2008, testing on the state language was introduced, as one of the stages of competitive selection in obtaining Bolashak scholarships ^[40] .

On September 10, 2008, Nezavisimaya Gazeta disseminated information that by 2010, Kazakhstan plans to fully switch to the Kazakh language. Citizens of the republic will have to pass a language exam to get a job. An exception will be made for those employees who are over 50. In addition, the article noted that the reduction in the number of mixed schools and pre-school institutions, where instruction is in Russian, has begun.

December 13, 2008 - Karim Masimov ^[41] (Prime Minister of Kazakhstan) said that Kazakhstan does not intend to recognize Russian as the second state language. “We all speak Russian, but not all speak Kazakh”, he added ^[42] .

In early September 2009, it became known that by 2010, office work in Kazakhstan would be translated into the state language by 60%, and not by 70, as planned. This is due to the fact that in early September, the government of the republic decided to change the Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2009-2011 ^[43] .

On September 20, 2009, a rally of supporters of the active development and implementation of the Kazakh language in all spheres of public life in Kazakhstan was held in Almaty at the Palace of the Republic ^[44] .

On February 15, 2010, following the results of 2009, an analysis of documents in the document flow of incoming and outgoing documents of the East Kazakhstan region was conducted ^[45] . Separately highlighted indicator of the use of the state language.

• In state bodies of districts and cities, it was 85.3%
  • In 2008, this figure was 80.6%
• In the regional offices it was 67.5%.
  • In 2008 - 53.6%

Teaching the state language for 2009 in the East Kazakhstan region ^[45] :

• there are 1 regional, 8 district and city centers for language training, which train 1,642 students.
• in Sunday schools and circles at ethnocultural centers, 1408 students learn their native language
• 3 schools and 3 kindergartens working in the state language of training and education have opened

The Minister of Education and Science of Kazakhstan Z. Tuimebayev ^[46] in his interview on January 29, 2010 to the question about the translation of office work in the Kazakh language since 2010 replied that “All of our official documentation is conducted in the state Kazakh and international Russian. No crowding is expected. This was recently announced by President Nursultan Nazarbayev. He also confirmed that Russian will retain all the functions of the language of international communication. I therefore emphasize: the rumors and assumptions about some kind of ousting the Russian language are incorrect. ” Responding to other questions, he also stated, “The people who study in Russian are now in Kazakhstan much more than ethnically Russians. Russian is our property, and our president has repeatedly spoken about this. Kazakhs learned world culture through the Russian language ”,“ Russian schools, that is, those where all the subjects are in Russian, we have about 30 percent in the republic. Agree, not so little ” ^[47] .

On July 26, 2010, the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Mukhtar Kul-Mukhammed, said: “The implementation of the tasks will allow to achieve confident results by 2020: the share of Kazakhs who speak the state language will increase from 60 to 95%,” the share of Kazakhstanis who speak Russian will be at least 90%, now it is 89%. The share of Kazakhs who speak English will be about 20% " ^{[48] [49]} .

(10.6.2010) In 2012, according to the amendments to the Law "On Culture", all films imported to the territory of Kazakhstan for the purpose of distribution must be duplicated into the Kazakh language (see "Oh, roll!", "Time" from 10.6. 2010) ^[50] .

(06/16/2011) “Inside the Internet, which does not recognize any boundaries, only one type of sovereignty is possible - linguistic”, writes Timur Kulibayev ^{[51] [52]} in his message. Thus, he clarified the proposal of the head of state made the day before, namely: “The time has come to introduce new concepts into international law - e-border, e-sovereignty” - suggested Nursultan Nazarbayev (June 15, 2011) in Astana at the X Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit ^[53] .

On August 4, 2011, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Kazakhstan prepared a draft law, which states that applications (complaints) to state bodies and government responses to individuals and legal entities and other documents, maintenance of accounting and statistical, financial, technical and other documentation in the system of government authorities of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as all documentation originating from government bodies, must necessarily be in the Kazakh language. And for maintaining accounting, statistical, financial, technical and other documentation in organizations of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a reservation was made, this information is provided in the Kazakh language, and only “if necessary” in Russian. Names jur. persons and objects from the date of adoption of the law should be given only in the Kazakh language. In the field of education, the number of Kazakh groups and classes should be at least 50% (in kindergartens, schools, vocational lyceums, in higher, secondary and secondary specialized educational institutions that are privately owned) ^[54] .

