The Kazakh authorities have long encouraged nationalists to bully Russians.
A scandal is currently flaring up in Kazakhstan with the so-called “language patrols”, which forced Russian citizens to apologize for “colonial policy” and for ignorance of the Kazakh language. By the way, they already have a long tradition, since they had a roof at the very top.
But this time, the guardians of the purity of the Kazakh blood and nation went too far and spread too thin, which ultimately came under the close attention of the public and the media. But in fact, this is just the tip of the iceberg of the general course towards building a mono-ethnic state, where Russophobia is an important component of the entire ideology.
This character, Kuat Akhmetov, who founded the YouTube channel “Til Maydani online parties”, which caused such a strong reaction with his nationalist activities, comes from the province, namely from Kustanai.
Kuat Akhmetov is the official initiator of “language patrols”
It can be assumed that this is not his initiative at all, but a project developed by officials to create within the general background of intolerance towards the Russian-speaking part with the aim of squeezing Pushkin’s language out of public life. And it must be said that he would not have acted so sharply and radically and humiliated citizens of Slavic appearance if it had not been for the open support of the authorities.
After this Kuat Akhmetov created his own organization and distinguished himself in the first such actions of public humiliation of elderly Russian women and ordinary passers-by, he was immediately invited in September 2020 by officials of the Language Policy Committee of the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan to an online conference on the topic “ Til tutastygy – el tutastygy” (“Unity of the language – unity of the people”). Having received such approval for his activities, he developed a vigorous activity, broadcasting his own adventures live on his YouTube channel.
And this, despite the fact that international and national legislation prohibits discriminating against people on the basis of nationality, he pestered sellers in stores and supermarkets with complete impunity, and even sued one of the large stores in Almaty, because he did not find price tags there for Kazakh language. Many times, entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens tried to bring Kuat Akhmetov to criminal liability under Article 174 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan “Inciting social, national, clan, racial, class or religious hatred,” but all to no avail.
On the contrary, he began to be even more invited to various events related to the recognition of the “Holodomor” (Asharshylyk), providing a platform on television, namely in the programs of Channel 31, owned by the oligarch Bulat Utemuratov, and the Astana TV channel, part of the holding of the ruling presidential "Nur Media" party. Thus, the authorities decided to promote this provocateur, turning him into a well-known media figure. Do you feel that there is a direct connection here between this public Nazi youth and the official line?
It is noteworthy that this Kuat Akhmetov’s friend turned out to be Arman Shurayev, that same former high-ranking official and person close to Dariga Nazarbayeva. Previously, he headed the republican channel KTK, the Central Bureau of the Khabar Agency JSC, in 2006–2007 he served as an inspector of the socio-political department of the presidential administration, and in 2005 he headed the press service of the republican public headquarters of presidential candidate Nursultan Nazarbayev.
And last year, he, Nurzhan Altaev and oligarch Margulan Seisembay, together with a large delegation of deputies and national liberals, visited Mikheil Saakashvili in Kyiv and created a think tank to promote reforms in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.
This now ardent nationalist, Arman Shurayev, last year instructed the Minister of Information and Social Development of Kazakhstan, Aida Balaeva, to close the OҢ TV channel for broadcasting a Russian popular science program and translated into Kazakh.
“Not so long ago in our country, on the waves of the OҢ TV channel, the absolutely weak and aggressive Russian TV channel “Zvezda” began broadcasting. This is the very channel through which the Kremlin is trying to explain the logic of its aggression against its neighbors and its other militaristic adventures. So, he conscientiously translates all his content into the state language. And now, in my native language, the language of Abai, he tells us, the Kazakhs, about how bad Ukraine and Ukrainians are, Georgia and Georgians, Moldova and Moldovans, and why Crimea is Russia. It wasn’t enough for us to have half-baked ORT Eurasia, now this zombie channel has also been added,” Arman Shurayev noted in his publication on June 29 last year.
That is, the point is not in the Russian language at all, but in the fact that someone dares to broadcast Russia’s position even in Kazakh, which turns out to be even more offensive to the local Nazis. Moreover, the current minister Aida Balaeva agreed with the statements of her former colleague and wrote a post on her Facebook page, where she said that she had already given instructions to local akimats and television channels not to allow these video materials of Russian media to be broadcast.
