Tag Archives: Nursultan Nazarbayev

Kazakhstan: Monument to the Leader

21 Nov

Wedding parties and sightseers in Almaty have a new must-see on their itinerary with the recent opening of a monument to President Nursultan Nazarbayev in a park named in his honour, the First President’s Park.

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The shrine has the Leader of the Nation seated atop a granite slab with eagle wings extending behind him. The wings symbolise independence – the free-spirited eagle also features on Kazakhstan’s flag – and feature scenes from Astana and Almaty.

Almaty is represented by the Kazakhstan Hotel and the TV Tower, while Astana is represented by the Pyramid (The Palace of Peace and Reconciliation), BayterekTower and Khan Shatyr. At the centre of the wings is an image of the sun god and some yurts.

Could this be the start of a mania for building monuments in Kazakhstan to the country’s long-serving president?

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Blair Duped by Gaddafi Shocker

15 Nov

Recently unveiled advisor to the Kazakh government, Tony Blair, appears to have been misled by late Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi over promises to destroy stockpiles of chemical weapons.

According to The Guardian

The size of the stockpile – including mustard gas – suggests Gaddafi totally misled Tony Blair when he promised to destroy weapons of mass destruction in return for being brought back in from the diplomatic cold in 2004.

Only a few days ago Blair was still in denial about his dealings with Gaddafi

At the weekend Blair, speaking on BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, defended the British rapprochement with Gaddafi on the basis that he had abandoned his weapons of mass destruction.

The Kazakh authorities must be pleased about the millions being showered over Blair and his Dream Team of 1997. He was easily duped by Gaddafi so the Astanites should have no trouble in stringing Tony along and letting him spin their message for them – all in all, money well spent.

Astana seems to be infatuated with UK politicians having already employed the services of former jailbird Jonathan Aitken to write President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s biography. Who’s next on Astana’s shopping list – what about utilising the senile first lady of UK politics Margaret Thatcher?

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Kazakhstan: Building boom on Astana’s right bank

13 Oct

Kazakhstan’s snazzy new capital Astana is starting to spread its tentacles into the decaying  Soviet-era heartland on the right bank of the River Ishim as the building boom, which stalled a few years ago, seems to be taking off once again.

A last remnant of Astana's rapidly disappearing old town

While intense  efforts were focused on President Nazarbayev’s dream city on the left bank of the River Ishim, the old Tsarist buildings and Soviet blocks of Tselinograd, as was, were mostly left untouched after a rash of government buildings were put up in the late 90s in the old town.

Now all that is changing rapidly.  With land prices picking up once again, the developers have started clearing away swathes of one-storey houses which were once formed the outskirts of Tselinograd.

The tumbledown low-rise houses with their blue shutters and leafy gardens are rapidly being replaced by hulking skyscrapers that dwarf even the Soviet blocks.

The emerging face of Astana's right bank

It was only a matter of time before the village-like district, complete with stand pipes for water,  was consigned to history. In the brave new world of Astana  there’s no room for sentiment when there’s pots of money to be made.

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Kazakhstan after Nazarbayev: 3. Changing of the Guard

3 Aug

With rumours whirling around in the last few weeks about the health of Kazakhstan’s long-time president, the focus has once again turned to succession scenarios in Astana.

Kazaxia has decided to gaze into its crystal ball and look at some of the possible frontrunners should the Leader of the Nation decide to call it a day – here’s the third instalment:

The Leader may feel its time to make sweeping changes in Kazakhstan with a changing of the guard by handing the reins of power to a younger figure to represent a break with the past. Two candidates spring to mind here – Imangali Tasmagambetov and Kairat Kelimbetov.

Imangali Tasmagambetov (image taken from http://www.astana.kz website)

Imangali Tasmagambetov, the current Mayor of Astana, is a former Prime Minister and Mayor of Almaty. He’s a popular figure, having served both Astana and Almaty well as Mayor. According to some reports, he may even have political principles – he reportedly resigned as PM in 2003 over a rigged vote of confidence in his government.