On August 16, 2011, in response to the legislative initiatives of the Ministry of Culture, the Republican Slavic movement “Lada” adopted a political statement, which, in particular, noted that

Исходя из чего, председатель движения «Лад» М. Б. Крамаренко делает следующий вывод в своем заявлении:

6 сентября 2011 года Общественные деятели потребовали от президента Казахстана исключить из конституции пункт об употреблении русского языка наравне с государственным — казахским. Подписавшиеся: сопредседатель ОСДП « Азат » Булат Абилов , председатель партии « Ак жол » Азат Перуашев , герой СССР лётчик-космонавт Тохтар Аубакиров , народная артистка СССР Бибигуль Тулегенова , председатель партии зеленых « Руханият » Серикжан Мамбеталин, а также писатели, публицисты и многие другие ^[56] . А уже 7 сентября 2011 года Советник президента Казахстана по политическим вопросам Ермухамет Ертысбаев отреагировал на письмо общественных деятелей с заявлением «что подавляющее большинство казахстанского электората выступит против такой позиции» и добавил, что русский язык, уже никто, никогда и нигде не сможет вытеснить. Председатель Мажилиса Урал Мухамеджанов также отметил, что выступает против внесения поправок в Конституцию страны, меняющих статус русского языка ^[57] . В этот же день первый зампредседателя Народно-Демократической партии «Нур Отан» Нурлан Нигматулин от имени партии « Нур Отан » высказал мнение, что «Развитие государственного и других языков необходимо и далее осуществлять спокойно, последовательно, без политизации и внесения излишних эмоций.» ^[58] А 09.09.2011 появилось открытое письмо к важнейшим политическим деятелям страны в котором авторы предлагали более мягкие реформы в вопросе усиления роли казахского языка в Казахстане. Под письмом подписались Владимир Козлов — председатель партии « Алга! », а также руководители общественных фондов, главные редакторы многих газет и ряд журналистов ^[59] .

14 декабря 2012 года «Казахстан к 2025 году намерен перевести алфавит с кириллицы на латиницу», — заявил президент страны Нурсултан Назарбаев, выступая в пятницу на торжественном собрании, посвящённом 21 годовщине независимости страны. «Необходимо уже сейчас начать подготовительные работы по переводу к 2025 году казахского алфавита на латинскую графику», — сказал Назарбаев. По мнению Назарбаева, латиница превратит казахский «в язык современной информации». К тому времени, в 2025 году, казахский язык должен стать повсеместным и главенствующим во всех сферах жизни страны. ^[60]

12 апреля 2017 года Нурсултан Назарбаев определил, что к концу 2017 года в тесном взаимодействии с учёными и всеми представителями общественности необходимо принять единый стандарт нового казахского алфавита и графики, таким образом инициировав активную фазу отказа от кириллицы и перехода к использованию латиницы. ^[61]

В 1989 году был принят закон «О языках в Казахской ССР», который определил статус казахского и русского языков. В нём, в частности, говорилось, что «государственным языком Казахской ССР является казахский язык», а русский язык является «языком межнационального общения» ^[47] .

Согласно конституции Казахстана 1995 года , единственным государственным языком является казахский:

Article 7: In the Republic of Kazakhstan, the state language is Kazakh.

However, despite this, the constitution protects the rights of specifically Russian speakers.

The norm of part 2 of Article 7 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan of 1995 that “In state organizations and local self-government bodies along with Kazakh, the Russian language is officially used” in 1997 clarified the decision of the Constitutional Council : “(.). This constitutional norm is understood unequivocally that in state organizations and local self-government bodies the Kazakh and Russian languages ​​are used equally, equally, regardless of any circumstances, ”which also established that“ the establishment of the list of professions, specialties, as well as positions for which requires knowledge of the state language to a certain extent and in accordance with the qualification requirements, is not contrary to the Constitution. ” ^[62]

On July 11, 1997, the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 151-1 “On Languages ​​in the Republic of Kazakhstan” was adopted, which reads:

^[63]

In 2001 , the State Program for the Functioning and Development of Languages ​​for 2001-2010 was approved, paragraph 5.1.1. which provides that “State bodies need to carry out work on a phased transition until 2010 of clerical work, maintenance of accounting, statistical, financial and technical documentation into the state language and subject to the provisions of paragraph 2 of Article 7 of the Constitution to implement it”.

In 2007, another resolution of the Constitutional Council clarified that “the Basic Law provides for the supremacy of the status of the state language”, while recognizing the right to apply to state bodies in Russian. ^[64]

In 2011, a draft of amendments to a number of legislative acts on language policy issues was put forward ^[65] ; then announced that his demands were relaxed ^[66] .

Political parties

According to Kazakhstan legislation, the establishment of political parties on a national and confessional basis is prohibited ^[67]

In the Kazakhstani elections of 2007, the largest representation of Russian-speaking candidates was in the CPPK ( Communist People’s Party of Kazakhstan ) - 35%, NSDP (National Social Democratic Party) - 18.5% and the ruling Nur-Otan party - 17.46% ^{[67 ]} . On the issue of the status of the Russian language, the CPPC calls for the preservation of the former status of the Russian language, and the NSDP is in favor of creating conditions for the full use of the Russian language, which, according to the party, "played an undeniable role in creating an atmosphere of inter-ethnic harmony" ^[67] .

