VZCZCXRO2259
RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHPW RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHTA #0485/01 0720452
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 120452Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY ASTANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1957
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE 0432
RUCNCLS/SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 1876

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASTANA 000485 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/CEN - MARTY O'MARA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV SOCI KDEM KZ
 
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN BEGINS THE DIFFICULT AND DELICATE TRANSITION 
FROM RUSSIAN TO KAZAKH 
 
 
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Summary 
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¶1. (SBU) Kazakhstan is slowly transitioning from Russian to Kazakh 
as the primary language of governance.  Spoken by only a minority of 
Kazakhstanis at the time of independence, demographic shifts and 
government programs have increased the prevalence of Kazakh in 
Kazakhstani society.  However, the transition to Kazakh has been 
plagued by delays and many hurdles remain which the government will 
have to surmount before Kazakh becomes Kazakhstan's primary 
language.  Kazakhstan's Russian-speaking minority groups have not 
strongly opposed the move to Kazakh, although this may change if 
language requirements significantly limit their job and educational 
opportunities in the future.  End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
Kazakh: "State Language," But Proficiency Lags 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶2. (U) At the time of Kazakhstan's independence, ethnic Kazakhs 
constituted a minority of the country's population. (Note: "Kazakh" 
refers to the ethnic Kazakh population of Kazakhstan and the Kazakh 
language.  "Kazakhstani" is the term for a citizen of Kazakhstan 
without regard to ethnicity or native language.) Beginning during 
the Russian Empire, and then accelerating throughout the Soviet 
period, successive waves of non-Kazakhs came to inhabit present-day 
Kazakhstan, largely through Stalin's deportations and Khrushchev's 
Virgin Lands campaign.  These migrations coupled with the linguistic 
Russification of urban Kazakhs firmly entrenched the Russian 
language in Kazakhstan to a greater degree than any of the other 
Central Asian republics. 
 
¶3. (U) At the time of Kazakhstan's independence, the Kazakhstani 
government adopted the principle that promoting Kazakh was an 
important element of state-building and establishing the country's 
Kazakh identity.  The 1993 Constitution proclaimed Kazakh as the 
"state language" while Russian -- the tongue of the majority of the 
populace and, in practical terms, the language in which business was 
done -- was relegated to the status of the "language of interethnic 
communication."  The 1995 Constitution uses an even more ambiguous 
formulation, with Article 7 stating that Kazakh is the state 
language but Russian is to have equal status. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Today, Kazakh is more prevalent than it was at the time of 
independence.  Emigration of non-Kazakh-speaking minority groups and 
higher ethnic Kazakh birthrates have altered Kazakhstan's 
demographics in favor of its Kazakh population.  Moreover, even if 
they do not speak it at home, young people are more likely to learn 
Kazakh than they were a generation ago as a result of the growing 
number of primary and secondary Kazakh-language schools. 
Nevertheless, Russian remains the lingua franca in Kazakhstan. 
Approximately 30 percent of ethnic Kazakhs speak little or no Kazakh 
and few non-Kazakhs -- who at present represent just under half of 
the country's overall population -- are proficient in the language. 
In a 2005 USG-funded poll of 1500 Kazakhstanis, 70 percent of those 
polled in person elected to respond to the survey in Russian. 
 
--------------------------------- 
State's Switch to Kazakh Hampered 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) The Kazakhstani government's objective is to make Kazakh 
the sole language of internal government documents, according to 
Professor Dr. Yerden Kazhybek, the Chairman of the Committee of 
Languages in the Ministry of Culture and Information.  At the same 
time, Russian translations of public documents would be made 
available, if there is demand for such versions, he explained. 
Kazhybek contended that three-quarters of the government's 
ministries and 61 percent of regional administrations have made the 
transition to Kazakh. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Efforts to use Kazakh as the language of governance have, 
however, been hindered by the high number of civil servants who 
speak no Kazakh or are not sufficiently proficient to function in 
the language in an office environment.  Stories have circulated 
about internal government documents being written in Russian, 
translated into Kazakh for transmission to another government 
department, and then immediately translated back into Russian at 
their destination.  Moreover, while translation bureaus placed in 
government ministries were intended to remain in place only until 
the ministry in which each was located officially made the switch to 
Kazakh, many have remained in place after the target date passed. 
Because of these problems, Kazhybek admitted that the transition had 
slowed the "functioning of agencies" as the agencies simply reduced 
the number of documents they produced and encountered other problems 
 
ASTANA 00000485  002 OF 003 
 
 
operating with Kazakh as the language of business. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Plans to rectify these issues by providing Kazakh language 
instruction to civil servants have also run into problems.  Though 
many Kazakhstani government agencies do provide such courses, they 
have been limited by a lack of qualified Kazakh language teachers. 
Moreover, available Kazakh instructional materials are of poor 
quality and many civil servants have simply refrained from making 
the effort to attend, according to Kazhybek. 
 