He cuts a more youthful and urbane figure than many of the grey men of Kazakh politics and has shown a willingness to embrace new technologies by holding Internet conferences and running an interactive page on his mayoral website. Born in 1956, he represents a younger generation in Kazakh politics and has the personality that would be able to push the country forward, if his track record in Almaty and Astnan is anything to go by.

A negative factor could be his perceived aloofness from the electorate. He’s a Kazakh speaker, but comes from a tradition of Kazakh intellectuals and does not come across as a man of the people. He lists as his hobby ‘the problems of history, ethnography and archaeology of Kazakhstan’.

Kazakh nationalists may not forgive him for labelling people protesting the destruction of their homes ‘social outsiders‘ in the 2006 property and land disputes in the Bakay and Shanyrak areas on the outskirts of Almaty. The protestors were in the main Kazakh speakers so were Tasmagambetov to become president, he should not expect as easy a ride as Nazarbayev has had at the hands of the ever more vocal nationalists.

Kairat Kelimbetov

Kairat Kelimbetov (image taken from http://www.weforum.org website)

Kairat Kelimbetov is a dark horse for the top job. Despite being only 42, he has held a number of key positions in Kazakhstan. He is currently the Minster of Economic Development and Trade and prior to that he was head of the state’s Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kaznya.

Kelimbetov studied at Georgetown University and is often wheeled out to represent Kazakhstan at big economic forums around the world. His strong background in economics and his fluency in English combined with his relative youthfulness makes him an attractive proposition for foreign governments and investors.

He would be the ideal candidate to make a clean break with the past as he is not seen to be too tainted by the Soviet era. However, his not entirely fluent Kazakh language skills may be a disadvantage – but he does have  the charisma to appeal to the electorate. Keep him in mind as a dark horse, though, biding his time while the other candidates fall to political in-fighting.


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Kazakhstan after Nazarbayev: 1. Keep it in the Family

29 Jul

Kazakhstan has long adhered to the principle of ‘one man, one vote’ but what happens if that one man – President Nursultan Nazarbayev – is unable to perform his duties? With rumours whirling around in the last week about the health of Kazakhstan’s long-time president, the focus has once again turned to succession scenarios in Astana.

Having been awarded the title of Leader of the Nation in 2010, the stage has been set for the incumbent to move aside but still control the reins of power. Could we see a situation where he takes everyone by surprise and does a ‘Boris Yeltsin’ and personally anoints his successor? At least he’ll be safe in the knowledge that the new president will not wield any real power while he’s still alive. Whatever he decides, he’s got the job until at least 2016, and with the history of longevity in his family who knows how long he’ll go on.

Kazaxia has decided to gaze into its crystal ball and look at some of the possible frontrunners should the Leader of the Nation decide to call it a day.  Kazaxia will be assessing their chances over the next few days – here’s the first instalment:

1. Keep it in the Family

Timur Kulibayev (Image taken from http://www.samruk-kazyna.kz website)

Current hot favourite is Timur Kulibayev – the ‘keep it in the family’ option. Kulibayev has risen high in the business world of Kazakhstan, possibly with the help of his powerful father-in-law – he’s married to Dinara, Nazarbayev’s middle daughter, and has three children with her. He comes across as a clean-cut family guy (see more on this below) who leads a sporty lifestyle with his passion for golf, skiing and football.

Kulibayev has carved a name for himself in Kazakhstan’s oil and gas industry and has held top positions in many of the state’s big players such as KazMunaiGas.  He is thought to be worth $1.3 billion on the Forbes rich list.

He is currently Chief Executive Officer of Kazakhstan’s powerful Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna, which controls all state investments and holdings. Click here for a full biography of Kulibayev.

