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Our Trip to Kazakhstan |
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Winikur Family Adoption Journey |
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Kazakhstan History |
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HISTORY IN BRIEF The Kazakhs are a Turkic-based, nomadic people group with a sweeping history that evokes memorable images of ancient civilizations, enduring trade routes, and a struggle to maintain an independent destiny remains steeped in mystery. But what does it mean to be Kazakh? What exactly is the origin of this fiercely independent people, and how have they achieved their current status as one of the most attractive investment options in Asia the world today? The land was known to be occupied by Scythians ("Saks") from the fifth century, B.C. The word "Kazakh" means a free and independent nomad in the ancient Turkic language. By the mid-sixteenth century, this word was clearly used to describe a distinct people living on the steppes of Central Asia. A significant part of Kazakhstan's engagement with the world is found on the paths formed by the Silk Road from the third century B.C. to the 19th century A.D. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, loose collections of clans and tribes formed political unions called Khanates. As the population and livestock holdings grew, disputes led to the formation of separate Hordes, also known as Juzes, or Hundreds. The continuously expanding periphery of Russia's outermost boundaries brought it into constant contact with various peoples on the borderlands. A Russian intervention under Empress Anna Ioannovna, in the years following Peter the Great's rule, brought parts of Kazakhstan under Russian control. By 1848, the last of the three Hordes was subsumed under Russian control, and by 1880, Russian expansion covered all of Central Asia. Kazakhstan was eventually brought under Soviet rule after the Bolshevik Revolution, even though its national elites had been guaranteed autonomous status by the Bolsheviks in return for shifting their alliance away from the Whites. The collectivization of agriculture under Stalin brought hardship to Kazakhstan, causing millions to die of starvation as well as other parts of the Soviet Union. Soviet leaders after Stalin pursued a variety of measures to develop Kazakhstan in science and agriculture, Under Khrushchev, the Soviets began the "virgin lands" campaign, which was designed to increase agricultural yields in Kazakhstan; built the Baikonur Cosmodrome for space launches, ; and pursued industrial development in Kazakhstan's cities. Spectacular gains were seen in education, which resulted in near-universal literacy. During the Soviet period, intermarriage between Hordes was encouraged in order to reduce clan-based distinctions, but many of these distinctions have since become significant in interpersonal and business relationships. Kazakhstan Today: President Nursultan Nazarbayev was elected first President of Kazakhstan in December of 1991 and was most recently re-elected in January 1999 for a seven-year term of office. Kazakhstan in the 1990's improved its banking, pension, insurance, and tax laws in successive waves of post-Soviet market-oriented reform. With the veil of Soviet secrecy withdrawn, Kazakhstan worked diligently to obtain direct foreign investment in a variety of industries, but with particular emphasis on the oil and gas sector. Projects at the Tenghiz and Karachaganak oil fields, as well as the offshore field at Kashagan in the Caspian, bode well for international petroleum supplies as well as Kazakhstan's bottom line economic growth, which witnessed GDP increases of more than 10% for each of the past two years, and over $17 billion dollars in foreign investment to date. Aside from oil and gas, Kazakhstan is also rich in agriculture, precious metals, aerospace, and skilled labor. As its oil and gas sector grows, enthusiastic investors from other sectors are expected to join their colleagues in the energy sector, particularly in the development of infrastructure. Kazakhstan's status as a market economy, granted by the U.S. Department of Commerce in March 2002 - and the first of any former Soviet state to achieve this distinction - is an important step forward. Over the next several years, Kazakhstan can look forward to a bright future in which it is expected to gain permanent normal trade relations with the United States, WTO membership, multiple Western pipeline routes, and final resolution of legal issues in the Caspian. During a December 2001 visit of President Nazarbayev to Washington, D.C., President Bush thanked Kazakhstan for its support in the war on terror. The two leaders signed an Energy Partnerships Declaration, and in a Joint Statement have declared their commitment to a "long-term, strategic partnership between our nations, and a shared vision of a peaceful, prosperous and sovereign Kazakhstan in the 21st Century".
