KAZAKHSTAN: ALMATY NOTES, AUGUST 4 - AUGUST 15, 2008

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SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: ALMATY NOTES, AUGUST 4 - AUGUST 15, 2008


1. The "Almaty Notes" series is intended to maintain focus on
developments in civil society, the media, and the opposition in
Kazakhstan's "southern capital" following the move of the Embassy to
Astana.

Protest at Nur Otan Office
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2. On August 1, approximately 100 Almaty residents picketed the
Almaty office of the ruling Nur Otan party. Participants in the
demonstration included "dolshiki" (i.e., individuals who lost money
they gave to construction companies to build homes for them) and
those whose residences have been demolished to make way for new
construction projects. The rationale behind the protest were the
broken promises made by the Nur Otan leadership a year ago, said
Aynur Kurmanov, head of a new public organization called Taymas
(Tireless). (Note: Activist Kurmanov is also head of the Socialist
Resistance Movement. End Note.) According to Kurmanov, during the
2007 parliamentary elections, Nur Otan promised to help Almaty
residents, particularly those from the outskirts of the city,
resolve property-related problems. "Today we want to know what the
party has done and what it plans to do to resolve social conflicts,"
Kurmanov said.


3. The head of Nur Otan's Almaty branch, Tokmukhamed Sadykov,
invited the participants into his office, but was not able to answer
their questions to their satisfaction. Sadykov referred the
protestors to a new public council set up to review property and
other disputes. The council includes representatives from the
government, Nur Otan, opposition parties, and NGOs.

Masimov Meets With Dolshiki
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4. On August 2, Prime Minister Masimov met in Almaty with
representatives of construction companies as well as with "dolshiki"
-- including some of the participants in the August 1 demonstration
at Nur Otan's office (see paras 2-3 above). Masimov said he would
issue an order for $10 billion tenge (approximately $83 million) to
be transferred from the state budget directly to construction
companies, rather than through the Kazyna Sustainable Development
Fund as intermediary, in order to assist the companies in completing
unfinished projects. Masimov said that these funds would resolve
the housing problems of 2500 dolshiki. He also promised that the
government would help dolshiki who were defrauded by construction
companies, adding that criminal cases would be opened and that
guilty parties would go to prison. Masimov explained that the
government had introduced into parliament new legislation on
"shared-based" construction, which would stiffen conditions so that
in the future, construction companies would not find themselves in
the same situation they are in today.

Nazarbayev Visits Wholesale Market
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5. President Nazarbayev visited Almaty on August 11, following his
trip to Beijing for the Olympics. Among other things, Nazarbayev
walked through the Arzan wholesale market, which reportedly has
lower prices on food and other goods than other Almaty markets.
Nazarbayev gave an order to Almaty mayor Akhmetzhan Yesimov to
assist the owners of Arzan in opening up similar stores in other
parts of the city. "It would be great if such wholesale markets
appeared in all Kazakhstani cities," Nazarbayev remarked.

Kazakh-Uighur Friction in Village
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6. Opposition newspaper Svoboda Slova reported that on August 3,
activists from Kazakh nationalist organizations traveled to the
village of Malybay in Almaty oblast to participate in a memorial
ceremony for a village resident, Aydyn Khalykov, who had been killed
in an alleged interethnic incident on June 27. Police cordoned off
the village while the ceremony was going on. Two suspects have been
detained in conjunction with Khalykov's murder, but his relatives
maintain that at least five people were involved. Approximately 10
per cent of the residents of Malybay are ethnic Kazakhs and the rest
are Uighurs. Khalykov had spoken out on more than one occasion
against public signage in the Uighur language -- and reportedly once
pulled down a Uighur-language sign. His relatives believe that this
may have been the trigger for his murder.


7. Following the memorial ceremony, Kazazh nationalist activists
demanded that national-level law enforcement authorities launch an
investigation into the murder. They also demanded that the
village's Uighur-language signage be replaced. Dos Kushim, leader
of the Ult Tagdyry (Nation's Destiny) Kazakh nationalist

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organization suggested that oralman (i.e., ethnic Kazakh immigrants
from other countries) be resettled to the village to counter-balance
the Uighur population.

ORDWAY