Tag Archives: Kazakhstan

Nazarbayev re-casts Kazakh history in his own image

ASTANA/Kazakhstan, APRIL 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Keen to build his everlasting legacy, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev has create a museum in Astana to furnish his image as the Leader of the Nation.

A few days before the 74-year-old Nazarbayev won his fifth presidential election on April 26, The Conway Bulletin had a look around the National Museum, a futuristic building of marble and glass set at the heart of the new city.

It is the largest museum in Central Asia and was opened on July 6 last year, the 17th anniversary of Astana’s designation as Kazakhstan’s capital, a crown it took from Almaty in the south.

As if to underline its superiority over the far more louche Almaty, the new National Museum in Astana has taken the best from the old National Museum. All the national treasures are here from a huge 1-tonne bürkit, the national eagle to the Altyn Adam, so-called golden man, symbol of the nomadic warring times of the Kazakh civilisation.

Two grandiose light shows are shown every hour, with videos featuring the President. His words are engraved at each corner. “One people, one civilization, one future,” read one.

A couple of hundred visitors on a Sunday afternoon felt barely visible in this vast museum. Directing staff pointed the way, ensuring that tourists and locals both experience Nazarbayev’s own reading of Kazakhstan’s history.

In the Astana Hall, countless photos of the president giving speeches and inaugurating buildings are accompanied by Nazarbayev’s own drawings that served as a guidelines for Astana’s landmark monuments, such as the Baiterek tower, first sketched on a tissue.

The question that everybody wants answering now is when is he going to stand aside and allow another president to run the country. Even when he does though, there is little doubt that Nazarbayev, as the Leader of the Nation, will be standing and watching not too far behind the scenes.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

Foreign currency sales fall in Kazakhstan

APRIL 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh media reported a 19% drop in sales of US dollars, euros and roubles at foreign exchange points in March compared to February, suggesting a slowdown of the near panicked drive by ordinary Kazakhs to sell out of tenge when they thought a devaluation was imminent.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015

Kazakhs protest after fire

APRIL 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Hundreds of small stall owners protested in Almaty after a fire ripped through a trading centre. The protest was one of the biggest acts of social discontent in Kazakhstan this year. There have been a number of suspect fires in trading centres in Almaty.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

Kazakhstan jails Ukraine fighter

APRIL 27 2015(The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Atyrau in western Kazakhstan sentenced an unnamed 27-year-old man to jail for three years for fighting with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, media reported. Radio Free Europe said this was the second case this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

Kazakhstan elects fifth president

>>Real question facing Kazakhstan is what happens next

APRIL 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Nursultan Nazarbayev won a fifth presidential election in Kazakhstan with a 97.7% share of the vote.

Western election monitors complained that there had been little, or no, real opposition. The only two alternative candidates to Mr Nazarbayev both supported his re-election.

Not that this seemed to bother Mr Nazarbayev.

“I’m sorry that these numbers may seem inadmissible to super- democratic countries. But there is nothing I can do about them. Had I interfered, that would have been anti-democratic,” he said according to reports.

The key now — for interested observers of Kazakhstan’s business, political and social scenes — is to watch out for what happens next. Mr Nazarbayev and his close band of elites called an early election to impose his authority over the country at an increasingly difficult period. The economy is under pressure from a drop in oil prices and a sharp fall in Russia’s economic vitality. This has generated pressure on the Kazakh tenge to devalue,

<<Election was a prelude to more important decisions <<

With a successful election, now may be the opportune time for Kazakhstan to devalue its currency without triggering social upheaval.

And then, of course, there is the question of succession. At 74-years-old, Mr Nazarbayev’s years in office are probably numbered. He has yet to anoint a successor. Now, though, may be his chance.

The 2015 presidential election is most likely a prelude to more important decisions facing Kazakhstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

Turkmen President to visit Astana

APRIL 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov will travel to Astana to meet with Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev soon, Kazakh media reported. This is important because Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan are partnering up on a rail project linking Central Asia with Iran.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

Massimov re-affirmed as Kazakh PM

APRIL 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a constitutional formality, the Kazakh government resigned immediately after Nursultan Nazerbayev was re-elected as president for the fifth time. He re-appointed his trusted lieutenant Karim Massimov as PM, ensuring stability in the government.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

No devaluation, says Kazakh President

APRIL 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev dismissed rumours a devaluation of the tenge was now imminent after he had won another election. “There are no such plans,” he said at a news conference. The tenge has come under enormous pressure to devalue because of a fall in oil prices and a drop in the Russian rouble.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

Kazakh Astana cycling retains licence

APRIL 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Cycling’s Astana Pro Team, a Kazakhstan-backed franchise, will retain its World Tour Licence despite allegations of mass doping (April 24).

The International Cycling Union’s Licence Commission’s decision surprised many who had been urging it to take strong action to clean up the sport.

The International Cycling Union suggested in February that Astana Pro Team would lose its licence over what it described as “compelling grounds” that it had doped.

This would have embarrassed Kazakhstan. Last year an Astana Pro Team rider, Vincenzo Nibali, won the Tour de France.

Some online stories suggested that the International Cycling Union wanted to avoid a legal case with Astana Pro Team and so dodged scrapping its licence. Instead it said Astana Pro Team would be subject to special conditions next season.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

Kazakhstan extends ban on Russian oil products

APRIL 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan extended a ban on the import of Russian oil products by an extra month until May 20. An original 45-day ban had been due to end on April 20. Kazakhstan imposed the ban because an imbalance in the Russian rouble-Kazakh tenge exchange rate has triggered an influx of cheap Russian oil products.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)