Remarks made recently by presidential advisor Yermukhamet Yertysbayev were interpreted as tipping Kulibayev as a suitable candidate to succeed Nazarbayev to the top job. Both Kulibayev and Yertysbayev were quick to downplay the report, but the fact remains that he would make a good candidate for the ruling family and allow it to keep pulling the strings.

The main obstacles to Kulibayev becoming president are his lack of political experience, his background is strictly business, and his Kazakh language skills – he rarely, if ever speaks in Kazakh in public so there are doubts about his fluency.  It is one thing to pass the language test given to prospective candidates for the presidency, but convincing the electorate is entirely another matter.

A candidate who struggles with the state language would not be popular with the nation’s increasingly influential Kazakh language lobby. This is an issue that is likely to come more to the fore after the current president moves on.

He also has some skeletons  in the cupboard that may not play well with the electorate. He had a long-term affair with Goga Ashkenazi and had a son with her, according to international media outlets. This involvement with Ashkenazi, a Kazakh socialite and businesswoman, doesn’t fit too well with the clean-cut family guy image. There have been accusations of money-laundering and corruption, but the Kazakh financial police cleared him of any wrongdoing.

All-in-all, though, Kulibayev still makes a good candidate. He has time to gain the necessary political skills and brush up his Kazakh. The lovechild may not be too much of a hindrance as this is not known about in Kazakskhstan. Kulibayev can still be regarded as the current favourite.

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Sting Proves Astana Party Pooper

4 Jul

It looks like  Sting has taken Kazaxia’s advice, as the veteran British rocker pulled out of his planned concert in Astana, Kazakhstan amid concerns over human rights abuses in the country. He came under pressure from Amnesty International to cancel his show scheduled for 4 July because of the

repression and crackdown against oil workers, their union leaders, their legal representatives and of the human rights NGOs working with them

Sting got into trouble for playing a concert in Uzbekistan for Gulnara Karimova in 2009. Now he seems to have rediscovered his conscience and is once again positioning himself as the great human rights defender.

Earlier in the tour a date in Minsk, Belarus was cancelled, allegedly because of concerns over the economic situation in the country. Surely Lukashenko’s regime is much worse that the relatively benign one in Kazakhstan so it’s strange that Astana is taking the flak over its human rights’ record, whereas Belarus escaped criticism from Amnesty International.

The gig was to have been a central plank of the celebrations for the anniversary of the day Astana became Kazakhstan’s capital, 6 July, which also happens to be the birthday of Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev.

The Leader of the Nation is likely to be not very amused at this latest turn of events and heads could well roll in Astana. His birthday treats have a tendency to fall flat – in 2008 the birthday boy looked on stony-faced as a somewhat tired and emotional looking  Whitney Houston stumbled around the stage.

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Sting hits Kazakhstan

2 Jul

Sting will be returning to Central Asia for a concert on 4July in Astana for the first time since he was stung by a fierce UK press reaction following his concert for Gulnara Karimova in Uzbekistan in 2009.

The concert is part of the ageing rocker’s world tour, called Symphonicity and is timed to coincide with the ongoing celebrations for President Nazarbayev’s birhtday, sorry I meant the anniversary of Astana becoming the capital of Kazakhstan on 6 July.

In honour of the occasion, Kazaxia has penned a little ditty to be sung to the tune of that old Police standard, Roxanne.

‘Oh Sting, you don’t have to play for dictators,
your money’s made now, you’re a billionaire,

Oh Sting, why you wanna sing for dictators,
those days are over, why should you care?’

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Kazakhstan: Almaty Jewellery Wars Hot Up

15 Jun

Chopard face off with Alsara in central Almaty

The battle of high-end jewellery designers – Aliya Nazarbayeva and Gulnara Karimova – is hotting up as Chopard, the Swiss company working with Gulnara, placed a billboard directly opposite one advertising Aliya’s Alsara brand on the junction of Abylay Khan and Kurmangazy streets in the centre of Almaty.