¶8. (SBU) During the Soviet period, Kazakh was left to linguistically 
languish as Russian dominated technical and academic fields. 
Consequently, Kazakh today simply lacks words for many modern 
objects and concepts.  A large government initiative seeks to tackle 
this problem, according to Kazhybek.  University research groups and 
technical specialists in a variety of fields have been tasked with 
developing new terms in Kazakh.  These terms are then vetted by 
Kazakh linguists and submitted for approval to the Institute of 
Linguistics.  The final stage of authorization for new terms is the 
Special National Terminological Committee.  However, this initiative 
is far from complete and often even native Kazakh speakers are not 
comfortable discussing technical subjects in Kazakh because they 
generally received a higher education in those fields in Russian. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Promoting Kazakh Among the Populace 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) In addition to its plans to transition to Kazakh as the 
primary language of governance, Kazakhstan has also sought to 
promote the Kazakh language as a key element of the 
post-independence nation-building project.  In his February 2008 
annual state of the nation address, President Nazarbayev underscored 
the importance of all people obtaining a "deep mastery" of the state 
language.  Toward this end, Nazarbayev demanded that the responsible 
government agencies improve teaching quality, develop better 
audio-visual instructions, and improve study tools.  Kazhybek 
explained that over 40 language centers have opened throughout the 
country to increase public proficiency in Kazakh, a number which is 
to be increased to more than 100 by 2010.  He added that the 
government is investing in improving Kazakh instructional materials 
and plans to launch a web portal which will include a variety of 
Kazakh teaching tools.  However, the language centers will only be 
able to provide instruction to a few thousand people -- hardly 
sufficient to allow all Kazakhstanis "mastery" of the language -- 
and Kazakhstan's low level of internet penetration will keep the new 
web portal beyond the reach of most of the population. 
 
¶10. (SBU) The government also must grapple with a host of hurdles to 
promote Kazakh in its educational system.  Many parents are 
reluctant to send their children to schools which exclusively use 
Kazakh because they are perceived to be less academically rigorous. 
Most of Kazakhstan's highly-educated teachers teach in Russian, and 
Kazakh langauge textbooks are generally inferior to their Russian 
equivalents.  In 2007, Vice Minister of Education Kuliash 
Shamshitdinova complained publicly about these shortcomings. 
Nazarbayev remarked in his 2008 state of the nation address that the 
number of Kazakh language publishing houses must be increased so 
that competition can foster the development of better textbooks. The 
situation is not much better in the commercial marketplace. 
Browsing the shelves of the growing number of modern bookstores in 
Almaty and Astana suggests that there is at best a tiny supply of 
Kazakh-language books available. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
Balancing Minority Concerns and Kazakh Nationalism 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶11. (SBU) Kazakhstan's government is caught between its aim of 
strengthening Kazakh identity and a desire to avoid alienating the 
various minority groups which collectively constitute almost half of 
Kazakhstan's population, all of which speak Russian as their primary 
language.  To assuage the concerns of the country's non-Kazakh 
speakers (and as an acknowledgement that many ethnic Kazakhs also do 
not speak fluent Kazakh), Kazakhstan's transition to Kazakh has been 
repeatedly delayed.  Moreover, the government has maintained 
considerable flexibility in its language requirements for civil 
servants because it wants to keep the issue from becoming unduly 
divisive, according to Kazhybek.  This is a priority for Nazarbayev, 
who stated in an August 2007 speech that discrimination against 
those who do not speak Kazakh is unacceptable. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Kazakh nationalists, on the other hand, are increasingly 
frustrated by the slow pace of linguistic transition.  They believe 
that ethnic Kazakhs and the Kazakh language remain under threat in 
Kazakhstan.  The National Front to Fight for the Status of the 
 
ASTANA 00000485  003 OF 003 
 
 
Kazakh Language was recently founded to press the government to 
speed the transition, though it remains to be seen whether this 
organization will follow through with a threat to launch protests if 
its demands are not met. 
 
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Comment 
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¶13. (SBU) Though Kazakh nationalists and minority rights 
organizations both feel aggrieved by the government's current 
policy, mainstream Kazakhstani public opinion does not yet seem to 
be divided over the issue.  However, this could change in the coming 
years, particularly if the government opts to strengthen Kazakh 
language requirements for civil servants or for graduation from or 
entry to educational institutions.  As government efforts to 
transition to Kazakh begin to affect a wider portion of the 
populace, the prospects for vocal opposition to the program could 
increase.  Considerable doubt remains as to whether Kazakhstan's 
minority groups -- particularly the sizable Russian population -- 
will ever learn Kazakh.  Moreover, the lack of an effective program 
of Kazakh-language education in Russian-language schools only 
perpetuates the problem for generations to come. End Comment. 
 
ORDWAY