Kazakhstan Featurees - The Times Of Central Asia

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Central Asian States Respond to Moscow Attacks

ALMATY, Kazakhstan – Central Asian countries have denounced the attack on a Moscow concert hall that killed more than 60 people, with Kazakhstan offering the help of its law enforcement agencies to Russia if needed. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the mass shooting on Friday night. “Kazakhstan strongly condemns the terrorist act against civilians in Moscow," Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in a statement. He expressed condolences in a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin and urged United Nations member states to unanimously condemn the attack. Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev also sent condolencesto relatives of the dead and wishes for the quick recovery of the injured. More than 140 people were injured, according to Russian authorities. Video recorded by witnesses showed several gunmen roaming the concert hall, opening fire on civilians. A large blaze also broke out at the building during the attack. Uzbekistan “firmly condemns this act of terrorism directed against civilians, and the organizers and executors of this crime will be assured of the inevitability of punishment,” the president’s press service said. The claim of responsibility could not be immediately confirmed, and it was unclear whether there was a link to Islamic State extremists in Afghanistan. On Feb. 27, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke of threats coming from extremists in Afghanistan and prioritized “ensuring military security in the Central Asian strategic area.” Shoigu said the number of Islamic State militants in Afghanistan had increased by 15% in the past year. He said their key objectives were to spread radical ideology and to conduct subversive activities on the southern borders of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The organization, CSTO, is a Russian-led security alliance that includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Image above credit: Reuters

Kazakhstan Ranked Among 50 Happiest Countries in the World

In the recently published UN and Gallup World Happiness Report 2024, Kazakhstan was ranked among the top 50 happiest countries in the world, ahead of Russia, Armenia and Georgia. However, the Baltic States and Uzbekistan returned higher happiness scores on the index. This rating, presented on March 20, was developed on the basis of a three-year study conducted by UN experts, Gallup and other scientists. Citizens of different countries assessed their quality of life by taking into account a variety of factors, including economic status, GDP, life expectancy, major life challenges, sense of freedom, public responsiveness, and the level of corruption. These interdisciplinary studies help the understanding of how different aspects of life interact and influence the overall sense of happiness. TCA asked citizens from across Kazakhstan about the their feelings regarding the level of happiness presented in the report, and met with mixed feelings. "Frankly speaking, I don't have such a feeling,” Alua, a 21-year-old pedagogical student from Taraz told TCA. “After all, food prices are rising almost daily, and wages are not growing as fast. Also, conditions in state institutions haven’t changed much, especially in healthcare and education." "I’ve seen this rating, but prices are rising so quickly that Almaty has become the most expensive city in Central Asia,” Sanzhar, a 22-year-old CMM specialist from Almaty commented. "To be honest, I don't think there have been any significant changes that mean we’re happier than before,” Merey, a 28-year-old singer from Astana told TCA. “The only thing maybe because the coronavirus pandemic was in full swing three years ago, so compared to that the situation is much better now, so people think they’ve become happier. However, the socio-economic situation in the country hasn't changed that much, so it's strange for me to hear that people in our country are happier than in Georgia, for example." Comments from others, however, suggest that life in Kazakhstan is improving year on year. "Yes, I feel the changes,” Raushan, a 40-year-old Art Historian from Almaty stated. “There is less discrimination due to language barriers, and there’s a growing interest in traditional nomadic culture which leads to the creative development of young talents who are able to make a name for themselves internationally. All this strengthens their faith and motivation to move forward with creative ideas and learn ways to promote their creativity." "Thanks to the internet and social networks people are aware of the inhuman things happening in the world. With all that is known, I think people in Kazakhstan are just happy to have a peaceful sky above their heads." Tair, a 25-year-old businessman from Taraz told TCA. "I’ve definitely seen an increase in happiness among people. It's like the confidence in our security has gotten higher for me personally," Merey, a 20-year-old student from Kostanai commented.

