Definition of nationality in ex-USSR
Kazakhstan, Politics and SocietyOne Comment
Westerners like me have difficulties in differentiating the terms nationality and citizenship in most parts of the former USSR, including Kazakhstan.
Here, citizenship is the nation of which you possess a passport and nationality is the ethnic group one defines oneself from. For example, on the passport of someone of Ukrainian origin living in Kazakhstan, citizenship will be Kazakhstani and on another line nationality will say Ukrainian.
So what does someone 25% Russian, 25% Georgian, 25% Tatar and 25% German living in Kazakhstan define themselves as? They simply make a choice.
When I was in Moldova, I met a 25-year old with Moldovan citizenship and Greek nationality. He spoke only Moldavian/Romanian and Russian and appeared to have one ethnic Greek grandparent. It took me a while to get my head around it as I have Greek origins closer than that and saw things differently.
The term nationality simply has a different connotation, a great way to challenge what I had incorrectly thought was the global norm.
I don’t like this use of numbers as if culture was a mathematical equation, but it illustrates my point that nationality in the post Soviet world is used differently and is a personal/family decision (correction from comment received: is not necessary).
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“Nationality” can also have more sinister aspects in the former Soviet Union (or the CIS). For example, in Kazakhstan your citizenship may be Kazakhstani, but if your nationality is Chechen, you can expect very different treatment. “Nationality” in this context is much more than a personal/family decision, it determines many aspects of your life and freedoms in the CIS.
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