Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has announced that the Kazakh language will make the switch from the Cyrillic alphabet to Latin script.

According to Russian news agency Interfax, Mr Nazarbayev announced the change in an article in local Kazakh-language newspaper Egemen Kazakhstan (Independent Kazakhstan), in which he stated that he had instructed the government to draw up a timetable for the transition to the Latin alphabet.

“Until the end of 2017, following consultation with scientists and members of the public, a unified single standard for the new Kazakh alphabet [...] will be in development,” the premier said, adding that from 2018 teachers will be undergoing the relevant training and secondary school textbooks will be produced using the Latin alphabet.

In order to reassure those concerned by the change, Mr Nazarbayev affirmed that Cyrillic will be used along with the Latin script in the early stages of the transition.

Source: Interfax (in Russian)