As reported on Kazaxia in April, the youngest daughter of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev launched her exclusive jewellery collection through the auspices of Italian company Damiani. This made her the second Central Asian president’s daughter to enter the world of jewellery design, following in the footsteps of Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov’s eldest daughter, who launched her Guli collection in collaboration with Chopard in 2009.

Aliya’s posters feature her glamorous visage beaming down from the billboard at the teeming masses of motorists sitting in Almaty’s notorious traffic jams. One could not accuse Ms Nazarbayeva of modesty, as another billboard stands at the entrance to the Luxor fitness centre. She is rumoured to own the luxurious facility which is said to have been inspired by a visit to the fabled city in Egypt.

Still no word on Aliya shadowing Gulnara – also known by her stage name of Googoosha – into the world of music. Maybe she’s leaving that to her opera-singing elder sister Dariga, who has often performed on Kazakhstan’s stages and further afield, including Moscow.

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Kazakhstan: Heading for the Hills

2 Jun

Yum yum ... horses grazing at Ush Konyr

It’s that time of the year in Kazakhstan when people in years gone by would have made off for the high pastures with their horses, cows and sheep in the annual migration to the rich upland grazing land known as the zhaylau. The summer months would be spent fattening up the animals – and the humans – on the riches in the mountains in preparation for the long, cold winter.

Wild flowers in Ush Konyr

Soviet-era collectivisation put paid to this nomadic existence and few people in modern-day Kazakhstan still follow the wandering traditions, but come the weekend and many city-dwellers still feel the call of the wild and take off to the mountains in their 4x4s for a spot of communing with nature and to get their supper by picking wild mushrooms.

Mushroom mania

Last weekend Kazaxia joined the exodus and visited Ush Konyr, which is easily reached from Almaty – head for President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s home village of Shamalgan and then follow the track that winds steeply up to the 3,000 metre pastures. In no time at all you’re in the rolling grasslands where President Nazarbayev spent his early years. He had such fond memories of this carefree existence that he penned a song about it. See it performed here by Kazakh band MuzArt.

More wild flowers in Ush Konyr

The smog and noise of Almaty feel light years away as you breathe in the clean air and concentrate on foraging for edible mushrooms and admiring the rich covering of wild flowers. You’ll see packs of horses grazing as you hike around and the occasional paraglider taking flight, but not a great deal else will intrude to spoil your peace and quiet.

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Rip-Off Kazakhstan

11 May

This is the first in an occasional series of Rip-Off Kazakhstan (ROK) awards made by Kazaxia to businesses in the country offering poor value-for-money.

Congratulations to Rakhat Fitness in Almaty – the first business in Kazakhstan to receive a ROK award.

With summer just around the corner, this fitness centre has decided to introduce a 50% price hike – previously a monthly 12-visit pass cost 17,000 tenge ($117), now it’s 25,000 tenge ($172) or around $15 per swim.

That might not seem too bad, but for that you are allowed 75 minutes a session to change, shower and swim, and that’s if you’re lucky and there’s room in the pool.

The 50-metre pool is currently under repair and is closed until 22 May so wannabe swimmers will have to fight it out with the water polo teams for a small slice of the 25-metre pool.

The owners can’t be short of a bob or two – the fitness complex was formerly owned by Rakhat Aliyev,  the former husband of Dariga Nazarbayeva, eldest daughter of  President Nursultan  Nazarbayev.  It is rumoured that many of his assets were transferred to his ex-wife, although who  owns the fitness centre is unclear.

Aliyev, who is now living in exile in in Vienna, Austria, was sentenced in absentia  to a 20-year prison term after being found guilty of running a crime ring, abduction, theft and extortion in 2008. In the same year he was sentenced to another 2o years by a  secret military court for

attempting to forcibly seize power, illegally receiving and divulging state secrets, running an organized crime group, theft and illegal possession of firearms, theft of state property and abuse of power

Aliyev was famed in Kazakhstan as a ruthless money-grabber and is seems his legacy lives on with the current owners of Rakhat Fitness continuing to coin it in.

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