Kazakhstan hosts a meeting of the commission on the transition to the Latin alphabet

Astana is hosting the first meeting of the commission on the common alphabet of the Turkic world, where it is planned to develop a package of proposals and recommendations for the transition of the Kazakh alphabet to the Latin alphabet. This was announced today, June 29, by Kazinform news agency.

As the President of the Turkic Academy stated Shahin Mustafaevthe transition to a new alphabet is always an internal affair of the state itself.

“Each state decides this issue for itself. Our task is to develop a package of proposals and recommendations. If any of the Turkic states makes such a decision, then these recommendations can be used to choose the most optimal, rational version of the alphabet. Each state, of course, will independently decide which alphabet to accept and in what form, but we would like the alphabets, if all states switch to the Latin alphabet, to be as close to each other as possible, mutually intelligible for representatives of different Turkic peoples,” – he said.

According to Mustafayev, if the alphabets of the Turkic states are seriously different from each other, then it will be quite difficult for their peoples to understand literature, the press, and written culture.

“In case of convergence of these alphabets, these contacts will be freer and easier. This will provide an opportunity for the cultural rapprochement of our peoples and the cultural integration of the entire Turkic world,” he added.

The transition of the Kazakh alphabet to the Latin alphabet was first discussed in 2006 at the suggestion of the former president Nursultan Nazarbayev. The development of the alphabet began after 11 years. According to Nazarbayev’s plan, the Cyrillic alphabet was to be abandoned in 2025. However, the current president of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev postponed consideration of this issue until 2031.

And the President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov opposed the transition of the Kyrgyz language to the Latin alphabet.