Kazakh Musicians Turn to Old Instruments to Make New Music

The dombra, the kyu, the kobyz, the zhetigen…. The list of traditional instruments in Kazakh music goes on. These aren’t dust-coated relics. The instruments are increasingly at the forefront of a lot of popular music in Kazakhstan today. They even get makeovers. The dombra is a long-necked, stringed instrument symbolizing Turkic culture. Now there is the electric dombra. Merey Otan, also known as Mercury Cachalot, knows about all of this. She is a musician and graduate student at Nazarbayev University in Astana and co-author of a book about the transformation of traditional instruments in Kazakhstan. In written responses to questions from The Times of Central Asia, Otan talked about contemporary Kazakh music and the role of the old instruments. After some replies, TCA includes brief explanations of her musical references. Researcher Merey Otan speaks last year at a launch for a book she co-authored about traditional instruments and contemporary music in Kazakhstan. Otan is a postgraduate student in the Eurasian Studies program at Nazarbayev University in Astana. Photo: Merey Otan Merey, tell us how you first encountered Kazakh music and what attracted you to Kazakh instruments? I have always been surrounded by Kazakh music. As long as I can remember we used to sing Kazakh folk songs at family gatherings, and various celebrations. My sister used to play dombra, a Kazakh traditional plucked two-stringed instrument, and when I started going to school I also started learning to play it. Unfortunately, I stopped taking lessons after a couple of years but I still remember how to play some compositions, kuys, and play it once in a while. TCA: Kuys is a traditional instrumental piece of Kazakh, Nogai, Tatar and Kyrgyz musical cultures. It is performed on various folk instruments. Which Kazakh instruments are considered the most popular among contemporary musicians, and why do they attract attention? Dombra is probably the most popular traditional instrument among local musicians, including contemporary ones. It also has a sacred meaning for the people in terms of national identity. This is evident in the quote of a famous Kazakh poet Kadyr Myrza Ali "A true Kazakh is not a Kazakh but a dombra." This shows that Kazakh people associate their identity with the instrument and incorporating its sound in contemporary songs allows them to situate their music in the local context. Apart from that, musicians also use instuments like qobyz, shanqobyz, zhetigen. Authenticity was always important for musicians and including traditional instruments is one of the popular strategies to demonstrate authenticity for Kazakhstan's musicians. Among the most popular examples are songs by Yerbolat Kudaibergen, Irina Kairatovna, Aldaspan, The Buhars. A dombra and a kobyz, traditional instruments used in Kazakhstan, are shown in a book that was co-authored by researcher Merey Otan. Photo: TCA TCA: The kobyz is an ancient bowed instrument preserved among the peoples of Siberia, Central Asia, the Volga region, Transcaucasia and other regions. The shankobyz is an ancient Kazakh reed musical instrument, formerly used by shaman-worshipers to...

Space

Baikonur Launch to ISS Scheduled for Saturday 23rd March

ALMATY, Kazakhstan - A spacecraft carrying three crewmembers from Russia, Belarus and the United States is scheduled to launch Saturday to the International Space Station. The mission was aborted Thursday with seconds to lift-off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The scrapped launch was caused by a “voltage drop in the chemical current source," said Yuri Borisov, head of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. Tass, the Russian state news agency, quoted Borisov as saying the crew is safe and well. The Soyuz spacecraft was expected to take about three hours after a launch on Thursday to reach the station, where seven people already aboard are awaiting the new arrivals. If a Saturday afternoon launch goes ahead, the travel time will be longer and docking is expected to occur on Monday. Those heading to the space station are mission commander Oleg Novitsky of Roscosmos (his fourth trip to space), Belarusian Marina Vasilevskaya (her first trip) and NASA’s Tracy Caldwell Dyson (her third). Novitsky, a lieutenant colonel in the Russian Air Force, and Vasilevskaya, a former flight attendant, will return to Earth after 12 days on the station, accompanied by NASA’s Loral O’Hara, who has spent six months in space. Dyson, a chemist with experience as an electrician and private pilot, is scheduled to return to Earth in September. Coordination between the U.S. and Russian space agencies has continued despite international tension over the war in Ukraine. “Russia and the United States are still cooperating in space. At least for now,” tweeted Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, a technology publication. Russia operates the Baikonur Cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan. The Soviet Union opened the facility in the 1950s.

