Kazakhstan (also spelled Kazakstan,
Kazakh:
Қазақстан,
Qazaqstan,
قازاقستان, pronounced
[qɑzɑqstɑ́n];
Russian:
Казахстан [kəzɐxˈstan]), officially the
Republic of Kazakhstan. It is located in
Eastern Europe and
Central Asia. Ranked as the
ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest
landlocked country; its territory of 2,727,300 km² is greater than
Western Europe.
[5][6] It is neighbored clockwise from the north by
Russia,
China,
Kyrgyzstan,
Uzbekistan,
Turkmenistan, and also borders on a significant part of the
Caspian Sea. The capital was moved in 1997 from
Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, to
Astana.
Vast in size, the terrain of Kazakhstan ranges from flatlands,
steppes,
taigas,
rock-canyons, hills, deltas, and snow-capped mountains to deserts. With 16.2 million people (2010 census).
[7] Kazakhstan has the
62nd largest population in the world, though its
population density is less than 6 people per square kilometre (15 per sq. mi.).
For most of its history, the territory of modern-day Kazakhstan has been inhabited by
nomadic tribes. By the 16th century the
Kazakhs emerged as a distinct group, divided into three
hordes. The
Russians began advancing into the
Kazakh steppe in the 18th century, and by the mid-19th century all of Kazakhstan was part of the
Russian Empire. Following the
1917 Russian Revolution, and subsequent
civil war, the territory of Kazakhstan was reorganized several times before becoming the
Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic in 1936, a part of the
USSR. During the 20th century, Kazakhstan was the site of major Soviet projects, including
Khrushchev's Virgin Lands campaign, the
Baikonur Cosmodrome, and the
Semipalatinsk "Polygon", the USSR's primary nuclear weapon testing site.
Kazakhstan declared itself an independent country on December 16, 1991, the last Soviet republic to do so. Its communist-era leader,
Nursultan Nazarbayev, became the country's new president. Since independence, Kazakhstan has pursued a balanced
foreign policy and worked to develop its
economy, especially its
hydrocarbon industry. While the country's economic outlook is improving, President Nazarbayev maintains strict control over the country's
politics. Nevertheless, Kazakhstan's international prestige is building.
[8] It is now considered to be the dominant state in
Central Asia.
[9] The country is a member of many international organizations, including the
United Nations, the
Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, the
Commonwealth of Independent States, and the
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Kazakhstan is one of six post-Soviet states who have implemented an
Individual Partnership Action Plan with NATO. In 2010, Kazakhstan is chairing the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
Kazakhstan is ethnically and culturally diverse, in part due to
mass deportations of many ethnic groups to the country during
Stalin's rule. Kazakhs are the largest group. Kazakhstan has 131 nationalities including
Kazakh,
Russian,
Ukrainian,
Uzbek and
Tatar. It has a population of 16.0 million, of whom around 63% percent are Kazakhs.
[1]
Kazakhstan allows
freedom of religion, and many different beliefs are represented in the country.
Islam is the religion of about two-thirds of the population, and
Christianity the faith of most of the remainder. The Kazakh language is the
state language, while Russian is also officially used as an "equal" language (to Kazakh) in Kazakhstan's
institutions.
[10]
[edit] History
[edit] Kazakh Khanate
Artistic depiction of Ancient
TarazKazakhstan has been inhabited since the
Neolithic Age: the region's climate and terrain are best suited for nomads practicing
pastoralism. Archaeologists believe that humans first
domesticated the horse in the region's vast steppes. While ancient cities
Taraz (Aulie-Ata) and
Hazrat-e Turkestan had long served as important way-stations along the
Silk Road connecting East and West, real political consolidation only began with the Mongol invasion of the early 13th century. Under the
Mongol Empire, administrative districts were established, and these eventually came under the emergent
Kazakh Khanate. (Kazakhstan)
Throughout this period traditionally
nomadic life and a
livestock-based economy continued to dominate the
steppe. In the 15th century, a distinct
Kazakh identity began to emerge among the
Turkic tribes, a process which was consolidated by the mid-16th century with the appearance of a distinctive
Kazakh language, culture, and economy.
Nevertheless, the region was the focus of ever-increasing disputes between the native Kazakh
emirs and the neighbouring
Persian-speaking peoples to the south. By the early 17th century, the Kazakh Khanate was struggling with the impact of tribal rivalries, which had effectively divided the population into the Great, Middle and Little (or Small)
Hordes (
jüz). Political disunion, tribal rivalries, and the diminishing importance of overland trade routes between East and West weakened the Kazakh Khanate.
During the 17th century Kazakhs fought
Oirats, a federation of western
Mongol tribes, among which the
Dzungars were particularly aggressive.
[11] The beginning of the 18th century marked the zenith of the Kazakh Khanate. During this period the Little Horde participated in the 1723–1730 war against the Dzungars, following their "Great Disaster"
invasion of Kazakh territories. Under the leadership of
Abul Khair Khan, the Kazakhs won major victories over the Dzungar at the Bulanty River in 1726, and at the Battle of Anrakay in 1729.
[12] Ablai Khan participated in the most significant battles against the Dzungars from the 1720s to the 1750s, for which he was declared a "batyr" ("hero") by the people. Kazakhs were also victims of constant raids carried out by the Volga
Kalmyks.
[edit] Russian Empire
In the 19th century, the
Russian Empire began to expand into
Central Asia. The "
Great Game" period is generally regarded as running from approximately 1813 to the
Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907. The
tsars effectively ruled over most of the territory belonging to what is now the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The Russian Empire introduced a system of administration and built military garrisons and barracks in its effort to establish a presence in
Central Asia in the so-called "Great Game" between it and the
British Empire. The first Russian outpost,
Orsk, was built in 1735. Russia enforced the Russian language in all schools and governmental organizations. Russian efforts to impose its system aroused the resentment by the
Kazakh people, and by the 1860s, most Kazakhs resisted Russia's annexation largely because of the influence it wrought upon the traditional nomadic lifestyle and livestock-based economy, and the associated hunger that was rapidly wiping out some Kazakh tribes. The Kazakh national movement, which began in the late 1800s, sought to preserve the native language and identity by resisting the attempts of the Russian Empire to assimilate and stifle them.
