.қаз

Overview

• .қаз (abbreviation of Қазақстан, translit. Qazaqstan) is the internationalized country-code top-level domain (IDN ccTLD) for Kazakhstan.
• It is intended for use with web addresses using Cyrillic letters and serves as a Cyrillic alternative to the Latin .kz domain.
• Punycode (DNS) representation: xn--80ao21a.

History

• Introduced/launched in March 2012; the first site activated was a test site (Test.qaz).
• Registry: KazNIC.
• Sponsor: Association of IT Companies of Kazakhstan.
• A prioritized/reserved name process was used for certain names (for example, президент.қаз). Between 1 May 2012 and 31 July 2012 companies and trademark holders could apply for names during an initial period.

Usage and Audience

• Intended audience: entities connected with Kazakhstan that use the Cyrillic script.
• Actual use: some adoption in Kazakhstan, but overall popularity is lower compared with the Latin .kz and international TLDs.
• Common reasons cited for slower adoption include technical inconveniences and user preference/habit for Latin addresses.

Registration Rules

• Structure:
  • Registrations are available directly at the second level (example: name.қаз).
  • Third-level registrations are permitted beneath standardized second-level categories.
• Restrictions:
  • No restrictions for second-level names.
  • Some restrictions apply to third-level names depending on the second-level category under which they are registered.
• Standardized second-level domains include (roles):
  • .мем.қаз – public sector organizations
  • .біл.қаз – educational institutions
  • .ком.қаз – commercial organizations
  • .қау.қаз – non-profit organizations and projects
  • .қор.қаз – defense
  • .бай.қаз – communications enterprises, networks

SEO and Brand Impact

• .қаз serves as a symbol of national identity for Kazakhstan on the Cyrillic web.
• Despite its identity value, it has lower usage and visibility compared to the established Latin .kz, which may affect recognition and user trust in some contexts.
• Adoption is influenced by technical compatibility issues with non-Latin domains and prevailing user habits favoring Latin-script addresses.

Notable Cases or Examples

• The first published site in the .қаз zone was a test site (Test.qaz).
• Certain names have been reserved or prioritized (example: президент.қаз).
• Official registry website: NIC.kz (operated by KazNIC).

% IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       қаз
domain-ace:   XN--80AO21A

organisation: Association of IT Companies of Kazakhstan
address:      6/5 Kabanbai Batyra
address:      Office 3
address:      Nur-Sultan 020000
address:      Kazakhstan

contact:      administrative
name:         Nurlan Issin
organisation: Association of IT Companies of Kazakhstan
address:      6/5 Kabanbai Batyra
address:      Office 3
address:      Nur-Sultan 020000
address:      Kazakhstan
phone:        +7 7172 92 55 52
fax-no:       +7 7172 92 54 11
e-mail:       info@itk.kz

contact:      technical
name:         Pavel Gussev
organisation: KazNIC Organization
address:      Ilyashev str, 47/2
address:      Semey VKO 071400
address:      Kazakhstan
phone:        +7 (7222) 60-00-06, 60-44-44
fax-no:       +7 (7222) 60-47-40
e-mail:       pg@nic.kz

nserver:      NS.NIC.KZ 194.0.21.5 2001:678:98:1:0:0:0:5
nserver:      NS1.NIC.KZ 185.79.212.7 2a01:7640:9000:0:0:0:0:7
nserver:      NS2.NIC.KZ 2001:500:14:6143:ad:0:0:1 204.61.216.143
ds-rdata:     12941 13 2 1e67e661e644f9c2cc122cf6307ce2ba434a1d3aebec08769bf5a28ec697f8db

whois:        whois.nic.kz

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: http://www.nic.kz/

created:      2011-09-15
changed:      2023-03-07
source:       IANA