West Kazakhstan Village Debates Name Change

A dispute over renaming Shchapovo to Qosjaiq has emerged in this village, 30 kilometers from Oral.

A stone pillar with the village name stands at the entrance, a remnant of the once-prominent poultry farm of the 1980s.

The former factory closed in the 1990s, with buildings dismantled and workers seeking new employment.

Today, the village features modern amenities - gas, water, and plentiful work opportunities at the new Jaiyq Qus poultry farm and Jaiyq Et pig complex built in the mid-2000s. Many residents also commute to the Oral Poultry Farm via company transport.

Local businesses include farms raising livestock and growing wheat, plus various shops.

Some villagers work rotational shifts at the Tengiz, Kashagan, and Karachaganak oil fields. With no regular bus service, a 25-30 minute taxi ride to Oral costs 500 tenge.

Community Perspectives

There used to be quite a few Russian families in Shchapovo, but then many moved away, some have already passed away. Over the past 25 years, many people have moved to the village from the remote southern regions of the West Kazakhstan region. We have a lot of young people. And they want the village to have a new name,  share two longtime residents.

The village maintains easy bilingual communication, with residents discussing the renaming openly with no conflict. Although no one gave their names, people shared perspectives freely.

We live here and want to live peacefully. Why do we need troubles between the villagers? We are not going to move anywhere, and we do not need any interethnic conflicts here. But they left the village and now they are inciting the situation from abroad,  noted some residents.

A young teacher who moved from Oral supports change:

There is a new school here, a new nursery. My husband continues to work in the city, he drives his own car. I got a job at the school. We bought a house here - there is gas, water in the house, the Internet is great.

Another resident disagrees: 

An elderly Kazakh woman described community integration: Easter sees all children collecting treats, while Nauryz brings everyone together for traditional celebrations.

I think that now the Russians are afraid that if the village is renamed, they will be kicked out of here. But many streets have long been renamed, and no one bothers anyone. Lenin Street became Baiterek Street - this is the dictate of the times. Everything changes, and this must be accepted.

The Old Guard

Nina Gulitskaya, the first Akim of Shchapovo, arrived in the early 1980s with her husband, the poultry farm's chief engineer. Within five years, they had paved streets, built worker housing, and a large nursery. Twenty years ago, she convinced regional Akim Krymbek Kusherbayev to renovate the school's gym.

Vladimir Khivintsev, her associate, credits Gulitskaya and school director Ulmeken Konyskalieva with helping villagers get through the 1990s.

It got to the point where a loved one died in a family, and relatives had no way to bury him. The Akim of Shchapovo and the school director helped people in this difficult situation, everyone received support.

The Push for Change 

Over half the residents support renaming to Qosjaiq. Zhardem Ashimov, living here 13 years after moving through the "With a diploma - to the village" program, leads the initiative:

We, the youth of the village, want the village to have its historical name returned to it - Qosjaiq. We have been raising this issue for several years. We consider it important for the future of our village, as well as for the future of the entire country, that our village bear its historical name.

His research with Oral historians revealed Qosjaiq as an outpost. 

We don't know who Shchapov is, we don't know his story. According to rumors, a man with that last name once moved here and built a house here. We think that we need to invite researchers, professors, and specialists from the city who could study why our village was named after this man. 

Village elders Bakhyt Zhubanov and son Hamlet Nasibullin also support the change, though they were unavailable for comment.

Current Administration Birzhan Nurbaiyrov, Akim for 16 years, notes significant economic and societal growth since 2006.

We, for our part, are ready to organize a meeting, listen to all opinions 'for' and 'against' the renaming, so that people themselves can make a decision by voting. But so far it has not come to a meeting, he states.

The rename would only affect administrative documents, and the cost would be limited to new official seals for businesses and local governments.

Original Author: Kumysai Sarbasova