From the 1890s onwards ever-larger numbers of settlers from the Russian Empire began
colonising the territory of present-day Kazakhstan, in particular the province of
Semirechye. The number of settlers rose still further once the
Trans-Aral Railway from
Orenburg to
Tashkent was completed in 1906, and the movement was overseen and encouraged by a specially created Migration Department (Переселенческое Управление) in
St. Petersburg. During the 19th century about 400,000 Russians immigrated to Kazakhstan, and about one million Slavs, Germans, Jews, and others immigrated to the region during the first third of the 20th century.
[13]
The competition for land and water that ensued between the Kazakhs and the newcomers caused great resentment against colonial rule during the final years of
Tsarist Russia, with the most serious uprising, the
Central Asian Revolt, occurring in 1916. The Kazakhs attacked
Russian and
Cossack settlers and military garrisons. The revolt resulted in a series of clashes and in brutal massacres committed by both sides.
[14] The Russians' revenge was merciless. A military force drove 300,000 Kazakhs to flee into the mountains or to China. When approximately 80,000 of them returned the next year, many of them were slaughtered by Tsarist forces. During the 1921–22
famine, another million Kazakhs died from starvation.
[edit] Kazakh SSR
Almaty, the Soviet-era capital of Kazakhstan.
Although there was a brief period of
autonomy (
Alash Autonomy) during the tumultuous period following the collapse of the Russian Empire, many uprisings were brutally suppressed, and the Kazakhs eventually succumbed to
Soviet rule. In 1920, the area of present-day Kazakhstan became an
autonomous republic within the Soviet Union.
Soviet repression of the traditional elite, along with forced
collectivization in late the 1920s–1930s, brought
mass hunger and led to unrest (See also:
Soviet famine of 1932–1933).
[15][16] Between 1926 and 1939, the Kazakh population declined by 22% due to starvation and mass emigration. Estimates today suggest that the population of Kazakhstan would be closer to 20 million if there had been no starvation or migration of Kazakhs. During the 1930s, many renowned Kazakh writers, thinkers, poets, politicians and historians were slaughtered on Stalin's orders, both as part of the repression and as a methodical pattern of suppressing Kazakh identity and culture. Soviet rule took hold, and a
Communist apparatus steadily worked to fully integrate Kazakhstan into the Soviet system. In 1936 Kazakhstan became a
Soviet republic. Kazakhstan experienced population inflows of millions
exiled from other parts of the Soviet Union during the 1930s and 1940s; many of the
deportation victims were deported to
Siberia or Kazakhstan merely due to their ethnic heritage or beliefs, and were in many cases interned in some of the biggest
Soviet labour camps, including ALZHIR camp outside Astana, which was reserved for the wives of men considered "enemies of the people".
[17] (See also:
Population transfer in the Soviet Union,
Involuntary settlements in the Soviet Union.)
The
Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic contributed five national divisions to the Soviet Union's World War II effort. In 1947, two years after the end of the war, the
Semipalatinsk Test Site, the USSR's main
nuclear weapon test site, was founded near the city of
Semey.
World War II marked an increase in
industrialisation and increased
mineral extraction in support of the war effort. At the time of Soviet leader
Joseph Stalin's death, however, Kazakhstan still had an overwhelmingly agricultural-based economy. In 1953, Soviet leader
Nikita Khrushchev initiated the ambitious "
Virgin Lands" program to turn the traditional pasture lands of Kazakhstan into a major grain-producing region for the Soviet Union. The Virgin Lands policy brought mixed results. However, along with later modernizations under Soviet leader
Leonid Brezhnev, it accelerated the development of the agricultural sector, which remains the source of livelihood for a large percentage of Kazakhstan's population. By 1959,
Kazakhs made up 30% of the population. Ethnic
Russians accounted for 43%.
Growing tensions within Soviet society led to a demand for political and economic reforms, which came to a head in the 1980s. A factor that contributed to this immensely was
Lavrentii Beria's decision to test a nuclear bomb on the territory of Kazakh SSR in
Semey in 1949. This had a catastrophic ecological and biological effect that was felt generations later, and Kazakh anger toward the Soviet system escalated.
In December 1986, mass demonstrations by young ethnic Kazakhs, later called
Jeltoqsan riot, took place in Almaty to protest the replacement of the
First Secretary of the
Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR
Dinmukhamed Konayev with
Gennady Kolbin from the
Russian SFSR. Governmental troops suppressed the unrest, several people were killed and many demonstrators were jailed. In the waning days of Soviet rule, discontent continued to grow and find expression under Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of
glasnost.
The
Bayterek tower in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan
[edit] Independence
Caught up in the groundswell of Soviet republics seeking greater autonomy, Kazakhstan declared its
sovereignty as a republic within the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in October 1990. Following the August 1991 aborted
coup attempt in Moscow and the subsequent
dissolution of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan declared
independence on December 16, 1991. It was the last of the Soviet republics to declare independence.
The years following independence have been marked by significant reforms to the Soviet-style economy and political
monopoly on power. Under
Nursultan Nazarbayev, who initially came to power in 1989 as the head of the
Communist Party of Kazakhstan and was eventually elected President in 1991, Kazakhstan has made significant progress toward developing a
market economy. The country has enjoyed significant economic growth since 2000, partly due to its large
oil,
gas, and mineral reserves.
Democracy, however, has not gained much ground since 1991.
[18] In 2007, Kazakhstan's parliament passed a law granting President Nursultan Nazarbayev lifetime powers and privileges, immunity from criminal prosecution, and influence over domestic and foreign policy.
