Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has stated that the status of the Kazakh language needs to be increased, but the position of other languages, including the Russian language, must not be infringed upon.
"The state language of our country is the Kazakh language, but the Russian language also has a proper place in the constitution of our country, so let us proceed from that," he said Friday during a session of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan.
According to him, by virtue of its history and ethnic specifics, Kazakhstan is a multilingual state. "And this is our plus, our asset. We must take measures to strengthen the status of the Kazakh language, but not to the detriment and especially not for the purpose of discriminating against other languages," the head of state said.
Tokayev noted that political games around language problems may lead to irreparable consequences. "There are a lot of examples of this in the modern international arena. Therefore, let's be responsible in our domestic politics," the president pointed out.
Addressing the participants of the Assembly session, the head of state spoke about the need to preserve and strengthen the unity of the nation. "After all, we are one big family, in which there are no strangers. Only through our joint efforts can we build our new Kazakhstan," he added.
The Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan is an advisory and consultative body under the president of the republic. The main tasks of the Assembly are to implement state national policy, to ensure social and political stability in Kazakhstan and to increase the effectiveness of co-operation between state and civil society institutions in the sphere of inter-ethnic relations. Tokayev is the chairman of the assembly.
"Language patrols"
Incidents of so-called language patrols in Kazakhstan are aimed at undermining national unity, Tokayev said.
At the beginning of August 2021, a number of mass media published reports that biased persons organized checks of the use of the Kazakh language at some commercial objects in the republic and, based on its results, posted the information on one of the channels on YouTube. In the published videos they insulted the representatives of non-indigenous nationalities of the republic. The first Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Kazakhstan Dauren Abayev later stated that it is unfair to speak of the infringement of the Russian language in the republic against the background of the situation with the so-called language patrols, and such precedents themselves are unacceptable and outrageous.
"The existing facts of discrimination, the so-called language patrols are all provocations aimed at undermining the national unity of Kazakhstan," said the head of state. According to him, it is unacceptable that external conflicts, which have been and will be used to foment interethnic discord and form fault lines among the people of Kazakhstan.
"All these actions are organized by professional provocateurs acting on the instructions of professional services or special services. All these actions in the language of professional special services are called active measures. Unfortunately, they take place in our country," Tokayev explained.
According to him, it is necessary to proceed from the fact that provocateurs, no matter where they live, no matter what passports they are hiding behind, "must not and will not undermine our unity and the right of our state to conduct an independent policy".
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS