Kazakhstan’s national soccer team coach Stanislav Cherchesov, a Russian national, has been fined by the national federation for making an insensitive comment regarding the Kazakh language, RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service reported.
The incident occurred earlier this month, when Cherchesov responded to a reporter’s question in Kazakh with a joke comparing the language to French, sparking public outrage. Cherchesov was fined 738,400 tenges ($1,500) and underwent counseling about the importance of respecting the state (Kazakh) language.
Despite defending Cherchesov’s humor as a misunderstanding tied to the reporter’s French soccer jersey, critics argue the comment was inappropriate. This once again highlighted the sensitivity of linguistic issues in Kazakhstan, especially in the context of broader geopolitical tensions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Tony Barber, the European Comment Editor of the Financial Times, believes that the incident shows that the Central Asia region’s five states are increasingly standing up for themselves on matters of language, history and identity.
In his article entitled “Central Asians edge into a brave new world on Russia’s doorstep,” Barber writes: “More and more, the five states of Central Asia, a vast region once under tsarist and Soviet control, are standing up for their interests and asserting their identities. Language questions often cause tensions between the Central Asians and Russia – but it is also significant that, at long last, the region is lifting the veil of silence that hung for decades over Stalin’s repressions in Central Asia.”
According to the British journalist, while Central Asia remains largely dependent on Russia, the countries of the region are looking for opportunities to implicitly distance themselves from Russia.
