Wikimedia CEE Meeting/Bids/2027/Wikimedia Community of Kazakh language User Group

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Application

Wikimedia Community of Kazakh language User Group (we have some plans to grow/rebrand), CEE Meeting Atyrau, Kazakhstan 2027

Summary

Kazakh community has been a part of WMCEE community for a long time, thanks to the European part of the country and to a lot of connections with eastern Europe from medieval times, as well as during Russian empire and USSR times. With this application we want both to extend the geography of the CEE Conference hosts to its easternmost part possible and to boost the Wikimedia movement of the western part of the country. Though we are a relatively young community, we aim to become bigger one, to involve in collaborations with other communities in regard of sharing the free knowledge.

In 2025 we (Central Asian communities) have had our first Central Asian WikiCon in Tashkent where apart from Central Asian communities, many delegates represented CEE affiliates and communities and brought us a valuable feeling of being connected to CEE. By offering Atyrau as the host for the CEE Meeting we want to strengthen this connection between CEE and CA even more.

We have a ready team of dedicated organizers located entirely in Kazakhstan and, as far as we know, a lot of active and experienced users from other Central Asian and Eastern European communities can step in to help us make the event. Also we can count on the support of the North-West Russia Wiki-Historians User Group that is partly residing in Kazakhstan since 2022 and helping us here and there with their valuable experience, time, effort and insights.

Affiliate

Wikimedia Community of Kazakh language User Group was recognized by AffCom in 2020. Prior to this date community activities were mainly run individually or less organized, e.g. number of representatives for CEE gatherings were few or less active, as well as the low number of local meetups. The real jumpstart of the community was the 2023 Kazakh Wiki Conference in Astana. After it, many young users who were active only by themselves, have had even more motivation to contribute to Kazakh Wikipedia and other sister projects (mainly, Commons and Wiktionary). Afterwards we've became even more active in participating in a lot of international movement processes and now we're planning to host 2026 Central Asian WikiCon in Almaty, thus, we're in a process of creating legal entity that will help us to manage things around.

Proposed event venue

As we've already mentioned above, Atyrau city of Kazakhstan is located in the western (and of course, European) part of the country and we think it is perfect for hosting the 2027 CEE Conference. The city formerly known as Guryev is located on the both sides of Ural river, that sometimes is considered as a border between Europe and Asia, not far from the shore of the Caspian sea. It is known for being the oil capital of Kazakhstan, which allowed it to have branches of many international companies. It also has good number of active Wikipedians from our community.

The climate in the region is continental, summers are very hot and winters are cold and windy. But in autumn the weather is balanced and provides good conditions to host important events.

Aside from being a Kazakh-speaking majority, city has a notable populations of ethnic Russians, Koreans, Tatars and Ukrainians and most of them are bilingual, speaking Kazakh and Russian fluently. English fluency in Atyrau is also a bit higher than average for Kazakhstan, considering numerous European and American companies branches located there.

Culturally, people in Atyrau are considered very hospitable and generous, despite being called a little bit too direct. Many famous Kazakh writers, poets, composers and influential figures were born in the region.

The initial idea for venue is the Infinity Plaza Hotel that, aside of the hotel rooms and restaurant holds number of conference halls of different capacity and even offers catering for the events.

The city growth is high compared to other cities in the country, thus making it possible to be open for new collaborations with local businesses, which includes hotels, thus making it possible to negotiate with other suitable options as well.

Proposed accommodation

Idea for accomodation is the same as for the venue: Infinity Plaza Hotel. Also there are other options, less preferable due to higher price or less qualitative services: River Palace, Renaissance by Crystall and Atyrau Dastan.

Proposed dates

End of September — beginning of October. The weather in the city during this period will be perfect — not hot, but not too cold yet.

Expected total budget

Description

Generally, we suggest standard format: 3 days of conference with possible pre-conference day, hotel as both accomodation and venue, 2 program flows in 2 rooms.

We also plan to allocate some time (half day or evenings) for city sightseeing tours, which includes a trip to the remains of an old city Saraishyq.

Logistics

Organising team

Batyrbek.kz — team lead and local expert.
Красный — program lead and on-site coordinator.
Kaiyr — treasurer.
Nurtenge
Amangeldi Mukhamejan

Experience

Wikimedia Community of Kazakh language User Group is planning to host 2nd Central Asian WikiCon in Almaty in 2026. Our community members were highly involved in organizing the first CA WikiCon and previously, in 2023, we've organized small (~25 participants) Kazakh wikimedia conference in Astana.

Accessibility

There's no visa needed for travelers with passports of European Union and former USSR countries that covers most of CEE (citizens of some Balkan countries, such as Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia will need a visa to enter the country).