<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="" itemprop="name">Nazarbayev: ‘There are no untouchables in Kazakhstan’</h1><div class=""><span itemprop="description"><p>Kazakhstan’s president speaks on language, corruption, and the transition of power.</p>
</span></div><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><img src="http://thediplomat.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/thediplomat_2014-12-15_13-25-50-36x36.jpg" class="" alt="paolo sorbello - photo 2" height="36" width="36"></div><div class="">By <a href="http://thediplomat.com/authors/paolo-sorbello/"><span itemprop="author">Paolo Sorbello</span></a></div><div class=""><span itemprop="datePublished">July 06, 2015</span></div></div><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><span class=""> </span><span class=""></span></div><div class=""><span class=""> </span></div></div><div class=""><br></div></div></div> <div class="" itemprop="articleBody"><p>After a <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/PaoloBottleneck/status/615885566375297024">dramatic announcement</a>,
the channels KTK and Khabar aired an hour-long interview with
Kazakhstan’s president Nursultan Nazarbayev last week. Nazarbayev spoke
at length and was only interrupted by short questions and clips of his
past speeches. The title of the talk made it all very personal: “With
Nazarbayev, about the chief [issues]” (S Nazarbayevym o glavnom) was the
quirky headline, a clear play on words between what and who is more
important. Starting from the hard days of the 1990s, the interview went
on to praise the president’s foresight, drawing parallels between then
and now with reference to the economic crisis, the Eurasian idea, and
the fight against corruption. Most importantly, Nazarbayev used the
occasion to put his latest policies in perspective for his fellow
citizens, something that was much needed after he <a target="_blank" href="http://thediplomat.com/2014/12/nursultan-nazarbayevs-tv-tour/">repeatedly appeared on TV</a> in the past months announcing new reforms and state programs.</p>
<p>The interviewer, <a target="_blank" href="http://online.zakon.kz/Document/?doc_id=30598924">Yerlan Bekkhozhin</a>, is the director of the presidential telecommunication services <a target="_blank" href="http://www.p-trk.kz/index.php/ru/">TRK</a>,
a state-funded corporation. Unsurprisingly, Bekkhozhin served some
softball questions to the president, who was quicker than his
interlocutor in veering towards thorny issues, like language politics,
corruption, and the current crisis. So little is known about
Kazakhstan’s backstage politics in the past 25 years that Nazarbayev can
lightheartedly joke about one of his first trips to the U.S.: “The
early 90s were really disastrous years […] we found ourselves in such
poor conditions” the president said, “I couldn’t dissimulate this with
everyone of course, but [foreigners] believed in me as there was no-one
else to trust. So, of course I bluffed.”</p>
<p>One of the main topics about Nazarbayev’s experience at the helm was
the language policy. Having the official languages be both Kazakh and
Russian, according to the president, was “what set us apart from the
rest of the CIS.” “Pragmatism is what makes the difference. A politician
needs to be grounded in reality to make the right decisions,” he
opened. “We in Kazakhstan lived together, our popular memory and even
our mindsets are identical […] the decisions that I made were probably
not seen as well in northern Kazakhstan or in Mangistau, but it’s true
that every Kazakh used the Russian language since the Tsarist era. It
would have been senseless to say: ‘Now we only speak one language and if
you don’t know Kazakh language, you are barred from civil service!’
