Discover the incredible journey of a vibrant community in Kazakhstan that has embraced a new language and culture! With nearly 100% fluency in the state language, this group is not just p...

The Kurdish community in Kazakhstan, alongside the Uzbek, Uyghur, and Turkish diasporas, is among the most fluent in the Kazakh language. I recall that ten years ago, in 2014, during the celebration of Nauryz in Kaskelen, representatives of the republican association of Kurds "Barbang" proudly stated that 75% of their fellow tribesmen spoke Kazakh fluently. Even then, Kurdish ethnocultural centers offered courses for learning the state language, and books dedicated to the history and culture of Kazakhstan were being published.

Efforts in this direction continue to this day. As noted by the deputy chairman of the "Barbang" association, Agali Ibragimov, events are regularly held among Kurdish youth to expand the usage of the Kazakh language and promote the traditions, customs, and national heroes of the Kazakh people.

– Today, to achieve success in any field, every citizen of the country, regardless of their nationality, needs to know the Kazakh language, not just conversationally but also in its literary form, – believes Agali Niyazovich. – Since mastering a language is easiest in childhood, our diaspora members strive to enroll their children in Kazakh kindergartens and schools. Adults hire tutors, and free language courses are available in Friendship Houses across the country.

According to the community leader, almost 100% of Kurds living in the southern regions of the republic are proficient in the state language. In the next five years, the deputy head of the "Barbang" association believes that not only Kurds but also representatives of other ethnic groups living in our country will speak Kazakh: there has been a sharp increase in demand and need for the use of the Kazakh language in daily life.

The ancestors of another interlocutor of mine, the chairman of the Kurdish ethnocultural center in the Talgar district, Hasan Uzunaliyev, were forcibly deported from Georgia to Kazakhstan in 1944. Most of the repressed Kurds settled in rural areas, and Hasan's great-grandfather and great-grandmother were sheltered by the family of the renowned akyn Zhambyl Zhabayev.

– As my grandfather Osman recounted, they were warmly welcomed by Zhambyl-ata and his family, who provided warmth and shelter, – says Hasan Suleimanovich. – The settlers lived in the poet's estate in the Zhambyl district of Almaty region, where the literary and memorial museum of Zhambyl Zhabayev is currently located. They were fortunate to drink tea at the same dastarkhan with the akyn and listen to his songs and poems. Through this interaction, they began to speak in Kazakh and passed their knowledge on to us, their descendants.

Hasan's ancestors worked in the local collective farm. When they were rehabilitated in 1956 and had the opportunity to return home, they decided to stay on the hospitable Kazakh land, which had become a second home not only for Kurds but also for Chechens, Ingush, Koreans, Germans, and representatives of other repressed peoples.

– We are grateful to the Kazakhs, who went through the furnace of repression themselves and shared their last with those who were forcibly relocated, – emphasizes the representative of the Kurdish community. – It is essential to remember the tragic pages of the past and pass down historical memory to future generations. Our duty and responsibility is to show respect for the language and culture of the Kazakh people. This is the essence of expressing patriotism and citizenship, love for our homeland, and its reverence.

According to Ali Tokogly, a resident of the village of Besagash in the Talgar district, for many Kurds who know Turkish and Azerbaijani in addition to their native language, learning Kazakh is not a significant challenge, as these languages belong to the same Turkic language group. The words, grammar, pronunciation rules, and sentence structure are similar.

In his childhood, Ali Mamedovich studied at a Russian school. From 1972 to 1996, he worked in the livestock sector, delivering drinking water, animal feed, and products to remote grazing areas.

– I communicated daily with shepherds, – recalls the retiree. – That’s how I mastered қазақ тілі. I believe that immersion in a language environment is the best and easiest way to learn any language. Now I help my grandchildren with their homework in Kazakh and always tell them that in the future, for their education and career building, they will need to know the state language. We were born here, grew up here, raised our children, and now we care for our grandchildren. We have no other homeland, and the future of our descendants is tied to Kazakhstan.

Ali Mamedovich himself, in addition to his native Kurdish, speaks Kazakh and Russian, as well as Turkish and Uyghur. He has not completed any specialized language courses; his language skills were developed through constant communication with neighbors, friends, and colleagues.