Thread by @azamatistan

Qazaqstan or Kazakhstan. During the Soviet period, the ambition of 🇷🇺 colonial rule in Central Asia went beyond military & economic control. In Qazaqstan, language & even alphabet itself were targeted. Cyrillic alphabet was imposed and we were taught that 🇷🇺 gave us writing. 🧵

This was, of course, untrue since Qazaq was written using Arabic script until about 1929. My own maternal grandfather as well as several other members of our extended family wrote using Arabic letters. But Moscow has never let inconvenient truths get in the way of its propaganda.

Throughout the Soviet period, Central Asians had been told that Russian language was our lifeline to science and technology. Essentially, path to modernity could only go through Russia and Russian language. Bypassing them, when engaging with the outside world, was impossible.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it became necessary to spell the name of the newly independent nation in Latin letters. Instead of the phonetically accurate Qazaqstan, the Russian-derived spelling - Kazakhstan - became official.

The “kh” in the middle of “Kazakhstan” represents the Russian letter “x” which is absent from the native spelling/pronunciation of this word. It felt symbolic that Russian-derived spelling was now used in the international arena. A stubborn residue of Russian colonial dominance.

When the decision to gradually transition written Qazaq language from Cyrillic to Latin alphabet was announced several years ago, it provoked a furious response from Russia. One of the more colorful comments likened it to treason and even to “Russia being stabbed in the back.”

Nonetheless, the transition is slowly happening. It is fascinating to see the Russian-derived spelling disappear across different settings. To wit, logo of a local TV channel, a popular youth-oriented clothing brand, and a recently renamed professional cycling team.

Qazaqs no longer require Russian language to interact with the outside world or share our stories. The shadow of Russian colonialism is long but it is visibly shrinking. The increasing use of Qazaqstan instead of Kazakhstan reflects that.