[18][19] Critics say he has become a de facto "president for life."
[19][20][21]
Over the course of his ten years in power, Nazarbayev has repeatedly censored the press through arbitrary use of "privacy" laws,
[22] and refused demands that the governors of Kazakhstan's 14 provinces be elected, rather than appointed by the president. However, there are still no cases based on this law.
[edit] Government and politics
[edit] Political system
Kazakhstan is officially a
presidential republic but displays strong authoritarian characteristics. The first and only president is Nursultan Nazarbayev. The president also is the
commander in chief of the armed forces and may
veto legislation that has been passed by the
Parliament. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Ministers and serves as Kazakhstan's head of government. There are three deputy prime ministers and 16 ministers in the Cabinet.
Karim Massimov has served as the Prime Minister since January 10, 2007.
Kazakhstan has a bicameral Parliament composed of the
lower house (the
Majilis) and
upper house (the
Senate). Single mandate districts popularly elect 67 seats in the Majilis; there also are ten members elected by party-list vote rather than by single mandate districts. The Senate has 39 members. Two senators are selected by each of the elected assemblies (Maslikhats) of Kazakhstan's 16 principal administrative divisions (14 provinces, plus the cities of Astana and Almaty). The president appoints the remaining seven senators. Majilis deputies and the government both have the right of legislative initiative, though the government proposes most legislation considered by the Parliament.
[edit] Elections
Elections to the Majilis in September 2004 yielded a lower house dominated by the pro-government
Otan Party, headed by President Nazarbayev. Two other parties considered sympathetic to the president, including the agrarian-industrial bloc AIST and the
Asar Party, founded by President Nazarbayev's daughter, won most of the remaining seats. Opposition parties, which were officially registered and competed in the elections, won a single seat during elections that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said fell short of international standards.
In 1999, Kazakhstan applied for observer status at the
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly. The official response of the Assembly was that Kazakhstan could apply for full membership, because it is partially located in Europe, but that they would not be granted any status whatsoever at the Council until their
democracy and
human rights records improved.
On December 4, 2005, Nursultan Nazarbayev was reelected in a landslide victory. The electoral commission announced that he had won over 90% of the vote. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) concluded the election did not meet international standards despite some improvements in the administration of the election.
Xinhua News Agency reported that observers from the People's Republic of China, responsible in overseeing 25 polling stations in Astana, found that voting in those polls was conducted in a "transparent and fair" manner.
[23]
A sign for the Otan (Fatherland) Party, the ruling party of Kazakhstan
On August 17, 2007, elections to the lower house of parliament were held and a coalition led by the ruling
Nur-Otan Party, which included
Asar Party, Civil Party of Kazakhstan and
Agrarian Party, won every seat with 88% of the vote. None of the opposition parties have reached the benchmark 7% level of the seats. This has led some in the local media to question the competence and charisma of the opposition party leaders. Opposition parties made accusations of serious irregularities in the election.
[24][25]
[edit] Intelligence services
Kazakhstan's
National Security Committee (KNB) was established on June 13, 1992. It includes the Service of Internal Security, Military Counterintelligence, Border Guard, several Commando units, and Foreign Intelligence (Barlau). The latter is considered as the most important part of KNB. Its director is
Major General Adil Shayahmetov.
[edit] Geography
With an area of 2.7 million square kilometers (1.05 million
sq. mi), Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country and the largest
landlocked country in the world. It is equivalent to the size of
Western Europe. In the Soviet Union period, Kazakhstan lost some of its territory to China - so-called Eastern Turkestan - and some to Turkmenistan - so-called Karakalpak's region. It shares borders of 6,846 kilometers (4,254 mi) with Russia, 2,203 kilometers (1,369 mi) with
Uzbekistan, 1,533 kilometers (953 mi) with China, 1,051 kilometers (653 mi) with
Kyrgyzstan, and 379 kilometers (235 mi) with
Turkmenistan. Major cities include Astana, Almaty,
Karagandy,
Shymkent,
Atyrau and
Oskemen. While located primarily in Asia, a small portion of Kazakhstan is also located west of the Urals in Eastern Europe.
[26]
The terrain extends west to east from the
Caspian Sea to the
Altay Mountains and north to south from the plains of
Western Siberia to the oases and deserts of
Central Asia. The
Kazakh Steppe (plain), with an area of around 804,500 square kilometres (310,600 sq. mi), occupies one-third of the country and is the world's largest dry
steppe region. The steppe is characterized by large areas of
grasslands and sandy regions. Important rivers and lakes include: the
Aral Sea,
Ili River,
Irtysh River,
Ishim River,
Ural River,
Syr Darya, Charyn River and gorge,
Lake Balkhash and
Lake Zaysan.
The climate is
continental, with warm summers and colder winters.
Precipitation varies between arid and semi-arid conditions.
The
Charyn Canyon is 150–300 metres deep and 80 kilometres long, cutting through the red
sandstone plateau and stretching along the Charyn River gorge in northern
Tian Shan ("Heavenly Mountains", 200 km east of Almaty) at
43°21′1.16″N 79°4′49.28″E / 43.3503222°N 79.0803556°E / 43.3503222; 79.0803556. The steep canyon slopes,
columns and
arches rise to heights of 150–300 m. The inaccessibility of the canyon provided a safe haven for a rare
ash tree that survived the
Ice Age and is now also grown in some other areas.
Bigach crater is a
Pliocene or
Miocene asteroid impact crater, 8 kilometres (5 mi) in diameter and estimated at 5 ±3 million years old at
48°30′N 82°00′E / 48.5°N 82°E / 48.5; 82.
