The capital of the central Asian country was renamed Nur-sultan in 2019 in honour of outgoing president Nursultan Nazarbayev
Kazakh president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has agreed to restore the former name of the country’s capital just three years after he renamed it in honour of his predecessor, his spokesperson said.
Tokayev’s spokesman, Ruslan Zheliban, said the president agreed to the name change after an initiative by a group of MPs.
Continue reading...Tehran denies Khayyam satellite will be under Russian control, despite reported admission by Moscow
Russia has launched an Iranian satellite from Kazakhstan amid concerns it could be used for battlefield surveillance in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Iran has denied that the Khayyam satellite, which was delivered into orbit onboard a Soyuz rocket launched from Baikonur cosmodrome, would ever be under Russian control.
Continue reading...Preliminary results show 77% of voters backed constitutional changes after January protests in which more than 230 people died
Kazakhs have overwhelmingly voted for constitutional changes in a referendum after deadly unrest ended founding leader Nursultan Nazarbayev’s three-decade grip on Central Asia’s richest country, the election commission says.
“The referendum can be considered validated,” electoral commission chair Nurlan Abdirov said on Monday, citing preliminary results that 77% of voters had backed the move.
Continue reading...Urgent protection for minority groups facing increased repression needed in crisis connected to escalating clashes across central Asian ex-Soviet region, say human rights groups
Parents of men killed by Tajikistan forces have called on the international community to step in and urgently protect ethnic groups being targeted by the Tajik regime.
In a rare interview, families from the Pamiri ethnic minority have demanded that soldiers who killed their sons be brought to justice and urged the UN to prevent a new phase of conflict in Tajikistan, a landlocked country in central Asia.
Continue reading...Anger over corruption and economic inequality is largely directed at Nursultan Nazarbayev and family
Walking through the home-town museum built to honour Nursultan Nazarbayev, the former Kazakhstan president who built a personality cult around his rule, there are few signs of the anger that swept across the central Asian country earlier this month.
Visitors to the imposing three-storey building in Shamalgan are treated to a maquette of the house where the young Nazarbayev grew up, a Mercedes that was part of his presidential motorcade in a glass box in the museum’s grounds, and family artefacts including a suit worn by his brother.
Continue reading...Analysis: All-encompassing status that took 30 years to build appears to have crumbled in just of a few days
It is a question being asked with increasing urgency by intelligence services, multinational companies and most citizens of Kazakhstan: where is Nursultan Nazarbayev?
Kazakhstan’s leader from 1991 until 2019, Nazarbayev has long been the arbiter of all business and political decisions in the central Asian nation, and the purveyor of an all-encompassing personality cult. In 2019, he handpicked a successor, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, while retaining power behind the scenes. The capital city, along with its airport and main university were all renamed after him.
Continue reading...Prosecutor says dead include security forces and ‘armed bandits’, with toll dramatically increased from previous figures
The violent unrest in Kazakhstan that began with peaceful protests in early January has left 225 people dead, authorities have said in a dramatic increase on previous tolls.
“During the state of emergency, the bodies of 225 people were delivered to morgues, of which 19 were law enforcement officers and military personnel,” Serik Shalabayev, the head of criminal prosecution at the prosecutor’s office, told a briefing on Saturday.
Continue reading...Withdrawal to start in two days, says Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, as new PM appointed and detentions rise to nearly 10,000
A Russian-led military bloc will start withdrawing its troops from Kazakhstan in two days’ time, Kazakh president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has told the country’s parliament.
Troops from the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) will depart the central Asian nation completely over a period of 10 days, he said on Tuesday.
Continue reading...The tragic events of last week, in which dozens lost their lives, have exposed hidden political tensions
For many Kazakhs, the full story behind the unrest of the past week remains as murky as the mist that enveloped Almaty, the country’s largest city and the centre of violence, at the same time.
People were unable to access accurate information, as an internet blackout froze almost all access to the outside world during a tragic few days of violence in which military vehicles rolled through the streets, government buildings burned and state television carried rolling threats that “bandits and terrorists” would be eliminated without mercy.
Continue reading...A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Mexico to Hong Kong
Continue reading...Karim Masimov was fired this week as unrest raged across the country, with dozens killed and public buildings ransacked
The former head of Kazakhstan’s domestic intelligence agency has been detained on suspicion of high treason, the agency said, after he was fired amid violent protests.
