KAZAKHSTAN - ALL IS CALM IN ALMATY OBLAST, AND THAT'S HOW

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASTANA 000870

DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/CEN (M. O'MARA)

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM KIRF PREL KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN - ALL IS CALM IN ALMATY OBLAST, AND THAT'S HOW
WE LIKE IT

Ref: Astana 0767

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SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) All is calm in Almaty Oblast and its capital, Taldykorgan,
and residents are enjoying a steadily improving quality of life, at
least according to oblast officials. The urban population is
growing, though the oblast remains largely rural and agricultural.
Taldykorgan itself has experienced significant growth in investment
since it was designated the oblast capital in 2001. Civil society
leaders report increasing government cooperation, though they are
experiencing problems with corruption, tight government control over
the media, and severe restrictions on freedom of assembly. The
unregistered Alga party is very active in the region, and is
building a grassroots network of supporters. End Summary.

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OFFICIALS SAY ALL IS STABLE, QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVING
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2. (U) During April 14-17, poloff and pol FSN visited Taldykorgan,
the capital of Almaty Oblast, for a series of meetings with local
government officials, NGOs, and political party leaders. According
to Galiaskar Sarybaiyev, deputy director of Almaty Oblast's
Department of Internal Policy, the population of Almaty oblast is
largely rural. Approximately 1.6 million people live in the oblast,
though only 150,000 live in Taldykorgan, the largest city. (Note:
The city of Almaty is not part of the oblast, but rather is
administered as a separate entity. End Note.) Sarybaiyev reported
that the urban population in the oblast is growing as a result of
internal migration from rural areas. Nonetheless, he said, most of
the population remains in rural areas, as agriculture dominates the
regional economy.


3. (SBU) Both Sarybaiyev and Ardak Sydykov, secretary of the Almaty
Oblast Maslikhat (legislative body),portrayed Taldykorgan and
Almaty Oblast as calm and stable, with a steadily improving quality
of life. Sydykov said that when Taldykorgan became the oblast
capital in April 2001, it looked like Berlin after World War II.
Now, the city is clean and features newly renovated and newly
constructed buildings. (Note: We were impressed by the cleanliness
and orderliness of the city, and rank it as one of the cleanest in
Kazakhstan. End note.) Sydykov said that the oblast budget is seven
times larger than it was in 2001, and he pointed to a significant
increase in the number and quality of cars in the city as evidence
that the standard of living has improved. He said that when he
became a Maslikhat member in 1999, citizens primarily complained
about failure to receive salaries and pensions. Now, he explained,
the standard of living has improved, and citizens are far more
focused on community issues such as schools, health services,
quality drinking water, and the construction of roads. He said that
citizens rarely participate in Maslikhat meetings, though they
frequently come to the office to make complaints.


4. (SBU) Sarybaiyev maintained that the situation concerning ethnic
relations in the oblast is stable and positive, and that it is the
oblast government's top priority to maintain stability and keep the
peace. He told us that 64% of the population is ethnic Kazakh, 18%
is ethnic Russian, 9% is Uighur, and the remainder is a mix of other
ethnic groups including Azerbaijanis, Koreans, Kurds, Tatars,
Ukrainians, and Kyrgyz. He explained that the government supports
inter-ethnic relations by operating 71 ethnic cultural centers to
promote the development of languages, customs, and traditions.

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OFFICIAL SEES NO CONTROVERSY IN THE RELIGIOUS SPHERE
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5. (SBU) Deputy director of the Almaty Oblast Ministry of Justice
Murat Tanibergen told us that religious devotion is growing in the
oblast, but there are few problems with religious groups and no
incidents of religious extremism. He said there are 538 religious
groups registered in the region, including some non-traditional
groups such as the Hare Krishnas and the Baha'i. He said his office
has no problems with the Jehovah's Witnesses active in the region;
the government occasionally attends their services and conducts
inspections to make sure that they are following legal requirements,
and the Jehovah's Witnesses are very good about providing all of the
information requested by the government. He said that the Religious
Issues Committee in the Ministry of Justice in Astana recently
solicited proposals for inclusion in new draft amendments to
Kazakhstan's religion law (see reftel),but he said his office has
few problems with the current law and did not have much to

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contribute.


6. (SBU) Tanibergen, without prompting, mentioned the ongoing
dispute between local government officials and the Hare Krishna
commune in the Karasai district, which is located in Almaty Oblast.
He shared the usual government talking points on the issue (i.e.,
that the dispute is purely over property, not religion, and the
government has no problem with the Hare Krishnas),and said that the
local government was waiting for the Hare Krishnas to choose one of
the alternate properties that had been offered to them.

