KZBlog

Astana Calling, the newsletter from the Kazakhstan Embassy in the US is out with its latest issue. (To subscribe to this newsletter, write to pressa@mid.kz).

There are a couple of articles that caught my attention and I’ll be writing about them in upcoming posts. But the first one I wanted to discuss was Public Debates Encouraged on Draft Doctrine of National Unity. As some observers may know, Kazakhstan has been working on a national policy to promote inter-ethnic and inter-religious harmony. One of the things that Kazakhstan prides itself on is being a very diverse state that has never suffered any serious ethnic conflict. Now they want to draft an actual national policy on tolerance. A few weeks ago, the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan, a body consisting of representatives of the different ethnic and religious groups in Kazakhstan, met and discussed this policy. There were a few interesting developments.

One of the most interesting issues in inter-ethnic relations is the controversial status of Kazakhs, Kazakh culture and Kazakh language in Kazakhstan. So it was nice to hear some more moderate language about promoting the Kazakh language and tolerating the Russian language.

On the one hand, you have people who believe that Kazakhstan is the land of the Kazakhs, by definition. Therefore Kazakh culture should have primary status over other cultures and everyone should speak the Kazakh language, in the same way Germans speak German and the Chinese speak Chinese. This side has won quite a few battles: Kazakh is the official language of Kazakhstan. The government now drafts all official documents in Kazakh. And in schools, children learn primarily about Kazakh culture–even in art class they learn to draw native Kazakh patterns but not, for example, Uighur or Tatar patterns.

However, you also have Kazakhstani who are not Kazakh who have lived in Kazakhstan all their lives, not to mention their fathers and mothers and grandfathers and grandmothers. They have always spoken Russian; they may be Russian by ethnicity. They feel scared that they are being rejected by their own homeland. Some are afraid that the day will come when they will not be able to work or educate their children or even go to the store because everyone will speak Kazakh only. They don’t understand why all of a sudden everyone is being forced to embrace the Kazakh language. On the extreme side, you have reactionaries who claim that Russian is a better, more sophisticated language than Kazakh, that everything good in Kazakhstan came from Russia and the Soviet Union, and that modern Kazakhstani culture owes a lot to Russian culture. It is a bit sad that these extremists are louder than the more reasonable majority who have nothing against Kazakh culture, but simply feel that they are being excluded due to their ethnicity.

Then you have Kazakhs who do not speak Kazakh, who are also scared of being excluded. Many parents sent their children to Russian language schools and encouraged their children to speak Russian, to the exclusion of Kazakh, because in Soviet times, knowing Russian was necessary for a successful career and Kazakh language schools tended to be inferior in quality (in accordance with Soviet policy to force Russian culture on people). Why should they suffer now for the quite rational decision of the parents? A subset of this group feels like traitors to their people for not speaking the language and not knowing more about the history and culture of Kazakhs. I once saw a sign on the bus advertising Kazakh language courses and giving reasons why people should learn Kazakh. In Russian it said things like, “Improve your knowledge with a new language,” and, “You have better chances of getting a job if you speak Kazakh.” And in Kazakh it said things like, “Real Kazakhs should speak Kazakh,” and, “You should represent Kazakhs by knowing our language.” Playing on the guilt! Sadly, again, those who feel this guilt is imposed upon them by the government and thus resent the new policies often get more visibility than those who have a reasonable point.

Throw into that mix the backlashers, who feel their Kazakh culture was repressed in Soviet times and so it’s payback time for the Russians and the conservatives who feel that things are ok right now, there are no serious problems, so why stir up the pot. Add in human nature which tends to react violently to things they are opposed to, instead of trying to understand others or influence the government and society through reasonable discussion.

And there’s the fact that each group has valid points–Kazakhstan does have claim to a historical Kazakh past. But modern Kazakhstani culture has been heavily influenced by Russia and the Soviet Union. It would be hard if your homeland suddenly forced everyone to speak one language, having previously tolerated two. There is also the difficult fact that a majority of Kazakhstani speak Russian fluently, but a very small majority speak Kazakh fluently, making Russian a convenient choice.

The Assembly of the People, then the Government Secretary and now the President have all clarified that the government is not in fact planning to force people to speak Kazakh, and that it understands that many people speak Russian or prefer Russian and have legitimate claims to do so. That’s not to say that the day will never come when Kazakhstan only uses the Kazakh language–but there is a long way to go to get to that point.

So I’m curious how you readers feel about language and culture policy in Kazakhstan. Is the government doing well in dealing with a difficult question?