[edit] Provinces
Kazakhstan is divided into 14
provinces (
Kazakh:
облыстар, oblıstar). The provinces are subdivided into
districts (
Kazakh:
аудандар, awdandar).
| Province | Capital | Area (km.²) | Population |
|---|
| Akmola | Kokshetau | 121,400 | 0,829,000 |
| Aktobe | Aktobe | 300,600 | 0,661,000 |
| Almaty(1) | Almaty | 000,324.8 | 1,226,300 |
| Almaty Province | Taldykorgan | 224,000 | 0,860,000 |
| Astana(1) | Astana | 000,710.2 | 0,600,200 |
| Atyrau | Atyrau | 118,600 | 0,380,000 |
| Baikonur(2) | Baikonur | 000,057 | 0,070,000 |
| East Kazakhstan | Oskemen | 283,300 | 0,897,000 |
| Jambyl | Taraz | 144,000 | 0,962,000 |
| Karagandy | Karagandy | 428,000 | 0,446,000 |
| Kostanay | Kostanay | 196,000 | 0,975,000 |
| Kyzylorda | Kyzylorda | 226,000 | 0,590,000 |
| Mangystau | Aktau | 165,600 | 0,316,847 |
| North Kazakhstan | Petropavl | 123,200 | 0,586,000 |
| Pavlodar | Pavlodar | 124,800 | 0,851,000 |
| South Kazakhstan | Shymkent | 118,600 | 2,282,500 |
| West Kazakhstan | Oral | 151,300 | 0,599,000 |
| |
Notes:
[2]
- (1) Almaty and Astana cities have the status of State importance and do not relate to any province.
- (2) Baikonur city has a special status because it is currently being leased to Russia with Baikonur cosmodrome until 2050.
Each province is headed by an Akim (provincial governor) appointed by the president. Municipal Akims are appointed by province Akims. The Government of Kazakhstan transferred its capital from Almaty to Astana on December 10, 1997.
[edit] Economy
Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city
Kazakhstan Central Concert Hall
Buoyed by high world
crude oil prices, GDP growth figures were in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008: 9.8%, 13.5%, 9.8%, 9.3%, 9.6%, 9.7%, 10.7%, 8.9% and 3.2 respectively.
[27] Other major exports of Kazakhstan include wheat, textiles, and livestock. Kazakhstan forecasts that it will become a leading exporter of uranium by 2010.
[28]
GDP in 2010 has grown on 1.1% Inflation. 2005 - 7.6%, 2006 - 8.6%, 2007 - 18.8%, 2008 - 9.5%, 2009 - 6.2%.
Since 2002, Kazakhstan has sought to manage strong inflows of foreign currency without sparking
inflation. Inflation has not been under strict control, however, registering 6.6% in 2002, 6.8% in 2003, and 6.4% in 2004.
In 2000, Kazakhstan became the first former Soviet republic to repay all of its debt to the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), 7 years ahead of schedule. In March 2002, the
U.S. Department of Commerce granted Kazakhstan
market economy status under
U.S. trade law. This change in status recognized substantive market economy reforms in the areas of currency convertibility, wage rate determination, openness to foreign investment, and government control over the means of production and allocation of resources.
In September 2002, Kazakhstan became the first country in the
CIS to receive an investment grade
credit rating from a major international credit rating agency. As of late December 2003, Kazakhstan's gross foreign debt was about $22.9 billion. Total governmental debt was $4.2 billion, 14% of GDP. There has been a noticeable reduction in the ratio of debt to GDP. The ratio of total governmental debt to GDP in 2000 was 21.7%; in 2001, it was 17.5%, and in 2002, it was 15.4%.
Economic growth, combined with earlier
tax and financial sector reforms, has dramatically improved government finance from the 1999
budget deficit level of 3.5% of GDP to a deficit of 1.2% of GDP in 2003. Government revenues grew from 19.8% of GDP in 1999 to 22.6% of GDP in 2001, but decreased to 16.2% of GDP in 2003. In 2000, Kazakhstan adopted a new
tax code in an effort to consolidate these gains.
On November 29, 2003, the Law on Changes to Tax Code was adopted, which reduced
tax rates. The
value added tax fell from 16% to 15%, the social tax, from 21% to 20%, and the personal
income tax, from 30% to 20%. On July 7, 2006, the personal
income tax was reduced even further to a flat rate of 5% for personal income in the form of dividends and 10% for other personal income. Kazakhstan furthered its reforms by adopting a new land code on June 20, 2003, and a new customs code on April 5, 2003.
Energy is the leading economic sector. Production of crude oil and
natural gas condensate from the
oil and gas basins of Kazakhstan amounted to 51.2 million
tons in 2003, up 8.6% from the production in 2002. Kazakhstan raised oil and gas condensate exports to 44.3 million tons in 2003, 13% higher than in 2002. Gas production in Kazakhstan in 2003 amounted to 13.9 billion cubic meters (491 billion
cu. ft), up 22.7% compared to 2002, including natural gas production of 7.3 billion cubic meters (258 billion
cu. ft).
Kazakhstan holds about 4 billion tons of proven recoverable oil reserves and 2,000 cubic kilometers (480
cu mi) of gas. According to industry analysts, expansion of oil production and the development of new
fields will enable the country to produce as much as 3 million barrels (477,000 m³) per day by 2015, and Kazakhstan would be among the top 10 oil-producing nations in the world. Kazakhstan's oil exports in 2003 were valued at more than $7 billion, representing 65% of overall exports and 24% of the GDP. Major oil and gas fields and recoverable
oil reserves are
Tengiz with 7 billion barrels (1.1 km³);
Karachaganak with 8 billion barrels (1.3 km³) and 1,350 km³ of natural gas); and
Kashagan with 7 to 9 billion barrels (1.1 to 1.4 km³).