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CIVIL SOCIETY MATURING, WITH SOME ROADBLOCKS
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7. (SBU) Representatives from the Taldykorgan City Society for
Consumer Rights Protection NGO, the Democracy Support Center NGO,
and the Taldykorgan Regional Women's Support Center NGO unanimously
agreed that their relations with the government have improved
significantly over the last five or six years, and the groups have
significant freedom to operate. In addition, the women's support
center has received some contracts to provide services for the
government. However, the representatives said that local officials
occasionally become very aggressive towards NGOs that attempt to
monitor the government budget or question government expenditures.
They also reported that the local government tightly controls the
media, with the exception of one or two newspapers, though the NGOs
are able to attract publicity through good relationships they have
with individual reporters. Finally, they maintained that there is
significant corruption in the government contracting process; they
claimed that many government officials or their friends create their
own NGOs and then funnel government money to them. Saniya
Kazabulatova of the City Society for Consumer Rights Protection
asserted that only 10% of government grants go to support real
projects, while the remainder of the grant money is stolen through
fake NGOs.


8. (SBU) Aliya Akhmediya, the Almaty Oblast representative for the
Kazakhstan International Human Rights Bureau, described a tense
relationship with local government officials. (Note: Akhmediya is
also the Almaty Oblast representative for the Azat opposition party,
and was an opposition candidate for the parliament in last year's
elections. The Azat party maintains a small office and staff in
Taldykorgan, but Akhmediya did not have much to report about party
activities in the off year. End note.) She works for citizens on a
variety of legal and human rights complaints, including housing
problems and unfair treatment in local courts. In her view, the
government's attitude is that citizens would not worry about civil
rights if activists like her were not provoking them. She said
local officials routinely deny or fail to respond her requests for
permission to hold rallies, and described a recent incident in which
she organized an unsanctioned rally with a group of citizens whose
homes had been demolished by the government. The government summoned
her after the rally and warned her that it was illegal to instigate
protest actions. Nevertheless, she told us she prefers to act
rather than sit and wait for government permission.


9. (SBU) Akhmediya told us that the government never invites her to
roundtables or conferences, but she attends when she learns of them
and asks tough questions. She said, however, that her comments are
never covered in the local media, because reporters know from their
past experience that if they publish her comments, they will get in
trouble. Finally, she claimed that the religious freedom situation
in the oblast was getting worse and that the government was
increasing its intrusion, though she had no specific examples.

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UNREGISTERED ALGA PARTY BUILDS GRASSROOTS NETWORK
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10. (SBU) Beniyamin Faizulin, the Almaty Oblast leader of the
unregistered Alga party, agreed that local authorities consistently
refused to grant permission for peaceful rallies, and told us that
he and others in the party have been administratively fined for
organizing unsanctioned rallies. He also said that the party has
virtually no access to the media. In addition, he told us the party
was recently forced out of its rented office near the center of
town, and is now renovating a house on the outskirts of town to use
as their office. (Note: We met in the house, which was full of maps
and party materials and staffed by two or three workers. End note.)
Faizulin also claimed that not long ago his wife was forced to leave
her job as deputy director of a local law school because of pressure
resulting from his opposition activities.


11. (SBU) Despite these obstacles, Faizulin was optimistic about

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Alga's future, and described a very active and energetic local
organization. He said the party spends considerable time on
outreach activities through door-to-door campaigning and working in
the villages, and was very active in helping citizens resolve
various social problems. He told us that 20 to 30 people come to
the Alga party offices every week with various complaints, and the
party helps them organize into groups to resolve their problems,
such as disputes with utility companies and problems with schools.
The party also helps them file complaints and lawsuits. He said
that Alga is not focused on winning seats in parliament or competing
in a rigged election process, but rather on building a network of
leaders and activists at the local level. He explained that the
party was encouraging citizens to lobby and pressure their elected
members of local Maslikhats, and would ultimately like to create
"shadow" governments on the local level. He described the party's
work in rural areas as particularly important, because people there
are completely suppressed by local akims and have no awareness of
their civil or political rights. (Note: Faizulin's description of
Alga's focus and activities mirrors what we have been told by
Vladimir Kozlov, Alga's national-level chairman. End Note.)

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COMMENT
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12. (SBU) Local officials emphasized stability and an improving
quality of life in our meetings, and from what we observed, we have
no reason to doubt them: Taldykorgan in all respects appeared to be
a clean, healthy, well run city, and we did not detect any unusual
undercurrent of discontent in our meetings with civil society and
opposition party leaders. Nevertheless, the tight government
control of the media and its efforts to prevent public assemblies is
undoubtedly responsible for some of the calm, though human rights
and opposition party leaders have found some traction. The Alga
party in particular has seemingly developed a systematic and
long-term approach to building their movement in the region.
Finally, Taldykorgan represents only a small portion of the oblast
population; whether the atmosphere of stability and improving
quality of life extends to the much larger rural population is an
open question. End comment.

ORDWAY