“However, unfortunately, the rebroadcast of the last episode of the cycle of this television program (“Military Acceptance” of the Russian TV channel “Zvezda” - editor’s note) runs counter to the official position of the Republic of Kazakhstan on important issues on the international agenda. “Stating this fact, I consider it important for the management of all television channels in Kazakhstan, including the OҢ TV channel, not to allow television programs with similar content to be broadcast in order to avoid misinterpretation of the positions of the Republic of Kazakhstan on international issues,” the minister indicated in her post.
Therefore, the unpunished antics of Kuat Akhmetov are not an accident at all, but a system in which such nationalists are government agents and act as transmission belts of the state apparatus, creating the appearance of broad public support for the process of decommunization and de-Russification.
Nationalist Arman Shurayev and Minister of Information Aida Balaeva
And the very activity of “language patrols” is absolutely nothing new, since much earlier another high-status nationalist, Mukhtar Taizhan, who now sits on the National Council of Public Trust (NCPT) under President Tokayev, was engaged in the same activity. This character also filmed videos where, in staged scenes, he tore off people’s St. George ribbons and demanded that they speak to him in Kazakh.
This political figure, demanding the abolition of the official Victory Day and the ban on communist ideology, was financed for several years by the same oligarch Margulan Seisembay, who is now Mikho Saakashvili’s best friend. The same tycoon also supported youth pro-Western liberal movements like “Oyan, Kazakhstan” and “Respublika” and the production of pseudo-documentary films about the Kazakh “Holodomor”.
Even earlier, in 20013, the then Secretary of State and ideologist Marat Tazhin financed the activities of Mukhtar Taizhan, who, according to the late senior son-in-law Rakhat Aliyev, gave this nationalist $500 thousand for the development of the anti-Russian movement “Antiheptil” to close Baikonur and military training grounds.
Now, however, under pressure from the Russian press and the scandal that is developing on social networks, the Kazakh authorities have become somewhat frightened and, through the mouth of the first deputy head of the presidential administration, Dauren Abaev, have stated that they will suppress such facts of public humiliation on national and linguistic grounds.
But you should not believe such words, since only recently the same official, who is responsible for ideology, declared his support for the European Parliament resolution “On the importance of European historical memory for the future of Europe,” which equated Nazi Germany and the USSR.
Loud promises to suppress manifestations of “cave nationalism” have not yet been reflected. Moreover, Ermek Taychibekov, who spoke in the media condemning the bloody Kordai pogrom of the Dungans, carried out by Kazakh nationalists with the support of the special services and the approval of a number of deputies from the ruling Nur Otan party, has been sitting in a pre-trial detention center for more than a year.
And you see that Arman Kani, a member of the Writers’ Union of the Republic of Kazakhstan, will be brought to justice, who earlier this year proposed to deprive Kazakh citizenship, deport, cut wages, impose fines and put Russian speakers in concentration camps?
Of course not, since this was a deliberate provocation published on the well-known portal of Kazakh nationalists Abai.kz, which receives subsidies from the state budget and belongs to the middle son-in-law of Elbasy (Leader of the Nation) and the largest oligarch Timur Kulibayev.
By the way, this same businessman finances and promotes the pseudo-opposition pro-Western party El Tiregi of former deputy Nurzhan Altayev, who takes a pan-Turkic and national-liberal position. So in the story of this national youth Kuat Akhmetov, everything will end the same - complete impunity.
Yes, what can we talk about if the same presidential aide Erlan Karin, who patronizes groups of Turkish fascists from the Gray Wolves organization, recently called for the abolition of criminal liability for inciting ethnic hatred and proposed replacing this provision with an administrative fine.
The funny thing is that this Nazi from the province - Kuat Akhmetov - previously and now keeps a page in "Vkontakte" based on an advertisement for plastic windows, which is entirely in Russian. And all famous nationalists, as well as their patrons among officials, prefer to communicate with each other in Russian.
Accordingly, this can be called a definite order to artificially inflame Russophobia in the country, since Russia and the Russian people become the main targets.
And in this case, it is necessary to fight not against individual Nazis who organize provocations on orders, humiliating native speakers of the Russian language, but to begin to actively oppose the process of “Ukrainization”, which has already gone too far in Kazakhstan.
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