In early November, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev paid a state visit to France at Emmanuel Macron’s invitation. On this occasion, EURACTIV’s Théo Bourgery-Gonse, in a piece entitled “Kazakhstan president to visit France to talk all things nuclear” (“Le président du Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokaïev, attendu à Paris pour parler nucléaire”), quoted Catherine Poujol, a professor of History and Civilization of Central Asiaat French university Inalco (the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations) and director of the French Institute for Central Asian Studies from 2016 to 2020, as saying: “There is a ‘Kazakhstan moment,’ which France has been quick to seize”.

It’s about one of those conventional journalistic accounts, which are usually made ahead of one of the visits by these or those leaders of the developing countries to Paris and to which few mainstream French media outlets and political experts normally pay attention. So, it hardly drew much attention and interest from the French reading public. And we of Kazakhstan, too, might pass by such piece, particularly since it appears to be written in a way that makes it like the publications in pro-government Kazakhstani media about Tokayev’s activities domestically and in his country’s foreign relations, if not for its emphasis on the Kazakh President’s linguistic talent and his allegedly caring attitude towards the state language of Kazakhstan. Because even the pro-regime Kazakhstani media do not often dare praise Mr.Tokayev in the context of the Kazakh language theme if they ever do. But first things first.

The piece by Théo Bourgery-Gonse stated, “Kazakhstan, finding itself on a thin line, is trying to walk a tightrope” between Russia, China, and the Europeans, eager to engage with all [of them], but wishing to avoid critical dependencies with each, explains Euractiv Catherine Poujol, a French historian and specialist in Central Asia at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO). Astana’s ties with China are also ‘excellent’, she adds. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who speaks perfect Mandarin, was even the first leader to welcome Xi Jinping in September 2022, after Chinese restrictions imposed in the context of COVID-19 had been lifted… Due to the geographical reality and the economic, cultural, and military ties that unite the two countries, “Kazakhstan is beholden to Russia by nature, but [the president] wants to distance itself from it”, emphasizes Catherine Poujol”.

When in words, everything sounds good. But this is so only because Théo Bourgery-Gonse and his speaker, Catherine Poujol, a leading French expert on Kazakhstan, promote President Tokayev’s image as a Kazakh patriotic-minded statesman and yet a shrewd diplomat and a polyglot who can perfectly speak his native language which, as implied, goes without saying, and also Mandarin, and a few other languages, and at the same time, it was as if they did not notice the fact that he carried out talks not only with Putin but also through interpreters, Xi Jinping, Emmanuel Macron, and other Western leaders just in Russian, but not in Kazakh.

The last line in the piece by Théo Bourgery-Gonse is formulated as follows: “Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s speech in Paris on Tuesday is expected to be symbolically read in Kazakh rather than Russian”. Such an approbation expressed in advance looks like an attempt to gloss over the above-cited fact. But reading seems to be the only thing Mr.Tokayev is capable of where there is а need to use his native and Kazakhstan’s state language. He can also say a few basic welcoming or opening phrases in Kazakh without reading from a piece of paper. Yet the truth is, Kazakhstan’s President Kasym-Jomart Tokayev hasn’t given a single press conference in Kazakh for over 5 years of his being in office and has never been seen speaking at length the state language while........

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