In 2007, at the state level , Kazakhstan adopted the “cultural project“ Trinity of Languages ​​”” - Kazakh, Russian and English ^[68] . However, this idea had both supporters and opponents.

The chairman of the Russian community of Kazakhstan stated that “... we can take upon ourselves the question of learning the Kazakh language by Russian youth.” ^[68]

The dean of the philological faculty of the Kazakh National University Kanseit Abdezuly rated this project as one of the main priorities of state policy ^[69] .

Director of the Center for the Study of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, Indiana University (USA), William Fieerman, on May 15, 2008 , at the international scientific-theoretical conference "Multilingualism: language - consciousness - culture" opened in Almaty, assessed the idea as correct, but emphasized that for Kazakh language problem lies in the fact that it, as a state language, low demand ^[70] .

Opponents

On November 26, 2009, prominent figures of culture, literature, as well as chief editors of newspapers and magazines published in the republic, representatives of the intelligentsia , leaders of public organizations - signed by 124 people, with the support of more than 5 thousand citizens, said that thanks to the policy of “trinity of languages” Kazakh language will gradually die out, and Russian and English will play a dominant and progressive role ^[71] .

At the presentation of the state program of functioning and development of languages ​​for 2011 - 2020 . (02.08.2010) it was proposed to stop imposing three languages ​​at once on children: Kazakh, Russian and English, introduce a new article into the code for insulting the Kazakh language, do away with legislative support for the Russian language and redirect all forces to the state language. This view was expressed by Mukhtar Shakhanov and Myrzatai Sergaliyev (doctor of philology, professor, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan). However, Culture Minister Mukhtar Kul-Muhammad tried to besiege too sharp speeches ^[72] .

Pre-school education

The number of children's pre-school organizations with instruction in the Kazakh language by the year 2000 did not exceed 25% (1,158) of the total number of similar organizations in the whole country (1.5 million - in Russian (45%), 80 thousand - in Uzbek (2.3 %), 23 thousand - in Uygur (0.6%), 2.5 thousand - in Tajik (0.07%) and more than a thousand - in other languages ^[73]

Secondary education

In the 2013/2014 school year, out of 2.5 million students in the republic’s schools, 1.7 million were taught in Kazakh, 808.6 thousand in Russian, 98.3 in other languages ^[74] . According to data published in 2009, out of 2,546 million students of budget schools in Kazakh, there were 1,543 million (60.6%), in Russian - 0.904 million (35.5%), in Uzbek - 0.079 million (3.1%) ^{[ 75]} .

The number of schools with the Kazakh language of instruction is gradually increasing. The number of schools in Kazakh was 3809 (50.2%); the number of Russian schools was 1405 (19.5%) ^[73] .

From 2001/2002 to 2005/2006, the number of schools with Russian as the language of instruction fell by 303, mixed Russian-Kazakh schools by five, and schools with Kazakh as the language of instruction increased by 46. The proportion of university students enrolled in the Kazakh language over the same period increased from 31.5 to 42.6% ^[36] .

As of October 26, 2009, 61% of Kazakhstani schoolchildren and 48% of students study in the Kazakh language ^[76] .

In his interview in 2010 , the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Zh. Tuimebayev , commented on the reference to the data on the closure of Russian schools as follows: “Only parents choose whether to send a child to a Russian or Kazakh school. The state does not specifically close the school. There are about 30 percent of Russian schools in Russia, that is, where all the subjects are in Russian. Agree, not so little ” ^[47] .

Higher education

The number of students in the departments with the Kazakh language of instruction by the year 2000 was about 32% (85,300) (the number of students in the Russian departments was about 68% (181,000)) ^[73] .

According to data published in 2009, out of the total number of university students (634 thousand), 322 thousand (50.7%) studied in Russian, 302 thousand (47.6%) studied in Kazakh, 10 thousand in English. (1.6%) ^[52] .

January 18, 2011 . The Statistics Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan reported that at the beginning of the school year, the number of students studying in the Kazakh language in Kazakhstan was 319,940 people, which is approximately 52% ^[77] .

At the beginning of the 2015/2016 school year in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the total number of students is 459,369, the proportion of students enrolled in the Kazakh language is 62.7%, in Russian - 34.3% and in English - 3.0%. ^[78]

On July 26, 2010, the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Mukhtar Kul-Muhammed, said that the history of Kazakhstan in the country's universities will be taught only in Kazakh ^[79] .

• Kazakhization
• Russian language in Kazakhstan
• Ethnic conflicts in Kazakhstan

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• From the idea of ​​the “Trinity of Languages” by N. A. Nazarbayev to multilingual education in Kazakhstan