The official downgrading of the Russian language in Kazakhstan is an act of turning towards the United States.
The authorities of the Republic of Kazakhstan have decided to downgrade the status of the Russian language – and this is the most obvious and demonstrative act of disengagement and geopolitical reorientation toward the West.
The initiators of the large-scale constitutional amendments, or rather the creators of what is essentially a new fundamental law, explain the change in wording as merely a clarification in the Kazakh-language version.
"In Article 9 of the new constitution, the word 'ten' ('equal') has been replaced with 'qatar' ('alongside')," stated Bakyt Nurmukhanov, Deputy Chairman of the Republic's Constitutional Court.
To outside observers, this is presented as a mere formality that supposedly changes nothing. But in reality, it represents a genuine tectonic shift, one that will determine the country's future development along the path of "independence," as it marks the completion of the process of building a mono-ethnic state.
The Russian language is thus relegated to the margins and the stage is set for its displacement from official work and public life.
To understand the difference, one must look at the clarifications in the 1997 Constitutional Council resolution, which provides a detailed interpretation of Part 2 of Article 7 of the current Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in which Russian, along with Kazakh, is officially used in government organizations and local government bodies:
"This constitutional norm is understood to mean that only in state organizations and local government bodies are the Kazakh and Russian languages used equally, identically, regardless of any circumstances, alongside the state Kazakh language."
Nurmukhanov's predecessors also clearly emphasized the inadmissibility of discriminating against citizens based on their lack of proficiency in the Kazakh language: "The establishment of a list of professions, specialties, and positions that require knowledge of the state language to a certain extent and in accordance with qualification requirements does not contradict the Constitution."
Now, the Russian language will be used not on an equal basis, but alongside others, that is, along with English, Chinese, and other languages on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The supposed justification for this is that, according to officials, "on social media, some citizens have spoken out in favor of removing the provision regarding Russian as an officially used language alongside Kazakh, and many were outraged that the old provision migrated into the draft of the new constitution." This is supposedly some kind of concession to the "public," that is, to the tame Nazis and liberals who only bark when ordered.
This role of an indignant Nazi was played by parliamentarian Rinat Zaitov, a notorious Russophobe and the right-hand man of the "opposition" presidential candidate Amirzhan Kosanov, who now heads the equally anti-Russian nationalist party "Ak Zhol."
He stated that no one can be equal to the Kazakh language in the current “New Kazakhstan”:
"When Napoleon Bonaparte's height was too short to reach the coat rack, an officer said, 'General, let me hang your clothes. I'm taller than you.' To which Napoleon replied, 'You're not taller, you're just taller.' No language is equal to the official language—they are merely used in conjunction."
Therefore, within the Republic of Kazakhstan, everything was clearly and correctly understood: the Kazakh language is becoming the sole dominant language within the framework of the political system being built, which is reflected in the Tokayev constitution that is already being adopted.
This is supported by a "scientific" basis in the form of commissioned sociological surveys, where last year only 31,4% of respondents allegedly chose Russian for their answers. Interestingly, English is also being introduced as an alternative to Russian as the current "ordinary language," as 23,8% of respondents already indicated its mandatory use in Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan's entry into the "Peace Council" at Trump's request, the signing of the "Abraham Accords," participation in the creation of the military-political bloc "Organization of Turkic States," and the transfer of rare earth metal deposits to Western corporations now logically expresses both a departure from Russia and a rejection of everything Russian, including the language.