History in brief (taken from the Economist) The first Kazakhs were Turkic-speaking nomads who broke away from the Mongol empire in 1465 to settle between the Chu and Talas rivers. An enterprising group, by the early 16th century they had formed an empire of their own under the charismatic rule of Kasym Khan. But Kasym’s death in 1518 brought a reversal of fortunes. Central authority disintegrated, and the Khanate split into three separate entities, controlled by the Great, Middle and Little Hordes. A series of wars that began in the 1680s with the Oyrat, a federation of Mongol tribes, further weakened its political homogeneity. Temporary reunification and counteroffensive came under Teuke Khan (1680-1718), who formed a code of law fusing Islamic and local traditions, but long-term peace remained elusive. In 1723, the “Great Disaster”—an invasion by the Dzungars, one of the Oyrat tribes— destabilised the region again, this time giving China’s expansionist Manchu empire a chance to intervene. China incorporated a large part of eastern Kazakh territory in 1771. The power vacuum that remained in the western territory drew the attention of Russia, which took control of land through a slow process of encroachment. In 1731 the Little Horde accepted Russian protection, and by 1848 the Russian Empire had absorbed what remained of Kazakh territory. Independent-minded Kazakhs attempted to win autonomy and cultural rights during the Russian Revolution. They formed a provisional government after 1917, but by 1920 Kazakhstan was in the Red Army’s control. In 1936, the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic was declared. A brutal collectivisation of agriculture killed about one-fifth of the population between 1926 and 1939, and forced many to flee Kazakhstan. Many Slavs moved in to replace them, and after 1941, Stalin began deporting ethnic Germans and other minority groups into settlements in Kazakhstan. Matters improved only after Stalin’s death in 1953. Huge wheat plantations were established and the Soviets began to use Kazakhstan as a base for their space and nuclear programmes. Dinmukhamed Kunayev, the Kazakh Communist Party first secretary between 1959 to 1986, and the only Kazakh ever in the Soviet Politburo, fostered better relations between Slavs and Kazakhs. Kazakhstan broke from the Soviet Union in October 1990 and proclaimed independence in December 1991, after which Nursultan Nazarbaev, the Kazakh Communist Party first secretary, became president. He began consolidating his own power and gradually restricting the new country’s democratic freedoms, winning a referendum to cancel the 1996 election and securing a new seven-year term in a 1999 poll that was widely condemned as rigged
GEOSTRATEGIC IMPORTANCE Kazakhstan occupies a pivotal space of great geo-strategic importance. It is the only Central Asian republic that shares borders with both Russia (over 4,000 miles) and China (nearly 1,000 miles). Its western border is the Caspian Sea. Its other Central Asian neighbors are Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. Situated in a difficult region challenged by extremist forces, Kazakhstan acts as an important source of ethnic harmony, natural resources, and political stability. A Stabilizing Influence: One of the fifteen new states to emerge from the Soviet empire in 1991, Kazakhstan soon became a leader in dealing with two potentially destabilizing legacies of the Soviet era - - it had the world's fourth largest nuclear arsenal and a diverse mix of over 100 ethnic groups. Closing its nuclear test site in 1991 and courageously Rremoving all its nuclear warheads by 1996, Kazakhstan became the first state in history to complete voluntary nuclear disarmament. Committed to ensuring a peaceful transition, Kazakhstan has created an open environment for all its nationalities including the Russians, who make up a substantial minority, to build a nation based on democratic and free market principles. Kazakhstan acts as an anchor of stability in an often-unpredictable region threatened by extremist forces of religious fundamentalism and terrorism. In the wake of September 11, Kazakhstan has been in the front ranks of countries supporting and facilitating U.S. efforts in Central Asia and in the war against terrorism. A Model Non-Proliferation State: Taking the historic step to dismantle its nuclear arsenal, Kazakhstan provides an example of responsible behavior in the international nuclear non-proliferation regime. Kazakhstan adheres to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards regime. Kazakhstan was the first former Soviet state to pass legislation creating non-proliferation export controls. Kazakhstan has been outspoken in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons technology and is an active proponent of the creation of a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (NWFZ) in Central Asia. A Crucial Energy Supplier: With potential oil reserves of 100 billion barrels and on a par with Kuwait, Kazakhstan will provide world markets with an alternative energy supply, to be delivered via pipelines using multiple routes
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FACTS ABOUT KAZAKHSTAN Location: · Ninth largest in the world, equivalent to the size of Western Europe · Four times the size of Texas · Five times the size of France |
