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Article: Talking back.(ethnic harmony of post-Soviet Kazakhstan)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- June 26, 1999
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ALMATY
ONE of the proudest achievements of post-Soviet Kazakhstan has been the preservation of ethnic harmony among the 100 or more nationalities who live there. Although some Russians silently harbour resentment over the domination of the country's political and public life by a new Kazakh elite, the potentially explosive relations between the two leading ethnic groups were defused two years ago with the passing of a language law: Kazakh was declared the state language and Russian the language of common use.
But the harmony may not last. An open letter to President Nursultan Nazarbaev was recently published in two small Kazakh-language newspapers. It ...