Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
on, and yet more Russians, Ukrainians and
other Soviet nationalities arrived to mine
and process Kazakhstan's coal, iron and oil.
The proportion of Kazakhs in Kazakhstan's
population fell below 30%.
During the Cold War the USSR decided
Kazakhstan was 'empty' and 'remote'
enough to use for its chief nuclear bomb
testing ground (the Semipalatinsk Poly-
gon). In 1989 Kazakhstan produced the
first great popular protest movement the
USSR had seen: the Nevada-Semey (Semi-
palatinsk) Movement, which forced an end
to nuclear tests in Kazakhstan.
were frequently sacked, jailed or even, in
two cases in 2005 and 2006, found shot
dead. The government denied any involve-
ment in the deaths.
People
Although Kazakhs form the majority of
Kazakhstan's population, this is a multi-
ethnic country where the government en-
courages everyone to think of themselves
as Kazakhstanis as well as ethnic Kazakhs,
Russians, Ukrainians etc. Of the 17 mil-
lion population, 63% are Kazakhs - a big
upswing since Soviet times. Since inde-
pendence in 1991, over three million Rus-
sians, Germans and Ukrainians have left
Kazakhstan and over 800,000
oralman
(ethnic Kazakhs repatriating from other
countries) have arrived. Other ethnic
groups are Russians (24%), Uzbeks (3%),
Ukrainians (2%), Germans, Tatars and
Uyghurs (1% to 1.5% each), and more than
100 others. Southern areas of Kazakhstan
today are about 90% Kazakh, while in
some northern towns the majority popula-
tion is ethnic Russian.
Kazakh culture, rooted in oral tradition,
survives strongest in the countryside, al-
though urban Kazakhs are also showing a
growing interest in their roots. City-dwell-
ers often still decorate their homes with
colourful, yurt-style carpets and tapestries.
Family, respect for elders and traditions
of hospitality remain very important to
Kazakhs. Ancestry determines a person's
zhuz
(horde) and clan. The best ancestor
of all is Chinggis Khan, and right up to the
20th century the Kazakh nobility consisted
of those who could trace their lineage back
to him.
Kazakh tradition is most on display dur-
ing the spring festival Nauryz (Navrus; 22
March), when families gather, don tradi-
tional dress, eat special food, and enjoy
traditional music and games rooted in
their equestrian traditions, such as
kokpar
(bukzashi)
and
kyz kuu
(a boy-girl horse
chase - if he wins he gets to kiss her; if she
wins she beats him with her riding whip).
Falconry (hunting with birds of prey) is an-
other still-beloved Kazakh tradition. Also
lingering from the past is the practice of
bride stealing (with or without the bride's
consent), which can still happen in some ru-
ral areas and the more Kazakh-dominated
towns in the south.
Independent Kazakhstan
Nursultan Nazarbaev began to rise up the
CPK ranks in the 1970s. He became the
party's first secretary in 1989 and has ruled
Kazakhstan ever since. In 1991 Nazarbaev
did not welcome the breakup of the USSR,
and Kazakhstan was the last Soviet repub-
lic to declare independence. Multiparty
elections in 1994 returned a parliament
that obstructed Nazarbaev's free-market
economic reforms, and he dissolved it in
1995, with new elections returning an as-
sembly favourable to him. Soon afterwards
an overwhelming referendum majority
extended his presidential term until 2000.
In 1997 Nazarbaev moved Kazakhstan's
capital from Almaty to Astana, then a
medium-sized northern city, citing Astana's
more central and less earthquake-prone
location, and greater proximity to Russia.
Astana has been transformed into a capital
for the 21st century with some spectacu-
lar new buildings and is a key symbol of
Nazarbaev's vision of Kazakhstan as a Eur-
asian economic and political hub.
Nazarbaev's economic program was
based on developing Kazakhstan's vast
mineral resources. Western companies
paid huge amounts to get a slice of Kaza-
khstan's large oil and gas reserves, and by
the dawn of the 21st century the country
was posting 9% to 10% economic growth
year after year, which kept Nazarbaev pop-
ular enough and helped maintain ethnic
harmony too.
In 1999 Nazarbaev was assured of vic-
tory in new presidential elections after the
main opposition leader, Akezhan Kazhegel-
din, was barred from standing. Nazarbaev
won new seven-year presidential terms in
2005, and then in 2011, both with over 90%
of the vote. His political rivals and critics