Echoes of Empire: The Resilience of Russian in Central Asia
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the role of the Russian language in the former Soviet states of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, has significantly decreased over the last 33 years. However, in each of the countries mentioned, Russian – after the state language, remains one of the languages most spoken after the national one. The Russian language serves as a significant soft power tool in the Central Asian countries of a Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and reflects Russia’s historical, cultural, and political influence in the region. Language, like a mirror, reflects the current socio-political climate of a state. Thus, examining the dominance of Russian language as a colonial heritage in the Central Asian region and its effect on native languages in these countries is crucial in terms of modern geopolitical situation and for further analysis of language diversity of the area.
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