Tokayev
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev shared his opinion on the significance of the Russian language in Kazakhstan.
At the III Republican Forum of Maslikhat Deputies held in Astana, he responded to citizens' concerns regarding the potential reduction of the status of the Russian language in the new Constitution.
Tokayev noted: “Some justly express dissatisfaction regarding the alleged reduction of the status of the Russian language in the draft of the New Constitution. You read such articles, full of stylistic and grammatical errors, and you wonder how their authors, defending the Russian language, do not possess it properly themselves. However, it should be emphasized that the publication of the text of the New Constitution in Kazakh and Russian languages with equal legal force as an official document speaks for itself and does not require additional comments,” he added.
Earlier, during the discussion of the draft of the new Fundamental Law, it became known that one word in the text would change: instead of “on par,” “alongside” will be used. This sparked debates in society and among experts about how such a change might affect the status of the Russian language.