Kazakhstan instituted an ambitious
pension reform program in 1998. As of January 1, 2005, the pension assets were about $4.1 billion. There are 16 saving pension funds in the country. The State Accumulating Pension Fund, the only state-owned fund, was
privatized in 2006. The country's unified financial regulatory agency oversees and regulates the pension funds. The growing demand of the pension funds for quality investment outlets triggered rapid development of the debt
securities market. Pension fund capital is being invested almost exclusively in corporate and government
bonds, including government of Kazakhstan Eurobonds.
The Kazakhstani banking system is developing rapidly. The banking system's capitalization now exceeds $1 billion. The
National Bank has introduced deposit insurance in its campaign to strengthen the banking sector. Several major foreign banks have branches in Kazakhstan, including
RBS,
Citibank, and
HSBC.
Kookmin and
UniCredit have both recently entered the Kazakhstan's financial services market through acquisitions and
stake-building.
Despite the strength of Kazakhstan's economy for most of the first decade of the 21st century, the global financial crisis of 2008-2009 has exposed some central weaknesses in the country's economy. The year on year growth of Kazakhstan's GDP dropped 19.81% in 2008. Four of the major banks were rescued by the government at the end of 2008 and real estate prices have sharply dropped.
[edit] Agriculture
Agriculture accounted for 10.3% of Kazakhstan's GDP in 2005.
[29] Grain (Kazakhstan is the seventh-largest producer in the world) and
livestock are the most important agricultural commodities. Agricultural land occupies more than 846,000 square kilometres (327,000 sq. mi). The available agricultural land consists of 205,000 square kilometres (79,000 sq. mi) of arable land and 611,000 square kilometres (236,000 sq. mi) of
pasture and hay land.
Chief livestock products are
dairy products,
leather,
meat, and
wool. The country's major crops include
wheat,
barley,
cotton, and
rice. Wheat
exports, a major source of
hard currency, rank among the leading commodities in Kazakhstan's export trade. In 2003 Kazakhstan harvested 17.6 million tons of grain in gross, 2.8% higher compared to 2002. Kazakh agriculture still has many environmental problems from mismanagement during its years in the Soviet Union. Some
Kazakh wine is produced in the mountains to the east of Almaty.
Kazakhstan is thought to be one of the origins of
apple, particularly the wild
ancestor of
Malus domestica,
Malus sieversii. It has no common name in English, but is known in Kazakhstan, where it is native, as 'alma'. In fact, the region where it is thought to originate is called Almaty, or 'rich with apple'.
[30] This tree is still found wild in the mountains of
Central Asia in southern Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, and
Xinjiang, China.
[edit] Natural resources
Headquarters of
KazMunayGaz, the national oil and gas company
Kazakhstan has an abundant supply of accessible mineral and fossil fuel resources. Development of
petroleum,
natural gas, and mineral extraction has attracted most of the over $40 billion in foreign investment in Kazakhstan since 1993 and accounts for some 57% of the nation's industrial output (or approximately 13% of gross domestic product). According to some estimates,
[31] Kazakhstan has the second largest
uranium,
chromium,
lead, and
zinc reserves, the third largest
manganese reserves, the fifth largest
copper reserves, and ranks in the top ten for
coal,
iron, and
gold. It is also an exporter of
diamonds. Perhaps most significant for economic development, Kazakhstan also currently has the 11th largest proven reserves of both
oil and
natural gas.
[32]
In total, there are 160 deposits with over 2.7 billion tons of petroleum. Oil explorations have shown that the deposits on the
Caspian shore are only a small part of a much larger deposit. It is said that 3.5 billion tons of oil and 2.5 trillion cubic meters of gas could be found in that area. Overall the estimate of Kazakhstan's oil deposits is 6.1 billion tons. However, there are only 3
refineries within the country, situated in
Atyrau,
Pavlodar, and
Shymkent. These are not capable of processing the total crude output so much of it is exported to Russia. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration Kazakhstan was producing approximately 1,54 million barrels of oil in 2009.
[33]
[edit] Foreign relations and armed forces
Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev with then U.S. President George W. Bush, 2006
[edit] Foreign relations
Kazakhstan has stable relationships with all of its neighbors. Kazakhstan is also a member of the
United Nations,
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe,
Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). It is an active participant in the
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Partnership for Peace program.
Kazakhstan is also a member of the
Commonwealth of Independent States, the
Economic Cooperation Organization and the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The nations of Kazakhstan, Russia,
Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan established the
Eurasian Economic Community in 2000 to re-energize earlier efforts at harmonizing trade tariffs and the creation of a free trade zone under a customs union. On December 1, 2007, it was revealed that Kazakhstan has been chosen to chair
OSCE for the year 2010.
Since independence in 1991, Kazakhstan has pursued what is known as the "multivector foreign policy" (
Russian:
многовекторная внешняя политика;
mnogovektornaya vneshnyaya politika), seeking equally good relations with two large neighbors, Russia and China, and the United States and the West generally.
[34][35] The policy has yielded results in the oil and gas sector, where companies from the U.S., Russia, China, and Europe are present at all major fields, and in the multidimensional directions of oil export pipelines out of Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan also enjoys strong, and rapidly developing, political and economic ties with Turkey. Kazakhstan formed a customs union with Russia and Belarus which will be transformed into a common economic space soon.
Russia currently leases approximately 6,000 km² (2,300 mi²) of territory enclosing the
Baikonur Cosmodrome space launch site in south central Kazakhstan, where the first man was launched into space as well as Soviet space shuttle
Buran and the well-known space station
Mir.
[edit] Armed forces
Kazakhstani Republican Guard
Most of Kazakhstan's military was inherited from the
Soviet Armed Forces'
Turkestan Military District. These units became the core of Kazakhstan's new military which acquired all the units of the
40th Army (the former 32nd Army) and part of the 17th Army Corps, including 6 land force divisions, storage bases, the 14th and 35th air-landing brigades, 2 rocket brigades, 2 artillery regiments and a large amount of equipment which had been withdrawn from over the Urals after the signing of the
Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. The largest expansion of the Kazakhstan Army has been focused on armored units in recent years. Since 1990, armored units have expanded from 500 to 1,613 in 2005.
