KAZAKHSTAN: JANUARY 27 MEDIA ROUNDUP

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ALMATY 000379

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/CACEN (JMUDGE),EUR/PPD (JBASEDOW),EUR/ACE
(ESMITH/JMCKANE),DRL/PHD (CKUCHTA-HELBLING)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KPAO, KDEM, KZ
SUBJ: KAZAKHSTAN: JANUARY 27 MEDIA ROUNDUP

Ref: A) Almaty 49; B) Almaty 158; C) 05 Almaty 4175; D) 05

Almaty 3453

1. (SBU) SUMMARY. This is the latest in a series of cables
reporting on developments among Kazakhstan's media. On
January 1 the Dauir printing firm refused to print several
opposition newspapers, due to what Dauir said was the need
to swap out its equipment. Vremya Print, which had printed
the papers until September 26, 2005, took over as printer.
Respublika won the legal right to publish its Assandi Times
version, while fighting another court action to close down
its current owner. Television stations ignored opposition
leader Galymzhan Zhakiyanov's January 15 homecoming and his
January 17 press conference. The majority shareholder of
the highest circulation weekly newspaper Vremya was
reportedly pressured to sell his shares to an alleged front
man for Marat Tazhin, the President's deputy head of
administration. END SUMMARY.

2. (SBU) Galymzhan Zhakiyanov, the opposition leader who
spent more than three and a half years in prison on
politically-motivated charges, arrived at a train station
in Almaty on January 15 to a hero's welcome from a crowd of
300-600 people (Ref B). Western wire services and local
newspapers provided broad coverage of the event, but no
Kazakhstani television station covered it. There was also
no local coverage of Zhakiyanov's January 17 press
conference even though more than 10 TV crews were pressed
into the standing room only event. Gul'zhan Yergaliyeva,
editor of opposition weekly Svoboda Slova, questioned why
the TV crews showed up, adding that she knew they would not
report on the event.

Assandi Times, aka Respublika, Wins One in Court
-------------- ---

3. (U) Respublika, the opposition paper registered
simultaneously under several different names, won a court
victory on January 18, when the Supreme Court ruled against
the Information Ministry's order to liquidate the paper's
Assandi Times version. However, on September 26, the
Almaty procurator declared that all issues of Respublika,
including the versions known as Syet.kz; Ekonomika, Finasy,
Rynki; Pyatoye Izmereniye; and Assandi Times, were illegal
and subject to confiscation. Separate appeals were filed
for all versions and Assandi Times was the last on the
list. The others were all liquidated.

4. (SBU) In an interview with the opposition website
kub.kz, independent journalist Sergey Duvanov said he
believes Assandi Times won its case only because the
presidential elections were over. In his view, the paper
had lost its pre-election significance when it was a
campaign tool for the opposition. Emboff asked Respublika
lawyer Sergey Utkin why the Assandi Times had been allowed
to publish, while other versions had not. He said he did
not know the reason, and was puzzled by the decision.

Latest Move in Respublika's Ownership Shell Game
-------------- ---

5. (U) Meanwhile, the Astana procurator's office has filed
a lawsuit in Almaty's inter-district economic court to
close down the owner of Respublika's latest version,
"Pravo. Ekonomika. Politika. Kultura." (PEPK). The legal
owner of PEPK is a public foundation known as "The Public
Committee for the Fight against Corruption." The
procurator alleges the foundation engaged in activities
inappropriate for an NGO, and that are rightfully the tasks
of law enforcement agencies. If the procurator wins the
lawsuit against the foundation, then by law the
registration certificate for PEPK would be annulled, and
PEPK would have to stop publishing.

6. (U) To prevent that possibility, PEPK editors persuaded
the foundation before the new year to transfer ownership to
PEPK's editorial offices. As required by law, they duly
informed the Information Ministry of the ownership transfer
in an open letter to Yermukhamet Yertysbayev, the newly

ALMATY 00000379 002 OF 003


appointed Minister of Culture, Information and Sport, in an
open letter on the front page of PEPK's January 20 issue.

Vremya Print Gets Opposition Papers back from Dauir Print
-------------- --------------

7. (U) Dauir Print, the printing house reputedly owned by
Svetlana Nazarbayeva, the President's sister-in-law,
stopped printing several opposition newspapers on January
1. The company said the action was necessary to swap out
its equipment. Kazakhstani media rights advocates and the
U.S. media advocacy organization Committee to Protect
Journalists argued the real reason was to stop publishing
newspapers that often criticized President Nazarbayev.

8. (U) Vremya Print, part of the holding company of the
weekly newspaper by the same name, took over printing
Svoboda Slova, Apta KZ and Epokha; Business Info took over
printing PEPK. As reported Ref C, Vremya Print had printed
opposition papers until September 26, when opposition
editors claim the firm was pressured by authorities into
refusing the print contracts.

Administration Allegedly Behind Take-Over of Vremya
-------------- --------------

9. (SBU) Vremya's deputy editor-in-chief Marat Asipov told
emboff January 26 that Nulzhan Subhanberdin, the paper's
majority shareholder and director of Kazkommertsbank (KKB),
was pressured into selling his share to a "front man" for
Marat Tazhin, the deputy head of the presidential
administration. When pressed, he declined to name the
buyer, and said only that it was a name not known in the
media community. (Comment: While Asipov's allegation that
Tazhin is the real owner cannot be verified, the desire to
own such a prize media property as Vremya is
understandable. Vremya has the highest circulation
(180,000) of any newspaper in Kazakhstan. It is judged by
media peers to have the most professional reporters and
highest reportorial ethics and standards. End comment.)

10. (SBU) The players and the plays in the Vremya buyout
follow the Karavan scenario of the late 1990's. Before
founding Vremya in 1999, editor-in-chief Igor Meltzer
headed the tabloid Karavan (circulation 220,000),which was
likewise an influential and respected news outlet under his
stewardship. In 1997 Rakhat Aliyev, then-head of the tax
police and husband of Dariga Nazarbayeva, the President's
eldest daughter, bought Karavan. He subsequently turned it
into a pro-government, anti-opposition tabloid.

11. (SBU) Asipov said he anticipates the new owner wants
"to turn Vremya into another Karavan." Asipov said Meltzer
has already registered a new publication with the
Information Ministry, and is ready to start a new paper if
Vremya's new owner tries to exert too much control. Though
not willing to speculate too far in advance, Asipov
believes the prospective publication would be printed by
Vremya Print, in which Subhanberdin retains his majority
stake.

12. (SBU) COMMENT: The Assandi Times court victory is a
positive development. However, Kazakhstani authorities
show no signs of relinquishing their influence over media.
The television blackouts of opposition leader Zhakiyanov's
return and first press conference indicate the
administration's willingness to interfere with broadcast
media. Regarding Vremya, the allegation that Presidential
advisor Tazhin is the paper's new owner remains
unsubstantiated. It's also unclear if the buyout of the
newspaper is an attempt to bring it under government
control. Should the latter turn out to be the case, Vremya
editor Meltzer will probably start up a new paper, most
likely with financial backing from Subhandberdin. Meltzer
has shown in the past that he is gifted at -starting up
profitable, informative, and entertaining newspapers that
also present a variety of views to their readership. End
comment.


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Ordway