The football team Brann goes with its own chef to Kazakhstan and Almaty. But they could probably get both good and safe food at the many good restaurants and hotels in this metropolis in Central Asia. Skating in Medeo Energy-rich Kazakhstan is the most prosperous country in this part of the world. The country is working hard to find its place between the great powers Russia and China, and Western countries such as Germany and the USA. For many Norwegians, Almaty, or Alma-Ata as the city was called when Kazakhstan was part of the Soviet Union, was synonymous with ice skating and the famous facility in Medeo in the mountains opposite the city. news’s Morten Jentoft with the Medeo track in Kazakhstan in the background in 2017. Photo: Morten Jentoft / news After Kazakhstan became an independent country in 1991, the original Kazakh variant of the name became the official one. But in 1997, President Nursultan Nazarbayev chose to move the capital from Almaty to Akmola further north in the country. This city, which in Soviet times was long known as Tselinograd, was now to become a symbol of the new Kazakhstan. VIRGIN LAND. In the 1950s, large-scale new cultivation was initiated in Kazakhstan. This stamp from 1979 marked the 25th anniversary of the campaign. Photo: Wikepedia The Kazakhs, who during the Soviet era had become a minority in their own country, had to show that they were once again masters of their own house. Nazarbayev thought it was then easier to start all over again, without the Russified bureaucracy in Almaty. Akmola therefore became Astana, which means capital in Kazakh. The Kazakhs became a minority in their own country In 1959, after many decades of large immigration from other parts of the Soviet Union, only 30 percent of the inhabitants of the Kazakh Soviet Republic were ethnic Kazakhs. The Soviet authorities under party secretary Nikita Khrushchev initiated large re-cultivation projects on “Virgin land” in Kazakhstan. The center of this venture was the city of Tselinograd, what we now know as Astana. The new cultivation was often poorly thought out and led to ecological disaster in many places due to the drying out of the landscape. Independent in 1991 The Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991. Suddenly Kazakhstan was an independent country with its own arsenal of nuclear weapons. Like Ukraine, Kazakhstan chose to transfer these weapons to Russia. NAZARBAYEV. Nursultan Nazarbayev ruled Kazakhstan from 1990 to 2019. Photo: AP And thanks to the income from oil and gas, the former communist leader Nursultan Nazarbayev quickly succeeded in building Kazakhstan into a regional power, with Astana as the capital. and now stands out as a modern metropolis with more than a million inhabitants. ASTANA. The capital of Kazakhstan is one of the world’s most modern cities. Photo: AP Nevertheless, Almaty is still Kazakhstan’s largest city with just under 2 million inhabitants. The latest overviews also show that ethnic Kazakhs now make up more than 70 percent of the population, while ethnic Russians are down to less than 15 percent. This is a dramatic change from 1989, when ethnic Russians made up almost 40 percent of the population of the Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan. Hardly any country in the world has gone through such a dramatic ethnic change in a short time as Kazakhstan. ALMATY. A street vendor packs up in front of the Orthodox Ascension Cathedral, one of the world’s largest wooden churches. Photo: Morten Jentoft / news Russia tries to maintain its influence But the fact that the former “governors” have now become a more or less marginalized minority has of course not gone unnoticed in Russia. Already in the 1990s, some people in Russia, including the former Nobel Prize winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, believed that the northern part of Kazakhstan, like Ukraine and Belarus, should become part of a new and reunited Russia. Nevertheless, many well-educated Russians have chosen to move from Kazakhstan, either to Russia or to other countries. It has been a contributing factor to the fact that they only make up around 1/6 of the population in the country. But the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the threat of being mobilized for war have caused hundreds of thousands of ethnic Russians to flee to Kazakhstan, not least to Almaty. OIL AND GAS. Kazakhstan is one of the countries in the world with the largest resources of oil and gas. This is from the Airankol oil field in the west of the country. Photo: Reuters New president – little change Nursultan Nazarbayev stepped down as president in 2019, leaving Kassym-Jomart Tokajev to run the country. Many hoped that it would change the authoritarian and person-fixated rule under Nazarbayev. But in January 2022 violent riots broke out in Almaty, among other places. The trigger was an increase in the price of fuel. SOCIAL UNREST. This is what the streets of Almaty looked like on January 7, 2022, after the most serious riots since the country became independent in 1991. Photo: AP But it all developed into a revolt against the incumbent political elite in the country, including former President Nazarbayev and his circle around him. Russia, along with several other countries, sent soldiers to Kazakhstan to quell the riots. Since then, President Tokayev has tightened his grip on the opposition and press freedom. Balance It caused a stir when President Kassym-Jomart Tokajev, during a meeting with his Russian colleague Vladimir Putin on 9 November 2023, chose to start the meeting by speaking in his mother tongue Kazakh. When Putin and Russian leaders tour former Soviet republics, they always speak in Russian, as has been customary and as a symbol of Russian influence. But this time, Tokayev sent a clear signal that Kazakhstan now chooses its own path and will fight for it, this because of the unrest that has spread after Putin showed that he was willing to use force against a neighboring country that chooses to challenge Moscow. Kazakhstan has chosen to abstain during votes in the UN on condemnation of the Russian attack on Ukraine. The country has also said that it is willing to mediate in the conflict and that, as a former Soviet republic, the country has very special prerequisites for doing this. PUTIN AND TOKAYEV. The Russian and Kazakh presidents meet often, here in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana on July 3, 2024. Photo: AFP Strong economic ties Nevertheless, Kazakhstan is very economically dependent on Russia. And trade between the countries has increased since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, although China has now taken over as the most important trading partner. The important export of oil from the fields near and out into the Caspian Sea goes via Russian territory. This gives Russia great opportunities to strangle the Kazakh economy, something President Tokayev is fully aware of. That is why there are many who are currently paying close attention to what is happening in this large country in Central Asia. Published 29/08/2024, at 15.13
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Kazakhstan – more than a long-term Kistan – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
