In the draft of the new Constitution of Kazakhstan, published at the end of January, one word in the article dedicated to the language issue has been changed. Nurmukhanov noted that the word "тең" (equal) was replaced with "қатар" (alongside) during the meeting of the Constitutional Commission.
Article 9 clarifies that the state language is Kazakh, while the Russian language is officially used alongside it in state institutions and local government bodies. This wording was taken from the current Constitution, where the language issue is addressed in Article 7, but it has now undergone changes.
The constitutional reform in Kazakhstan was initiated by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. More than 80% of the content of the fundamental law is planned to be updated.
