KAZAKHSTAN: ALMATY NOTES, SEPTEMBER 15-26, 2008

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 001946

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI KCRM KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: ALMATY NOTES, SEPTEMBER 15-26, 2008

ASTANA 00001946 001.2 OF 002



1. (U) 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.

DEMONSTRATION IN SUPPORT OF THE KAZAKH LANGUAGE


2. (U) On September 21 in Almaty, several Kazakh nationalist
organizations, together with other NGOs and representatives of three
leading opposition parties -- Azat, the National Social Democratic
Party (OSDP),and Alga -- participated in a demonstration aimed at
pressing the government to do more to promote the Kazakh language.
Well-known poet and ex-parliamentarian Mukhtar Shakhanov and his NGO
Memlekettik Tili (i.e., "State Language") were the driving force
behind the event. An estimated 1000 to 3000 people attended the
rally, which was sanctioned by the authorities.


3. (SBU) All the speeches to the crowd were delivered in Kazakh --
which made it readily apparent that not all the speakers were
themselves proficient in the language. OSDP deputy chairman
Amirzhan Kosanov demonstrated the strongest Kazakh language skills
among the opposition leaders. Azat leader Bulat Abilov managed to
muster only brief remarks, while Shanyrak movement head (and former
Alga chairman) Asylbek Kozhakhmetov could barely get out a word of
Kazakh. (NOTE: Current Alga head Vladimir Kozlov did not attend
the demonstration. Kozlov, an ethnic Russian, does not speak any
Kazakh. END NOTE.) They and other speakers nevertheless stressed
that Kazakh should be used more in the public life of the country,
including by the government. There was agreement that the
government should pass a law making knowledge of Kazakh obligatory
for all citizens. Shakhanov criticized the government's efforts to
promote tri-lingualism -- i.e., proficiency in Kazakh, Russian, and
English -- as inhibiting the development of the Kazakh language.
Several speakers called for renaming Kazakhstan the "Kazakh
Republic."


4. (SBU) A representative from the Almaty mayor's office also
delivered remarks -- though they were largely anodyne. Other city
officials attended but did not speak. They reportedly told NGO
activist Bakhytzhan Toregozhina that they were at the demonstration
as private citizens, rather than in their official capacity.
(COMMENT: Some in the opposition camp complained that the mayor's
office supported the demonstration to divert the attention of the
public away from economic problems -- but the motivations for the
participation of the opposition leaders, all of whose parties are
non-nationalist, are perhaps equally suspect. END COMMENT.)

NGO DENIED REGISTRATION YET AGAIN


5. (U) For the third time, the Society of Young Professionals has
been denied registration at the national level, its head, Nurul
Rakhimbek, told journalists on September 22. The Society is
registered in Almaty, but wants national-level registration so that
it can establish offices in other regions. Rakhimbek said that the
Ministry of Justice denied the organization's third attempt to
register because of alleged errors in the Kazakh-language version of
its application. "They said there were errors, but did not specify
what they were," claimed the Society's executive director, Olesya
Khalabuzar. The organization maintains that the real reason for its
registration problems is that the government does not approve of its
work, which is largely focused on community organizing.

FARE INCREASES DEMANDED FOR PUBLIC TRANSIT


6. (U) On September 22, several privately-owned transit companies in
Almaty went on strike, suspending bus services for a day. The
companies demanded the government approve fare increases and end
fare discounts, complaining that their costs had increased, largely
because of rising fuel prices. Over 800 buses failed to complete
their routes. The Almaty mayor's office held an urgent meeting with
the companies, offering 100 million tenge (approximately $830,000)
in immediate assistance and promising to hold public hearings on bus
fares. The city government plans to establish three municipal
transit companies to compete with the private companies.

CRIME SUSPECT JUMPS FROM POLICE STATION WINDOW


ASTANA 00001946 002.2 OF 002



7. (U) The Interior Ministry reported in a September 18 press
release that a suspect being interrogated at an Almaty police
station hit an investigator and then jumped out a fifth floor
window. The suspect died two hours later in the hospital. The
individual had been detained on suspicions that he had stolen a
briefcase out of an automobile.

HOAGLAND