What would have been the consequences?” Nazarbayev then turned directly
to his interviewer and asked: “What if you were forced to speak, say,
Chinese by tomorrow. Would you manage?” A nervous, silent nodding
followed, allowing Nazarbayev to <a target="_blank" href="http://kapital.kz/gosudarstvo/41642/prezident-rk-nelzya-protivopostavlyat-odnu-naciyu-drugoj.html">conclude</a>
his self-praise of his policy: “I stand by my earlier decision, because
we shouldn’t offend those who try to build their own happiness, nor put
nationalities against each other. That has a different name:
nationalism. And when nationalism arises, fascism ensues.”</p>
<p>Another thorny issue brought up during the interview was corruption. Nazarbayev brought up <a target="_blank" href="http://thediplomat.com/2015/03/lee-kuan-yews-singapore-as-a-model-for-kazakhstan/">the paragons of his fight against corruption</a>,
Singapore and Malaysia. “Corruption is a legacy of the Soviet state
apparatus” said Nazarbayev. According to the president, every country
fights corruption, but the scale of the problem is probably bigger in
the countries of the post-Soviet space. <a target="_blank" href="http://tengrinews.kz/kazakhstan_news/nazarbaev-o-borbe-s-korruptsiey-kryishi-zdes-ne-budet-277103/">Nazarbayev regards Kazakhstan as different</a>:
“[former Prime Minister of Singapore] Lee Kuan Yew said I jailed my own
friend. But why did people forget that I jailed the father of my own
grandchildren?” The reference is of course to Rakhat Aliyev, who was
married to Dariga Nazarbayeva until he fell from grace and was accused
of the murder of two bankers in 2007. Nazarbayev wanted to make a point:
“I was worried when this case came to me, but I didn’t stop for the
sake of kinship” said Nazarbayev, “because there are no untouchables in
Kazakhstan.” This has been true for the cases of the governors of
Pavlodar, Atyrau, and Karaganda, various ministers and, lately, of the <a target="_blank" href="http://thediplomat.com/2015/06/expo-in-kazakhstan-becomes-corruption-show/">managing director of the EXPO-2017 project</a>,
which was a “very bitter pill to swallow” for Nazarbayev. “There will
be no roof in Kazakhstan” said Nazarbayev, referring to the common
Russian metaphor for protectors.</p>
<p>Nazarbayev also spoke about the <a target="_blank" href="http://tengrinews.kz/kazakhstan_news/nazarbaev-peredacha-prezidentskih-polnomochiy-pravitelstvu-277093/">transition of power</a>
from the president to the parliament. Speaking of power relations since
the 1990s, he said: “Presidential power didn’t oppress the people, but
worked for the people. We needed a top-down power for all these years.
Would anyone here in Kazakhstan have preferred to be in Ukraine, Georgia
or Moldova instead? Those are all examples of post-Soviet parliamentary
democracies.” Nazarbayev then proceeded with the objectives of
Kazakhstan: “We will reach the American model, but for that we need
time. Of what time am I talking? The middle class in Kazakhstan should
contribute to more than 50 percent of our country’s production.” This is
the fundamental condition for stability, according to the president.
The process of transition of power will be carried out over the period
2016-2019: “First, already next year, all regional and local governors
will be elected by the people,” Nazarbayev said. “Second, we will
decentralize power to local authorities so that the ministries will have
to cope only with large-scale, nation-wide issues.”</p>
<p>These three components of Nazarbayev’s interview define the
president’s relationship with the state and its citizens. The summary of
Nazarbayev’s presidential experience was prepared to celebrate his 75th
birthday. After his <a target="_blank" href="http://thediplomat.com/2015/03/kazakhstan-one-last-time-for-nazarbayev/">speech last March</a>,
this seems to be another step towards a farewell. To conclude the
interview, Nazarbayev hinted at his endurance: “As long as energy is
burning within you, you can stay on earth. I still have it. My
generation’s deeds will be remembered, because we are leaving a strong
country for the future generations.” Nazarbayev’s political testament
has already aired. But do not expect a “lame duck” kind of rule going
forward. Nazarbayev wants to continue reaching milestones to replenish
the record of achievements of “the First President,” as monuments in
Kazakhstan already refer to him.</p><p><a href="http://thediplomat.com/2015/07/nazarbayev-there-are-no-untouchables-in-kazakhstan/">http://thediplomat.com/2015/07/nazarbayev-there-are-no-untouchables-in-kazakhstan/</a><br></p>
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