The Kazakh air force is composed mostly of Soviet-era planes, including 41
MiG-29s, 44
MiG-31s, 37
Su-24s and 60
Su-27s. A small naval force is also maintained on the Caspian Sea.
Kazakhstan sent 49 military engineers to
Iraq to assist the
US post-invasion mission in Iraq.
[edit] Demographics
The
US Census Bureau International Database list the current population of Kazakhstan as 15,460,484, while
United Nations sources such as the UN Population Division give an estimate of 15,753,460. Official estimates put the population of Kazakhstan at 16.2 million as of January 2010, of which 46% is rural and 54% is urban.
[36] The 2009 population estimate is 6.8% higher than the population reported in the last census from January 1999. The decline in population that began after 1989 has been arrested and possibly reversed. Men and women make up 48.3% and 51.7% of the population, respectively.
The ethnic
Kazakhs represent 63.6% of the population and ethnic
Russians 23.7%,
[1] with a rich array of other groups represented, including
Tatars (1.3%),
Ukrainians (2.1%),
Uzbeks (2.8%),
Belarusians,
Uyghurs (1.4%),
Azerbaijanis,
Poles,
[37] and
Lithuanians. Some minorities such as Germans (1.1%) (
Germans who had previously settled in Russia, especially
Volga Germans), Ukrainians, Koreans,
Kurds,
Chechens,
[38] Meskhetian Turks, and Russian political opponents of the regime had been
deported to Kazakhstan in the 1930s and 1940s by Stalin; some of the bigger Soviet
labour camps (
Gulag) existed in the country.
[39]
Significant Russian immigration also connected with
Virgin Lands Campaign and
Soviet space program during
Khrushchev era.
[40] There is also a small but active
Jewish community. Before 1991 there were one million
Germans in Kazakhstan; most of them emigrated to Germany following the breakup of the Soviet Union.
[41] Most members of the smaller
Pontian Greek minority have emigrated to Greece. In the late 1930s thousands of
Koreans in the Soviet Union were
deported to Central Asia. These people are now known as
Koryo-saram.
Kazakhstan is a bilingual country: the
Kazakh language, spoken by 64.4% of the population, has the status of the "state" language, while Russian, which is spoken by almost all Kazakhstanis, is declared the "official" language, and is used routinely in business. English gained its popularity among the youth since the collapse of USSR and 30% of megapolis dwellers, especially younger generations, are fluent in English
[citation needed].
The 1990s were marked by the emigration of many of the country's
Russians and
Volga Germans, a process that began in the 1970s. This has made indigenous Kazakhs the largest ethnic group. Additional factors in the increase in the Kazakh population are higher birthrates and
immigration of ethnic Kazakhs from the People's Republic of China,
Mongolia, and Russia.
In the early twenty-first century, Kazakhstan has become one of the leading nations in
international adoptions. This has recently sparked some criticism in the Parliament of Kazakhstan, due to the concerns about safety and treatment of the children abroad and the questions regarding the low level of population in Kazakhstan.
[edit] Terminology
The term Kazakhstani (
Kazakh:
қазақстандықтар, Qazaqstandıqtar;
Russian:
казахстанцы, kazakhstantsy) was coined to describe all citizens of Kazakhstan, including non-
Kazakhs.
[42] The word "Kazakh" is generally used to refer to people of ethnic Kazakh descent (including those living in China, Afghanistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan and other countries).
The ethnonym Kazakh is derived from an ancient Turkic word "independent, a free spirit". It is the result of
Kazakhs' nomadic horseback culture. The
Avestan/
Old Persian (See
Indo-European languages) word "
-stan" means "land" or "place of", so "Kazakhstan" is "land of the Kazakhs".
[edit] Religion
| Religion in Kazakhstan |
|---|
| Religion | | | Percent | |
| Islam | | 65% |
| Russian Orthodox | | 33% |
| Others | | 2% |
is the largest religion in Kazakhstan followed by
Russian Orthodox Christianity. After decades of
religious suppression by the Soviet Union, the coming of independence witnessed a surge in expression of ethnic identity, partly through religion. The free practice of
religious beliefs and the establishment of full freedom of religion led to an increase of religious activity. Hundreds of
mosques,
churches,
synagogues, and other religious structures were built in the span of a few years, with the number of religious associations rising from 670 in 1990 to 4,170 today.
[43]
The front of the
Nur-Astana Mosque in
Astana during the morning hours. Islam is the major religion of Kazakhstan, and the Nur-Astana is the largest of its kind in the country.
Approximately 65% of the population is
Muslim.
[44] The majority are
Sunni of the
Hanafi school, including ethnic Kazakhs, who constitute about 60% the population, as well as by ethnic Uzbeks, Uighurs, and Tatars.
[45] Less than 1% are part of the Sunni
Shafi`i school (primarily
Chechens). There are a total of 2,300 mosques,
[43] all of them are affiliated with the "Spiritual Association of Muslims of Kazakhstan", headed by a supreme
mufti.
[46] The
Eid al-Adha is recognized as a national holiday.
[43]
One third of the population is Russian Orthodox, including ethnic Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians.
[44] Other Christian groups include
Roman Catholics and
Protestants.
[45] There are a total of 258 Orthodox churches, 93 Catholic churches, and over 500 Protestant churches and prayer houses. The Russian Orthodox
Christmas is recognized as a national holiday in Kazakhstan.
[43] Other religious groups include
Judaism, the
Bahá'í Faith,
Hinduism,
Buddhists, and
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
[45]
[edit] Education
Education is universal and mandatory through to the
secondary level and the
adult literacy rate is 99.5%. Education consists of three main educational phases:
primary education (forms 1–4), basic general education (forms 5–9) and senior level education (forms 10–11 or 12) divided into continued general education and professional education. (Primary education is preceded by one year of pre-school education.) These three levels of education can be followed in one institution or in different ones (e.g. primary school, then secondary school). Recently, several secondary schools, specialized schools,
magnet schools,
gymnasiums,
lyceums, linguistic and technical gymnasiums, have been founded. Secondary professional education is offered in special professional or
technical schools,
lyceums or
colleges and vocational schools.
