KAZAKHSTAN: NEW INFORMATION MINISTER APPOINTED

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ALMATY 000485



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SUBJ: KAZAKHSTAN: NEW INFORMATION MINISTER APPOINTED





1. SUMMARY. Former presidential advisor Yermukhamet

Yertysbayev was appointed Minister of Culture, Information

and Sport on January 18, 2006, replacing Yesetzhan

Kosubayev. In his first public statements as Minister he

has said he would not initiate any action to close

newspapers, but at the same time said news media had a

responsibility to publish truthful and objective

information. He drew a distinction between criticizing the

president and slander, and said he would not tolerate

slander, which is prohibited by law. He also stated he

would not be responsible for decisions taken by the

procurator's office, which upholds the rule of law. END

SUMMARY.



2. Yermukhamet Kabidinovich Yertysbayev, a former

political advisor to President Nazarbayev, was appointed

Minister of Culture, Information and Sport on January 18,

2006, replacing Yesetzhan Kosubayev. Previously

Yertysbayev served as the president's spokesman and earned

the nickname "nightingale" from opposition media for

"singing" the president's praises. He is respected across

the political spectrum for being straightforward and plain

spoken, and his appointment generated speculation in the

media about actions he might take as Information Minister.

Following are highlights from recent media reports.



Basic Media Policy

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3. Yertysbayev laid out his basic media policy in his

January 27 interview with the pro-government Central Asian

Monitor. "The goal of the press is to inform people about

every event that takes place in our country. Ultimately,

the right to receive information is a fundamental principle

of a democratic state. However, I am not planning to let

the process of cooperation between authorities and press

run by itself. I expect editors of print and electronic

media to aspire to truthful and objective information and

serious analytical articles. . . As long as I am minister,

our bureau will not initiate the closure of this or that

newspaper. I do not want to go down in the history of

Kazakhstan as 'the oppressor of the press.' But I cannot

be responsible for actions of the procurator's office,

which upholds the rule of law."



Responsibilities for Media and Ministry

--------------



4. "Information is a key component of our ministry. I

have to protect the rights of journalists and newspapers,

but can only implement this task effectively with the

cooperation of the media. You can criticize me as much as

you want. You can even slander me, I'll never file a

lawsuit. But I will not tolerate a newspaper slandering

the head of state, since the honor and dignity of the

President of the Republic of Kazakhstan are inviolable by

the Constitution. One can criticize the President, the

government, and any representative of the authorities.

That's freedom of speech. But one can agree that criticism

and slander are absolutely different, opposite and

incompatible notions."



Media Law to Conform with International Standards

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5. "The President set Kazakhstan the goal of becoming one

of the fifty most developed countries in the world. That

means that legally our Law on Mass Media should comply with

international legal standards. I do not understand those

people who try by all means to limit freedom of press by

legislation, who seek on normative level to create

obstacles on the way of free press and art."



Skeptical Reaction from Opposition Media

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6. Galina Dyrdina, editor-in-Chief of opposition "Pravo.

Ekonomika. Politika. Kultura" (former Respublika),had this

to say in a January 20 article. "Unquestionably, the

president's former political advisor deserves a promotion.

They say he alone defeated the anti-Nazarbayev opposition

in the last election campaign. . . Right after December 4



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he started mixing champagne with the hard stuff to

celebrate Nursultan Nazarbayev's victory, and then became

bored because there were no targets left for his political

conquest. The head of the country apparently took this

under consideration and decided to use the intellect,

energy and tongue of his 'nightingale' in the Ministry of

Culture, Information, and Sport. However, we should not

exclude the possibility that first deputy head of the

presidential administration and the country's primary

political strategist, Marat Tazhin, was afraid to compete

with Yermukhamet Kabidinovich and . . . proposed him for

the ministerial post."



7. The opposition website www.kub.kz published this in an

article February 1. "The cultural elite will probably not

accept such a minister, since he is a stranger in their

midst, he does not speak Kazakh, and does not understand

the special psychology of our cultural and art elite.

Sport ceased to be a serious pasttime a long time ago and

is now entertainment for a few, special interest clubs.

Soccer is owned by Rakhat Aliyev, who is preoccupied with

having a championship team like Russian oligarch Roman

Abramovich. . .



8. "The issue is, what will he do as the minister of

information? Will he be engaged in de-monopolizing the

television and advertisement markets? That will never

happen, since the president's daughter is mistress there.

Will he build a public television station? Doubtful, since

such a station would knock Khabar, Yevrasiya, Yel Arna,

KTK, NTK and other family channels from the arena. Who

will let him violate the information landscape of pro-

Nazarbayev propaganda? What else could Yertysbayev do

useful as the Minister? Write a new democratic Law on Mass

Media? That's also a utopian idea, since the normal Law on

Mass Media will give free play to the constitutional right

to freedom of speech and all media outlets will start to

function normally except those owned by the family. It

will inevitably lead to an increase in the political and

social activities of the masses, which would be disastrous

for the regime."



Ak Zhol Activist Hoping for Political Opposition Bill

-------------- --------------



9. Andrey Chebotarev, a researcher for the National

Studies Institute and an Ak Zhol party member, published

the article "Old Buddies" for the opposition website

www.kub.kz January 27. "Unlike his many predecessors,

Yertysbayev thinks more progressively and is more open to

the public. I have no choice but to hope he implements

everything he tirelessly spoke about for the last two

years, including the drafting of a political opposition law

and introducing it to the parliament. He is lucky now to

have all the necessary authority and a large staff of

subordinates."



Bio Data, Yertysbayev's Move from Opposition to Government

-------------- --------------



10. In early 1990s Yertysbayev was a deputy in the

Verkhovnyi Sovyet deputy and co-chairman of the opposition

Socialist Party of Kazakhstan, of which he became leader in

1992. In 1995 he accepted President Nazarbayev's offer and

became his advisor on political issues. He explained the

change in his political views in an interview with the

Russian newspaper Vremya Novostey November 10, 2005: "Even

then I understood that to be in the opposition,

figuratively speaking, is like beating your head against a

rock. . . Having considered my options, I decided I could

be more effective in assisting democratization as a

presidential advisor, and accepted Nursultan Nazarbayev's

proposal."



11. Yertysbayev obtained a graduate degree in history in

1980 and a doctoral degree in political science in 2001.

He is the author of three books: "Genesis of Elective

Democracy in Modern Kazakhstan," "Democratization in

Kazakhstan," and "Kazakhstan and Nazarbayev: Logic of

Reforms."



Ordway