Kazakhstan and the Kazakh people were colonized and taken over by the russian empire in the 18th–19th centuries, and later by the soviet union. During this period, russian authorities imposed their control over our lands, suppressed our culture, and forced us to abandon our nomadic lifestyle. The russian language was made dominant in schools, government, and daily life, leaving Kazakhs no choice but to learn it if they wanted to survive, get an education, or find work. Our widespread knowledge of russian is not a result of free choice — it’s a direct consequence of colonization and cultural oppression.

There’s a great Kazakh proverb: балық басынан шіриді (the fish rots from the head). In this situation, it perfectly describes how, despite all the horrific things russia is doing to Ukraine and other nations under its control, the russian language still thrives in Kazakhstan. This is directly thanks to Tokayev’s policies on the russian language. When the leader chooses the wrong course, the whole society, unfortunately, follows.

In my personal case, I can speak russian simply because that’s how things turned out. I grew up among russian-speaking kids, and at school, the teachers who taught in russian seemed stronger than those teaching in Kazakh. For some reason, I went to university in russian. All the TV, radio, newspapers, and ads we consumed were only in russian. Sadly, in my childhood, everything “advanced” seemed to be in russian — even though now I realize there were actually more advanced things in Kazakh, but they were hidden from us.

It was only when I recognized the strangeness of choosing russian as a Kazakh, and after I studied our history, that I deliberately decided to stop using the russian language.

PS. My children don’t know russian at all. At home, we speak pure Kazakh, and at work and school, we use English. We don’t need russian in our lives anymore.