At present, there are
universities,
academies, and
institutes,
conservatories, higher schools and higher colleges. There are three main levels: basic
higher education that provides the fundamentals of the chosen field of study and leads to the award of the
Bachelor's degree; specialized higher education after which students are awarded the Specialist's Diploma; and scientific-pedagogical higher education which leads to the
Master's Degree.
Postgraduate education leads to the
Kandidat nauk (Candidate of Sciences) and the Doctor of Sciences. With the adoption of the Laws on Education and on Higher Education, a private sector has been established and several private institutions have been licensed.
The Ministry of Education of Kazakhstan runs a highly successful
Bolashak scholarship, which is annually awarded to approximately three thousand applicants. The scholarship funds their education in institutions abroad, including the prestigious
University College London,
Oxford and
Ivy League universities. The terms of the program include mandatory return to Kazakhstan for at least five years of employment.
[edit] Sports
- Football is the most popular sport in Kazakhstan. The Football Federation of Kazakhstan (Kazakh: Қазақстанның Футбол Федерациясы, Qazaqstannıñ fwtbol federacïyası) is the sport's national governing body. The FFK organises the men's, women's and futsal national teams.
- Ice hockey - The Kazakhstani national ice hockey team has competed in ice hockey in the 1998 and 2006 Winter Olympics as well as in the 2006 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. Kazakhstan has 7 teams. The teams are Kaztsink-Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhmys Satpayev, Gornyak Rudnyi, Barys Astana, Irtysh Pavlodar, Yenbek Almaty, Sary-Arka Qaragandy.
- Top Kazakhstani ice hockey players include Nikolai Antropov and Evgeni Nabokov. Barys Astana - a major professional Ice Hockey team play in the Kontinental Hockey League.
- Athletics - 2010 was a breakthrough year for Kazakhstan's rising triple jump star Olga Rypakova. After a fourth place finish at the Beijing Olympics in the triple jump with an Asian record of 15.11m, Rypakova had a relatively quiet 2009 outdoor season. However her wins in the long jump and triple jump at the Asian Indoor Games at the end of the year were a sign for what was to come in 2010. She began the year with gold at the World Indoor Championships held in Doha in the triple jump, with an Asian Indoor record of 15.14m. Outdoors, she finished second overall in the IAAF Diamond League, and improved her Asian triple jump record to 15.25m when winning the Continental Cup in Split, Croatia.
- Cycling - Kazakhstan's most famous cyclist is Alexander Vinokourov, although cycling is a popular activity throughout the country. Vinokourov had an impressive cycling record while riding for the Telekom/T-Mobile teams early in his career. He won the silver medal in road cycling in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and finished third overall in the 2003 Tour de France. After moving to the Liberty Seguros team, Vinokourov finished 5th in the 2005 Tour de France, while two other young Kazakhstanis, Andrej Kashechkin and Maksim Iglinskiy, finished 19th and 37th, respectively. In 2006 Vinokourov's team became known as Astana after a drug doping scandal forced his team Liberty Seguros from the 2006 Tour de France. Vinokourov then helped form a new team, Astana, named for the capital of Kazakhstan and funded by a conglomeration of Kazakhstan businesses, which adopted the color of the Kazakh flag for its uniforms. That same year, Vinokourov and Kashechkin took first and third places in general classification in the 2006 Vuelta a España in Spain. In July 2007, Vinokourov tested positive for blood doping during the 2007 Tour de France and was disqualified from the race, although he was in the lead at the time. He was only banned for a year by the Kazakhstan cycling federation, but his suspension was increased to the internationally mandated two years by the UCI (International Cycling Federation). In addition, Kashechkin was also found guilty of blood doping and was also suspended for two years, and Astana was subsequently banned from the 2008 Tour de France. At that time, Vinokourov announced his retirement.
- The Astana cycling team continued under new management and continued to include Kazakhstan riders in the Grand Tours of cycling, although race leadership of the team passed to the Spaniard Alberto Contador and the Americans Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer. However, in September 2008, Vinokourov announced his intention to unretire and to return to cycling in 2009, and he returned in August 2009.
In 2010, Vinokourov rejoined Astana.
- Boxing - Since its independence in 1991, Kazakhstan's boxers have won many medals. Due to that Kazakhstan quickly went up in all-time medal table of Olympic Games in boxing, where the country jumped from the lowest starting rank to current 11th rank among all other countries. As of now, 2 Kazakh boxers (Bakhtiyar Artayev, Vassiliy Jirov) have earned Val Barker Trophy, making Kazakhstan second from the top falling only 3 medals behind from USA.
- Equestrian sports are also popular in Kazakhstan. Since 1993 Equestrian Federation of the Republic of Kazakhstan has been organizing National and International events in Show Jumping, Dressage, Eventing and Endurance.[citation needed]
- Bandy - The national team is among the best and has twice won the bronze medal at the Bandy World Championships. During the Soviet time, Dynamo Alma-Ata won the national championships in 1977 and 1990.
[edit] Culture
Riders in traditional dress demonstrate Kazakhstan's
equestrian culture by playing a
kissing game,
Kyz kuu ("Chase the Girl"), one of a number of traditional games played on horseback.
[47] Before the Russian colonization, the Kazakhs had a highly developed culture based on their nomadic pastoral economy. Although Islam was introduced to most of the Kazakhs in the fifteenth century, the religion was not fully assimilated until much later. As a result, it coexisted with earlier elements of
Tengriism.
