Kazakhstan's Assassinated Democracy. Yerzhan Psy.D. Dosmukhamedov
of this year. I have already visited Norway. Here in Prague I met with Czech politicians. I was received by the Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Vondra. He is in charge of European affairs and former ambassador to the United States. He is a man who has a good reputation in the West. I briefed him on the current state of affairs in Kazakhstan. I think that he - as a man who was brought up during Soviet times - understands all the tricks of official Kazakh propaganda. I believe that he realizes very well what is essential and what is secondary.
For those politicians in the West who are not willing to understand, we will remind them about their duties and help them to understand. Because, thank God, we are not alone here. There are incorruptible government services, international organizations, and a genuinely free press. We will continue working in this direction.
Ak Orda hires international adventurers for big money
Dr Dosmukhamedov, through the well-known statement by Rakhat Aliyev the world learnt about the rather significant amount of money - millions of dollars - that was ostensibly paid by Astana to [Alexander] Mirtchev for his services, including those of a delicate nature. How successful was this Mirtchev in carrying out the assignments of Ak Orda to justify such big payments?
I think that this question should be better addressed to Ak Orda. I never had the honour of meeting Mr. Mirtchev. I have to note, however, that the money paid is the people's money.
This is not money earned by honest labour or by the brains of Ak Orda. This is all our money - of ordinary Kazakh citizens. The most unfortunate part of the story is that this money is paid to people who have no moral values and who spit on millions of humble people who made them, millions of wrecked fates. This money is the lost opportunity of the future generations of the Kazakh people.
It is a pity that $40 million was used by the corrupt regime to perpetuate its petty existence and survival. It is sad that the ruling regime has such a petty mentality that it does not invest the money in educating millions of young Kazakhs in leading international universities. It is a pity that the regime is not investing this money in outdated and filthy orphanages, houses for handicapped people or maternity houses to modernize them - and prevent Kazakh mothers from losing their newborn babies. Instead, the regime uses this money to buy unethical people - in essence, international adventurers who hold American and British passports and exploit their country's institutions and the potential of democratic society for the extermination of the green shoots of emerging democracy, democratic institutions and civil society in the newly independent countries.
I think that this is a major crime. It is also a moral crime. Our Atameken Party exerts its utmost efforts to draw the attention of U.S. and British politicians and the press to this problem.
I am convinced that there should be a strict system of controlling individuals like Alexander Mirtchev. even though they are holders of American or British citizenship.
I am glad that the law-enforcement agencies and press of democratic countries paid very serious attention to Alexander Mirtchev.
This will be a major lesson for similar adventurers trying to make money out of the blood of ordinary Kazakhs, Turkmens or Uzbeks. This should be brought to an end.
Another aspect of this issue, I suspect, is that the current Kazakh ruling regime has already learnt the system of democratic nations very well. It has kept its embassies there for the last 15 years or more. They did not waste all that time, as we can see - in the negative sense of the word, of course.
Instead of implementing the positive experiences and achievements of Western democracies in Kazakhstan, they use them to fool the people and the public opinion of the Western countries.
They even managed to bribe the international observers who come to Kazakhstan. I know that before any election the embassies receive instructions to bribe international observers heading towards Kazakhstan, and are given a special budget for this purpose.
There are gifts and invitations to various lunches and dinners. One of the main focusses of our party's activity in the West is to work closely with Western NGOs to identify corrupt Western politicians and civil servants who, to put it mildly, allow themselves to be bought in order to become future informal agents of influence of such anti-democratic and inhumane regimes as, for example, the Kazakhstani one.
The final item of my itinerary for visiting the Czech Republic is meeting you - journalists of, I would say, the most independent radio station, Radio Liberty. I hope that thanks to your platform our voice - which is being silenced and isolated by the Kazakh authorities - will nevertheless be heard in Kazakhstan. Thank you very much for that.
We thank you, Dr Dosmukhamedov, for this interview.
Interviewed by Sultan-Han Akkuuly
WILL POWER IN KAZAKHSTAN SOBER UP IN TIME?
Alma-Ata Info (Kazakhstan)
20 November 2008
On the eve of his birthday, Dr. Dosmukhamedov, Chairman of the Atameken Party, was interviewed by the newspaper Alma-Ata Info.
Dr. Dosmukhamedov, congratulations on your birthday - we wish you all the best. Your birthday coincides with major changes internationally, doesn't it?
Thank you. Let me express my sincere gratitude to you for giving me an opportunity to thank all my compatriots for their support and solidarity.
We have witnessed a tectonic shift that has had a strong moral effect on all humankind. The election of Barack Obama is a national victory for the American people, confirming the words of Winston Churchill that democracy is not the most perfect, but the most effective form of social organization ever conceived by humans. This was also a victory of morality over the cynicism of those people who have fallen far short of successfully governing the world's leading nation, and who have turned the historic influence, authority and the political and military machine of the United States into an instrument of cruel world supremacy.
Mankind is tired of double standards, interminable warfare and rivers of innocent human blood being shed as the result of a small cadre of officials with limited intelligence, who have fallen far short of successfully governing a great power. The latest elections were a protest. And, thank God, the procedures laid down by the founding fathers and forefathers of the American nation and democracy have worked both for the benefit of the country and the whole of mankind. It would be naive to think that now everything will change overnight. There will be resistance to this paradigm shift, both inside the federal government of the U.S.A. and in international organizations. Nevertheless a break-through has taken place. An opportunity has arisen. everybody understands that, even those people like the President of Iran. Despite a barrage of criticism by his inner circle of narrow-minded religious fanatics, he summoned up all his willpower, restrained his pride and sent a letter to the newly elected President of the U.S.A. Like the rest of the world, he had to acknowledge that American democracy worked effectively, and resolved to use the occasion as an opportunity to further the future interests of his country.
And what does this all mean for Kazakhstan?
Our country has entered a stage of deep crisis in all parameters: political, moral, economic and in foreign politics. even if there is a series of "ostrich decrees", displaying a head-in-the-sand attitude aimed at dealing with the existing problems, life will not improve. The economy will not gain anything from it. Trust in the government will not be restored.
No formal systems of the central government are functioning. Within the ruling elite, a centrifugal process is fully underway, betraying splits into clans, tribes and zhuzes (conglomerates of the Kazakh tribes). Heads of clans, tribes and zhuzes are being elected. In society, ordinary people pursue informal ways of resolving situations and problems that arise. Corruption is clear confirmation of a deep conflict between formal and informal institutions. Tension inside the ruling elite will not cease, even if the propaganda machine shows the wonderful physical shape of the head of the country on TV ten times a day. Ambitions are only flaring up. even if President Nursultan Nazarbayev, resembling God, declares: "Let there be light!" or "People, buy real estate!", investment