Kazakhstan, as (the ninth largest country in the world) and the largest country in Central Asia since its independence underwent various changes, including the change of the alphabet in Kazakhstan in 2006. Also in 2011, support for the changing of the alphabet increased, but the issue remained silent for several years, after opposition to the transition to the Latin alphabet. 

Meanwhile, in October 2017, President Nazarbayev signed a decree approving the Latin alphabet. Recently, the National Alphabet Council of Kazakhstan unveiled the new Kazakh alphabet, which will be implemented in a step-by-step manner from 2023 to 2031. In fact, by order of the President of Kazakhstan, the Kazakh alphabet will be gradually changed from Cyrillic to Latin from 2023.

In fact, in the government's view, the transition to Latin script without political motives is part of the process of modernization, the acquisition of new technology, communication with the world today, learning and teaching foreign languages ​​and keeping pace with the science and education in the 21st century. Therefore, the issue of changing the alphabet is a necessary action.

Also, the reform process needed to move toward the incoming Kazakhstan is more accessible with Latin script. The developed countries of the world and 80% of the countries of the world use the Latin alphabet. But with the krill alphabet, full use of new tools is not possible.Thus, the transition of the Kazakh alphabet to Latin is a new opportunity for the country to converge in the international community and strengthen its international standing. From this point of view, in today's world, Russian influence in the world and the neighboring countries has largely faded and is declining. Therefore, the transition to the Latin alphabet is inevitable and a necessity for the future. Due to the successful experience of other countries in the region, its effects on the country are very great.

Kazakhstan seems to be seeking a broader relationship and increasing military and political cooperation with Turkey and other Turkic-speaking countries within the framework of Turkish language countries. 

Undoubtedly, the Latin alphabet of the Kazakh language is similar to the Latin script of the Istanbul Turkish language, and by changing the line of communication with other Turkic-speaking countries; it makes it more distant from the Russian-speaking countries.

Moreover, this is the fourth time the alphabet has changed in Kazakhstan. Until the early twentieth century, the Arabic-Persian alphabet was in vogue in the country. From 1929 the script changed to Latin. In 1940, the Russians replaced Latin with the Cyrillic script. From this perspective, to some extent, the issue of changing the alphabet in Kazakhstan is in fact a departure from Russian cultural hegemony.

In addition, one of the important policies of many governments is the dissemination of the national language. Therefore, from a point of view, changing the alphabet is an important factor for the widespread use of the Kazakh language. In fact, the Russians are the country's second-largest ethnic group, whose share has fallen from 40 percent to 23 percent since Kazakhstan's independence. Almost 90% of Kazakhstan's population of 18 million speaks Russian fluently. But the Kazakh language is second with 74%.

In fact, by changing the alphabet, the Kazakh language has practically distanced itself from the Russian language and can become the main language and communicating among the people.

In another dimension, the transition to the Latin alphabet helps to promote Kazakhstan's national identity. The abolition of the Cyrillic alphabet means the return of the Kazakh identity in accordance with the needs of the new Kazakh identity. In other words, full independence is possible by maintaining the integrity of Kazakhstan's identity and maintaining a relative distance from Russia.

What is clear is that changing the alphabet is an ambitious project. But certainly changing the alphabet has and will have many positive and negative results like in other countries.

Maybe the importance of the Russian languages ​​in the country, especially in the northern regions and provinces, would not significantly reduce, but it could gradually increase the position of the Kazakh language in comparison with Russian or the mediating language in the society. This, of course, will have various economic, political and strategic consequences for the country.

Farzad Ramezani Bonesh

Senior Researcher and Analyst of International Affairs