The role of mass media in creating the kazakh identity: The study on the president's address to the nation

In this study, it is aimed to compile the ways of creating a national identity of N. Nazarbayev, the founding president of Kazakhstan, and to present it with qualitative analysis method. For this purpose, the addressing the nation speeches were followed chronologically and analyzed. The establishment of independent states after the collapse of the Soviet Union created new paradigms of national identity. In the globalization process, the issues of national identity and national self-consciousness are discussed in the researches of foreign scientists; It is emphasized that minorities can be oppressed in multi-ethnic countries. Based on this fact, it is understood that Nazarbayev adopted some policies to create a national identity of the Republic of Kazakhstan. These policies emerge in a certain strategy in the address to the nation speeches. While N. Nazarbayev prioritizes the Kazakh identity in his address to the nation, he makes clear and distinct emphasis on Kazakh identity more frequently in his articles and books. While he prioritized the civilian identity in his address to the nation, it can be said that Kazakh ethnic identity is at the forefront in his external works. While N. Nazarbayev emphasized on Kazakh language and culture, the emphasis on Kazakh language and culture became more frequent and clearer over time. Although the Kazakh ethnicity has risen from the bottom to the top in terms of culture and language over time, the conditions for democracy and rule of law and civil identity have been provided in other senses. The political movements of the long-lasting leader, the lasting stability and peace have strengthened the civic identity in the country. When Nazarbayev's speeches are analyzed from a holistic point of view, as a result, the Kazakh identity is encountered, not the Kazakh identity. It can be said that the identity designed by the leader is "Kazakhstan national identity" rather than a Kazakh identity. As a result, the national identity that the leader emphasized and perceived in his national speeches is not the Kazakh identity, but the "Kazakhstan" identity.