Kanybek Osmonaliev, chairman of the National Commission on the State Language under the President of Kyrgyzstan, said that there are several options for translating the Kyrgyz alphabet from Cyrillic to Latin. It is reported by RBC with reference to 24.kg.
“Kyrgyzstan is the only Turkic-speaking country that uses the Cyrillic alphabet. If the Zhogorku Kenesh (Parliament) decides, the scientists and the intelligentsia are ready for the Latin alphabet. We have several options,” he said.
Osmonaliev recalled that at the summit of Turkic-speaking countries in 1993, Abdygany Erkebayev, who was then prime minister, signed a memorandum on switching to the Latin alphabet, but no political decision followed.
At the same meeting, MP Emil Toktoshev proposed to translate the alphabet into the Latin alphabet, since “primordially Kyrgyz words in Cyrillic are spelled incorrectly,” Bulak reports. In his opinion, only the transition to the Latin alphabet will help save the Kyrgyz language. Toktoshev was supported by MP Kamila Taliyeva.
At a meeting on April 19, the Kyrgyz parliament adopted a draft on the state language in the second reading. It was approved in the first reading in January. If the document is finally adopted, the use of the Kyrgyz language will become mandatory in 11 areas, such as the work of government bodies, judiciary and defense, international treaties, geographical names, education, science, culture and the media (the volume of television and radio broadcasting in Kyrgyz should be at least 65%). At the same time, in some cases, translation into Russian is provided.
According to the current regulations, the use of the Russian language is possible everywhere. Kyrgyzstan is one of the few countries in the post-Soviet space where the status of the Russian language is enshrined in the Constitution (it is also mentioned in the Basic Laws of Kazakhstan, Moldova and Tajikistan). The Kyrgyz language in the republic is endowed with the status of the state language, Russian is recognized as official. The new bill confirms these two statuses.
Source: Rosbalt
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