Kazakhstan to form working group for Roman alphabet

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) - Kazakhstan will establish a working group for the transition from Cyrillic to a Roman-based alphabet, local media reported on Tuesday.

"The government will establish a working group for bringing in the Latin-based script of the Kazakh language," Kazakh Culture and Sports Minister Arystanbek Mukhamediuly was quoted as saying by national news agency Kazinform.

However, Mukhamediuly gave no further details on when exactly the group would be formed.

"New spelling rules and unabridged spelling dictionary of the Kazakh language will be set up based on the Latinized script," he said.

The minister said the new alphabet needs to be "actively" promoted in the society.

Under President Nursultan Nazarbayev's decree, Astana is set to switch the Kazakh alphabet into a Roman-based script by 2025.

Nazarbayev said on Apr. 12 that by 2025 Kazakhstan will start publishing workflows, periodicals, textbooks, and everything else in the Roman alphabet.

He added that Kazakhstan previously used a Roman alphabet from 1929 to 1940 but later replaced it with the Russian-based Cyrillic one.

In a speech last October, Nazarbayev said the transition to a new alphabet will make learning the Kazakh language easier.

He added that the transition would not affect the rights of the Russian-speaking people or Russian and other languages, adding: "The use of Russian in Cyrillic remains unchanged. It will also continue to function."