Traditional Kazakh belief held that separate spirits inhabited and animated the earth, sky, water and fire, as well as domestic animals. To this day, particularly honored guests in rural settings are treated to a feast of freshly killed lamb. Such guests are sometimes asked to bless the lamb and to ask its spirit for permission to partake of its flesh. Besides lamb, many other traditional foods retain symbolic value in Kazakh culture.
In the national cuisine, livestock meat can be cooked in a variety of ways and is usually served with a wide assortment of traditional bread products. Refreshments often include black tea and traditional milk-derived drinks such as
ayran, shubat and
kymyz. A traditional Kazakh dinner involves a multitude of appetisers on the table, followed by a soup and one or two main courses such as
pilaf and
beshbarmak. They also drink their national beverage, which consists of fermented mare's milk.
Because livestock was central to the Kazakhs' traditional lifestyle, most of their nomadic practices and customs relate in some way to livestock. Kazakhs have historically been very passionate about horse-riding. Traditional curses and blessings invoked disease or fecundity among animals, and good manners required that a person ask first about the health of a man's livestock when greeting him and only afterward inquire about the human aspects of his life. Even today, many Kazakhs express interest in equestrianism and horse-racing.
Kazakhstan is home to a large number of prominent contributors to literature, science and philosophy:
Abay Qunanbayuli,
Al-Farabi,
Mukhtar Auezov,
Gabit Musirepov,
Kanysh Satpayev,
Mukhtar Shakhanov,
Saken Seyfullin,
Jambyl Jabayev, among many others.
Kazakhstan has developed itself as a formidable sports-force on the world arena in the following fields: boxing, chess, kickboxing, skiing, gymnastics, water-polo, cycling, martial arts, heavy-athletics, horse-riding, tri-athlon, track-hurdles, sambo, greco-roman wrestling and billiards. The following are all well-known Kazakhstani athletes and world-championship medalists:
Bekzat Sattarkhanov,
Vassiliy Jirov,
Alexander Vinokourov,
Bulat Jumadilov,
Mukhtarkhan Dildabekov,
Olga Shishigina,
Andrey Kashechkin,
Aliya Yussupova,
Dmitriy Karpov,
Darmen Sadvakasov,
Yeldos Ikhsangaliyev,
Aidar Kabimollayev,
Yermakhan Ibraimov,
Vladimir Smirnov, among others.
Kazakhstan features a lively music culture, evident in massive popularity of
SuperStar KZ, a local offspring of Simon Fuller's
Pop Idol. Almaty is considered to be the musical capital of the Central Asia, recently enjoying concerts by well-known artists such as
Deep Purple,
Tokio Hotel,
Atomic Kitten,
Dima Bilan,
Loon,
Craig David,
The Black Eyed Peas,
Eros Ramazzotti,
José Carreras,
Ace of Base, among others.
During the recent years, Kazakhstan has experienced somewhat of a revival of the Kazakh language,
[48] which is returning into mainstream usage both in media, law and business, as well as the general society. This is widely approved by Kazakh people and the international organizations as a way of preserving the national identity and culture
[citation needed], but has in some cases caused anxiety among Russian-Kazakhstanis, Russia-sponsored special-interest groups in Kazakhstan and some high-ranking politicians in Russia
[citation needed].
The Parliament is considering the introduction of Latin-based
Kazakh alphabet to replace Cyrillic-based. The reasons that are popularly cited are cultural considerations
[citation needed] and the Turkic nature of the Kazakh language. Turkic languages such as Turkish and Uzbek use the Latin alphabet. However, the imposition of the Latin alphabet in Kazakhstan would involve massive costs of transcription and replacement of the vast Kazakh literature.
[edit] Public holidays
| Date | English name | Local name | Notes |
|---|
| January 1 | New Year's Day | Жаңа жыл / Новый Год | |
| January 7 | Eastern Orthodox Christmas | Рождество Христово | from 2007 official holiday |
| Last day of Hajj | Qurban Ayt* | Құрбан айт |
| March 8 | International Women's Day | Халықаралық әйелдер күні / Международный женский день | |
| March 22 | Nauryz Meyramy | Наурыз мейрамы | Traditionally a springtime holiday marking the beginning of a new year, sometimes as late as April 21. |
| May 1 | Kazakhstan People's Unity Day | Қазақстан халқының бірлігі мерекесі / Праздник единства народа Казахстана | |
| May 9 | Great Patriotic War Against Fascism Victory Day | Жеңіс күні / День Победы | A holiday in the former Soviet Union carried over to present-day Kazakhstan and other former republics (Except Baltic Countries). |
| July 6 | Capital City Day | Астана күні / День столицы | Birthday of the First President |
| August 30 | Constitution Day | Қазақстан Республикасының Конституциясы күні / День Конституции Республики Казахстан | |
| December 16 | Independence Day | Тәуелсіздік күні / День независимости | |
* Eid al-Adha, the Islamic Feast of the Sacrifice.
— "The Lord whose nature is unspeakable love." That this characteristic of God mentioned by Nârada is manifest and admitted on all hands is the firm conviction of my life. The aggregate of many individuals is called Samashti (the whole), and each individual is called Vyashti (a part). You and I — each is Vyashti, society is Samashti. You, I, an animal, a bird, a worm, an insect, a tree, a creeper, the earth, a planet, a star — each is Vyashti, while this universe is Samashti, which is called Virât, Hiranyagarbha, or Ishvara in Vedânta, and Brahmâ, Vishnu, Devi, etc., in the Purânas. Whether or not Vyashti has individual freedom, and if it has, what should be its measure, whether or not Vyashti should completely sacrifice its own will, its own happiness for Samashti — are the perennial problems before every society. Society everywhere is busy finding the solution of these problems. These, like big waves, are agitating modern Western society. The doctrine which demands the sacrifice of individual freedom to social supremacy is called socialism, while that which advocates the cause of the individual is called individualism. 
