Science Ministry plans to curb scholars’ freedom of speech

The Kazakh Ministry of Science is seeking to impose strict control over what staff of government-funded research institutions can and cannot say in the media.

If the new “recommendations”, seen by Exclusive.kz, are adopted, some particularly sensitive issues will become completely taboo subjects for scholars.

The paper says the new instructions are aimed at “preserving social accord and preventing misunderstanding in the sphere of inter-ethnic, and inter-religious relations” when researchers publish media articles and give media interviews.    

The paper also says it is “inadmissible” for scholars to publish any material that could “damage the reputation of government bodies”.

The new instructions also ban scholars from expressing opinion on “tragic controversial historical events such as [Russian] colonialism, the famines of the 1920s and 1930s [caused in Kazakhstan by the Bolshevik and Soviet governments], the Kazakh exodus [under the Bolsheviks], and [Soviet political] repressions”,

Government-funded researchers will also be barred from giving media interviews on “sensitive social issues around which there is media hype (for example allowing hijab at school, renaming cities [replacing colonial, Soviet names with Kazakh ones]).”

Under the new recommendations, scholars will have to get approval for any media articles they pen from the heads of their respective institutions.

The recommendations have been signed off by the deputy head of the Ministry’s Science Committee, Asylkhan Bibosinov, Exclusive.kz has learned.  

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