Kyrgyzstan celebrates State Language Day

President Sooronbay Jeenbekov

By Nurzhan Kasmalieva
Chief of international affairs department,
Kabar News Agency, Kyrgyzstan

Bishkek: Kyrgyzstan celebrated the State Kyrgyz Language Day on September 23, an occasion marked annually on this day after the Supreme Council of the Kyrgyz SSR adopted a law on the state language on September 23, 1989, and the Kyrgyz language received the status of the state language.

President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbay Jeenbekov offered his congratulations on the special occasion to the citizens, his press service reported.

In his congratulatory speech, President Jeenbekov noted that the state language is a great heritage of ancestors, the main symbol of Kyrgyz statehood.

“The Kyrgyz language has come a long and difficult way for 31 years after acquiring the status of the state,” he said.

The Kyrgyz leader added that the state language has become not only a means of mutual communication, but also the language of legislation and public administration.

“Our goal is the widespread introduction of the Kyrgyz language into the practice of life, so that it becomes a truly common language of all nationalities living in our country. The language policy is based on the comprehensive use of the state language as an important factor in strengthening the unity of the people of Kyrgyzstan,” Jeenbekov said.

Saying “Hello” in Kyrgyz

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all the events in the country on the occasion of this holiday are held online.

Kyrgyzstan is a bilingual country. The state language is Kyrgyz and the official language is Russian.

The Kyrgyz is the native language for nearly 4.1 million people out of 6 million inhabitants of the country. The rest of the population speak Russian as native or second language.

Kyrgyzstan is one of the two former Soviet republics in Central Asia that has retained Russian as an official language. Kazakhstan is the other one, making it also a bilingual country.

Kyrgyz is a Turkic language and was originally written in the Turkic runes and was gradually replaced by a Perso-Arabic alphabet. Latin script was introduced and adopted in 1928, and was subsequently replaced by Cyrillic script in 1941.