Kazakhstan, Astana, Dec. 30 / Trend D. Mukhtarov /
Kazakhstan may pass to the Latin alphabet till 2025, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said today.
"We are actively preparing for passing to the Latin alphabet, and perhaps we will not delay the process until 2025," Nazarbayev told media in Akorda.
He said that Kazakhstan needs the Latin alphabet to communicate with the peoples of the world, world science and education.
"It is very important that our young people are actively learning English," he said. "Representatives of the middle generation are also trying to learn it."
The president said that Cyrillic and Latin alphabets will be used in parallel for some time.
"If we begin introducing Latin alphabet wisely, then we understand the language of computers, it will be easier for our children and us to enter into the global economic and scientific space," he said. It is inevitable. This is a requirement of the future. Therefore, we must aspire to this. But we must reach a goal very carefully and calmly. Parallel using the Cyrillic alphabet will continue some time."
Nazarbayev said that transferring the Kazakh language from Cyrillic to Latin is natural.
"We have to adapt to this," he said. "Educated citizens and intellectuals must promote the idea. Until 1929, we had the Arabic alphabet. Until 1940, we used the Latin alphabet and have been using the Cyrillic alphabet since that period. We have the experience. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk introduced the Latin alphabet to bring Turkey with Europe closer."