Education Minister Zholdas Suleimenova expressed her opinion on the spelling of September as "qyrgüyek". This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Sputnik Kazakhstan.
The minister, having seen the discussion on social media, also researched the issue. She referred to the scientific works of Rabiga Syzdyk and noted that since the 1980s, changes in spelling have been discussed.
"But I myself write 'qyrküyek', using 'k'. That's how we were taught," Suleimenova said at a government briefing.
According to her, studies conducted in the 2000s show that 93% of the population uses the word "qyrküyek". The minister stressed that both variants cannot be considered incorrect, but it is important to listen to scientists.
"In my opinion, neither 'qyrküyek' nor 'qyrgüyek' can be considered a mistake. Our 'qyrküyek' is what our Kazakh language teachers taught us. But we say 'Botagöz', not 'Botaköz'. Similarly, the Kazakh language has its own peculiarities in pronunciation and spelling. Therefore, if our scientists, the Institute of Linguistics, say that 'qyrgüyek' is correct, not 'qyrküyek', we should listen to them. Scientists should put an end to this," Suleimenova added.