Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has ordered the authorities to come up with a Latin-based script for the Kazakh language by the end of 2017, marking a major shift after nearly 80 years with a Cyrillic-based script.
According to media reports, the order is part of a new “strategic plan” for Kazakhstan.
Nazarbayev reportedly noted that textbooks in the new Latin-based alphabet must be issued by 2018 and teachers must be trained to use it.
The Cyrillic-based alphabet will be used in parallel with the new alphabet for a “transitional” period.
In 1929, Soviet authorities replaced traditional Arabic-based alphabets used by Muslim minorities in the Soviet Union with Latin-based national alphabets.
In 1940, the Latin alphabet was replaced with Cyrillic — the alphabet used for the Russian language.
Kazakhstan has a sizable ethnic Russian minority, a nearly 7,000-kilometer border with Russia, and close ties with Moscow.
