They want to ban Tina Kandelaki from entering Kazakhstan
They want to ban TV presenter and media manager Tina Kandelaki from entering Kazakhstan. This was stated by the local publication KazTAG. Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic Aibek Smadiyarov.
"If necessary, measures are taken. Don’t ask us for a list of those who are prohibited from entering today or tomorrow, but the state will never forgive this. “Perhaps she is not going to Kazakhstan, but if she decides to come, they will not let her in,” he said.
The reason for this, presumably, was a post by Tina Kandelaki, in which she stated that the Russian language is being forced out in Kazakhstan. As an example, she cited the renaming of railway stations from Russian names to Kazakh ones. She called this a “dangerous practice.” “It is clear that under the pretext of supporting one’s place in history one can go very far; it is especially convenient to hide behind history to promote such dubious decisions.” This post caused a wave of criticism against Kandelaki from officials in Kazakhstan.
Kandelaki herself has not yet commented on the decision of the Kazakh authorities.