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The Cyrillic Stalemate: Why Uzbekistan’s Alphabet Reform is Still Stuck 30 Years Later

Changing an alphabet involves more than just replacing letters; it requires a profound transformation of the state’s institutional and cultural fabric.

A roadside checkpoint marked “Nazorat Posti 5” (“Checkpoint 5”), photographed in Uzbekistan. The sign provides a simple example of the Latin script’s presence in everyday public life, where it is now widely used for routine administrative, commercial and public signage.

Uzbekistan’s transition from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet is not merely a technical change; rather, it has a far-reaching dimension tied to the nation-building process. Since declaring its independence in 1991, Tashkent has revised its alphabet policies numerous times, yet the simultaneous use of both the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets has continued for over 30 years.

Visitors to Uzbekistan will still see both alphabets — alongside the Russian language, which uses a Cyrillic alphabet – in many parts of daily life. 

While conducting field research at Samarkand State University between 2022 and 2023, to collect data for my master’s thesis and to learn Uzbek, I noticed this incomplete transition. At libraries, I observed that the vast majority of academic works relevant to my own research were written in Uzbek using the Cyrillic alphabet. Indeed, the vast majority of archives, scientific literature, and textbooks were also written in Cyrillic. Many other fundamental texts and works, however, were in Russian and were awaiting translation into Uzbek.

Legislation on the alphabet in 1993 kicked off a comprehensive transition process which is still ongoing, despite the most recent deadline for the switch passing back in 2023.

Following the 1993 legislation, the government established new spelling standards for Uzbek written in the Latin alphabet and launched a phased implementation plan. As part of this effort, school curricula were updated to include instruction in the Latin alphabet; new textbooks were prepared; and signs in public spaces were redesigned using the Latin alphabet. Furthermore, official documents and government correspondence have been gradually converted to the Latin alphabet, and media organizations have been encouraged to adopt the new alphabet. Additionally, this transition process complimented other efforts to clear away the most obvious signs of Soviet influence, such as renaming streets and removing statues.

Three years later, in 1996, all educational institutions in Uzbekistan began offering instruction in the Uzbek language using the Latin alphabet. However, the transition to the Latin alphabet proved to be a much more difficult and protracted process than initially anticipated. Initially, the full transition to the new alphabet was planned to be completed by 2000, but this deadline was extended to 2005 and then to 2010. Even the most recent deadline of 2023 has passed in an environment where the Cyrillic alphabet remains firmly entrenched in bureaucracy, the media, and daily life.

Why hasn’t Uzbekistan been able to fully transition to the Latin alphabet, even though more than 30 years have passed? What are the political, social, and economic challenges underlying the alphabet reform?

The fact that the alphabet reform in Uzbekistan has not fully materialized is not due to a lack of political will; instead, the reason lies in the fact that institutions, generations, and economic realities continue to favor the old script — the Cyrillic alphabet.

The entrance to the dining hall at Samarkand State Institute of Foreign Languages in 2023. The sign above the entrance reflects Uzbekistan’s designation of 2023 as the “Year of Care for People and Quality Education,” as written in Uzbek using the Latin alphabet. The cafeteria sign beside the entrance is written in Russian using the Cyrillic script, illustrating the continued coexistence of Latin and Cyrillic in everyday institutional spaces. Photo provided by Dolunay Yusuf Baltürk.

The Mirziyoyev Era: Renewed Momentum

Under the leadership of Uzbekistan’s current President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, alphabet reform has evolved from a symbolic choice into a systematic institutional framework. Since 2016, several key institutions have been established to accelerate the transition to the Latin alphabet. The State Language Development Department (Davlat Tilini Rivojlantirish Departementi), established in 2019, and the Uzbek Language Development Fund (O’zbek Tilini Rivojlantirish Jamg’armasi), established in 2020, have taken on the task of standardizing the use of the Latin alphabet within government agencies. This includes collaborating with organizations — from government agencies to banks and others — to publish guidebooks, dictionaries, terminology guides, and methodological and instructional materials prepared in Uzbek based on the Latin alphabet. The Uzbek Language Development Fund facilitates the integration of the language into social life, education, culture, and the international arena.

For example, university faculty and staff have received training on the Latin script. I observed these trainings firsthand while at Samarkand State University. These programs attracted an extremely diverse group of participants. I saw 35-year-old researchers sitting beside retired 65-year-old professors, all grappling with the details of the new alphabet. In my conversations with these academics, a remarkable reality emerged. Most of the older professors acknowledged that relearning the alphabet of their native language in the twilight of their careers was a struggle, yet they recognized it as an indispensable step for Uzbekistan.

Despite the fact that by 2023 — the year set for full transition — many government agency websites still offer a dual-alphabet option, the Cyrillic alphabet continues to be used on signs throughout the country, and as I noticed in the libraries, Cyrillic still dominates in the academic sphere.

As one experienced academic told me, “Ilm olish uchun hech qachon kech emas” — “It’s never too late to learn” — reflecting an unwavering commitment to the government’s vision. This concrete reality at the university suggests that the reform is not merely a top-down directive, but rather that the Latin alphabet is being taught through a gradual process of internalization.

Habits and Technical Infrastructure

It takes time to eliminate or transform habits; this is true of changing alphabets, too. Although more than 30 years have passed since Uzbekistan gained independence, the continued dominance of the Cyrillic alphabet remains too ambiguous to be explained solely by technical or administrative reasons.

In interviews with Uzbek faculty members and political scientists, it emerged that the older generations’ familiarity with the Cyrillic alphabet was one of the factors slowing down the transition to the Latin alphabet.

Sayliyeva Rakhmiddinova, a faculty member at Bukhara State University, stated that, for generations raised within the Soviet education system, the Cyrillic alphabet was not merely a writing system but a fundamental tool for these people to carry on with their lives. Furthermore, Rakhmiddinova noted that for them (the generations raised in the Soviet education system), the transition to the Latin alphabet meant not only learning a new alphabet but also abandoning cognitive and practical habits that had been ingrained over many years. Similarly, Shohista Akramova, a philology lecturer, noted that because many high-ranking officials and institutional employees were educated in the Cyrillic alphabet, the use of Cyrillic in official correspondence has become a natural preference. Akramova pointed out that even though the Latin alphabet is encouraged by law, established patterns persist in practice.

A key aspect of Uzbekistan’s transition to the Latin alphabet is the conversion of the country’s archival records from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet. The conversion of these archives serves as a microcosm of the state’s broader administrative efforts. For nearly the entire 20th century, Uzbekistan’s legal, academic, and historical infrastructure was built upon the Cyrillic alphabet. This has created a vast treasure trove of information that cannot be converted by a mere decree. 

As noted by Uzbek political scientist Ulugbek Mirzokhidov, most academic and discipline-specific books in universities are still written in the Cyrillic alphabet. This creates a practical bottleneck: younger generations are being educated in the Latin alphabet, but if they cannot read records written in the Cyrillic alphabet, they face the risk of becoming disconnected from their own history and professional depth.

In government ministries, this situation manifests as a “dual system” in which public signs are written in the Latin alphabet, but files and internal memos — considered the heart of the bureaucracy — generally revert to the customary Cyrillic alphabet. Akramova has closely examined these administrative obstacles and says that the problem is as much institutional as it is individual. She notes that templates, software infrastructure, and archiving standards in government offices are fundamentally designed for the Cyrillic alphabet. This situation transforms the transition to the Latin alphabet into a complex technical and bureaucratic transformation rather than a simple administrative change.

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