Nazarbayev’s Nephew Samat Abish Handed Eight-Year Suspended Sentence

An Astana court has found Samat Abish, a nephew of Kazakhstan's former president Nursultan Nazarbayev, guilty of "exceeding power or official authority" and given him an eight-year suspended sentence. Abish, the former deputy chairman of the National Security Committee (KNB), had his criminal case classified as "secret," and all court sessions were held behind closed doors. "By the court's verdict, [Abish] was found guilty of committing a crime under Part 4 of Article 362 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and sentenced to eight years of imprisonment with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions for 10 years. On the basis of article 63 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, it [was] decided to consider the appointed punishment as conditional", reads a message from the inter-district criminal court of Astana. Mitigating circumstances for Abish included his young children, and the fact that he admitted his guilt and showed remorse. The court made an additional ruling to strip Abish of all of his state awards. Abish is the son of Satybaldy Nazarbayev, the younger brother of Kazakhstan's first president. Abish's father died in 1981 in a car accident. Nursultan Nazarbayev's nephew was appointed deputy chairman of the National Security Committee in 2013, and in 2015 became first deputy. Abish lost this position on January 17, 2022 after the unrest in the country and the subsequent detention of KNB head Karim Masimov. At the time, the country's prosecutor general said that Abish was being held as a witness in the investigation into the unrest. In September last year it emerged that a criminal case had been opened against Abish. He came under investigation after the former head of a KNB department said that he had been following orders from his first deputy during the unrest that January. Abish was charged with abuse of power and abuse of authority. Another nephew of Nursultan Nazarbayev, Samat Abish's older brother Kairat Satybaldy, is accused of money laundering. He has been in prison since 2022 on charges of grand embezzlement. The trial is scheduled for April 1.

Kazakhstan: A Rising Global Player in Trade and Diplomacy

Over the past decade, Kazakhstan has become an increasingly important land-bridge between East and West, both in terms of trade and diplomacy. A vast nation the size of Western Europe with powerful neighbors in the form of China and Russia, yet on the doorstep of Europe with access to the Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan’s location has elevated it to the cusp of becoming a global power. Given its geography, it is reasonable to assert that many decisions in Kazakhstan are, out of necessity, the result of a geopolitical tightrope act necessitating a balanced and far-reaching policy outlook. This strategic position has been described by Ariel Cohen, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Eurasia Center of the Atlantic Council, as a “visionary multi-vector policy pioneered” by President Tokayev. Indeed, “mutually beneficially cooperation” and “mutually beneficial strategic partnership” have become watchwords of Tokayev’s presidency. Due to projects such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the Middle Corridor, Kazakhstan’s location has made it an indispensable ally to China. Playing a pivotal role in the expansion of transcontinental trade has led the whole of Central Asia to, in the words of Tokayev, “become a global stakeholder.” Trade turnover between Kazakhstan and China continues to expand, reaching $31.5 billion in 2023 (a 30% increase on 2022), and new transit routes are continuously under construction, with the Bakhty-Ayagoz railway line set to lead the opening of a third border crossing with China and increase the throughput capacity between the two nations from 28 million to around 48 million tons. Both cultural and political ties continue to grow, with a 30-day visa-free travel regime coming into force in November 2023. As for the total amount of Chinese investment in Kazakhstan over the past eighteen years, estimates vary from $23.2 to over $36 billion. Even these huge sums, however, are dwarfed in comparison to the Netherlands, which, in the last five years alone, has invested a colossal $33.8 billion in Kazakhstan. Meanwhile, according to Kazakhstan’s Bureau of National Statistics data for January to December 2022, Italy was Kazakhstan’s largest exporter, accounting for 16.4% of exports worth $13.9 billion during this period. The strength of this partnership was evinced by President Tokayev paying an official visit to Italy in January 2024, during which he held talks with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and spoke about the two nations’ “dynamically” developing relationship and its “enormous potential”. As a block, the EU is Kazakhstan’s biggest overall trading partner, the destination for 39% of total exports and accounting for 29.4% of its total trade in 2021. Through initiatives such as the C5+1 and the B5+1, meanwhile, the United States has increasingly sought to engage with Central Asia, and with Kazakhstan in particular. With investment totaling $19.4 billion, the U.S. ranks second in terms of foreign investment over the past five years. A driving force behind this engagement has been the huge untapped reserves of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) located in Kazakhstan. According to the Brookings Institute, whilst China is the dominant player in...