The National Security Committee, or KNB, said in a statement on Saturday that its former chief Karim Masimov had been detained on Thursday after it launched an investigation into charges of high treason.
Continue reading...Kassym-Jomart Tokayev tells security forces to ‘use lethal force without warning’
The president of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, has promised an uncompromising crackdown on demonstrators in the country, telling security forces they should “use lethal force without warning” against protesters he called “bandits and terrorists”.
On Friday, relative calm returned to Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city and the centre of recent tumult, and some residents ventured out for the first time in several days. They found looted shops, shattered glass and many burnt-out cars, with the grim atmosphere intensified by the thick mist enveloping the city.
Continue reading...Analysis: CSTO may be an alliance but decision to intervene was almost certainly taken in Moscow
The old joke about the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact was that it was the only military alliance to attack itself, after its tanks rolled into Prague in 1968 to crush a reform movement there.
With the deployment of troops from the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) to Kazakhstan on Thursday, some heard “eerie echoes” of the so-called Prague spring of 1968, and the Soviet crushing of the Hungarian revolution in 1956.
Continue reading...Witnesses in Almaty describe scenes of chaos in streets as Russian ‘peacekeepers’ arrive in country
Dozens of protesters and at least 12 police officers have died in ongoing violence in Kazakhstan, authorities have claimed, as “peacekeepers” from a Russian-led military alliance arrived in the country at the request of the embattled president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
Witnesses in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, described scenes of chaos on Thursday, with government buildings being stormed or set on fire and widespread looting. Many of those demonstrating said the protests had begun peacefully earlier in the week, and turned violent after a heavy-handed government response.
Continue reading...British former PM told Nursultan Nazarbayev to stress he ‘understood’ critics and to say reforms would ‘take time’
The newly knighted Sir Tony Blair is one of several well-paid western advisers who have burnished the image of Kazakhstan’s former ruler Nursultan Nazarbayev and his autocratic regime, now the target of angry protesters.
Narzabayev invited Blair to give him strategic advice after Kazakh security forces shot dead 14 people during the country’s December 2011 anti-government uprising. The protesters in the western oil town of Zhanaozen were demanding higher wages.
Continue reading...Moscow-led ‘peacekeeping’ alliance enters country amid violent clashes between protesters, police and army
Russian paratroopers have arrived in Kazakhstan as part of a “peacekeeping” mission by a Moscow-led military alliance to help the president regain control of the country, according to Russian news agencies.
Kazakhstan’s president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, asked for the intervention from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) – an alliance made up of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan – late on Wednesday and it was swiftly approved.
Continue reading...Footage taken on the streets of Almaty appears to show guns being fired as unrest continues. Initially angered by a fuel price rise, protesters have been storming buildings and chanting against President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's predecessor, Nursultan Nazarbayev. State buildings have been torched and eight security personnel reported dead in the demonstrations. The internet was shut down and 'peacekeeping forces' from a Russian-led alliance of former Soviet states will be sent to Kazakhstan to help stabilise the country
Fuel price rises have triggered protests in Almaty, the country’s commercial capital and largest city, and other cities
Continue reading...Protesters took over government buildings and reportedly stormed the airport in Almaty, Kazakhstan, after demonstrations against a fuel price rise spread quickly across the country. A government announcement that the price would be fixed at a lower level did not slow protesters who say they are unhappy with corruption and the cost of living. 'Peacekeeping forces' from a Russia-led military alliance will be sent to help the country’s president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, regain control. Kazakh media outlets cited the interior ministry as saying 317 police and national guard servicemen have been injured and eight killed. There have been no reliable estimates of civilian casualties
Continue reading...Analysis: Nursultan Nazarbayev, behind-the-scenes powerbroker, thought he found a way to step aside without risking retribution
For years, Nursultan Nazarbayev has been used to performative adoration from the citizens of Kazakhstan. The country’s leader for nearly three decades, he was showered with praise and adulation at showpiece events, and his image smiled down from billboards across the country.
When he stepped down in 2019, he was able to choose his successor, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and kept significant power as head of the security council and general behind-the-scenes powerbroker. He retained his official title of Elbasy, or leader of the nation.
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