Nursultan Nazarbayev

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Nursultan Nazarbayev Нұрсұлтан Назарбаев
1st President of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Incumbent
Assumed office  1991
Succeeded by	Incumbent
Born	July 6, 1940 Chemolgan, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union, present-day Kazakhstan
Political party	Nur-Otan
Spouse	Sara Alpysovna

Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev (Kazakh: Нұрсұлтан Әбішұлы Назарбаев [Nûrsûltan Äbîshûlâ Nazarbayev]; Russian: Нурсултан Абишевич Назарбаев) (born 6 July 1940 in Chemolgan, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union) has served as the President of Kazakhstan since the Fall of the Soviet Union and the nation's independence in 1991. He served as the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR from 1984 to 1989, serving under Dinmukhamed Kunayev, the First Secretary of the Kazakh Communist Party. He served as First Secretary of the Kazakh Communist Party from 1989 to 1991. In 1984 Nazarbayev became the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, working under Dinmukhamed Kunayev, the First Secretary of the Kazakh Communist Party.^[1]

He has long professed to be an atheist, but has tried to highlight his "Muslim heritage" since the late 1990s while trying to combat Islamic terrorism in Kazakhstan.^[2]

Contents 1 Rise to power 2 Presidency 3 Personal wealth 4 Family 5 Criticism of Iran 6 2007 presidential address 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Rise to power

Main article: Zheltoqsan

Nazarbayev criticized Askar Kunayev, head of the Academy of Sciences, at the sixteenth session of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan in January 1986 for not reforming his department. Dinmukhamed Kunayev, Nazarbayev's boss and Askar's brother, felt deeply angered and betrayed. Kunayev went to Moscow and demanded Nazarbayev's dismissal while Nazarbayev's supporters campaigned for Kunayev's dismissal and Nazarbayev's promotion. Mikhail Gorbachev ignored them both, firing Kunayev but replacing him with Gennady Kolbin, an ethnic Russian, triggering three days of riots known as the Zheltoqsan. Nazarbayev replaced Kolbin, who despite his office and had little authority in Kazakhstan, in September 1989.^[1]

[edit] Presidency

Nazarbayev won the 1991 presidential election on 1 December, winning 95% of the vote in an election in which no other candidate ran against him.^[3] Nazarbayev renamed the State Defense Committee's to the Ministry of Defense and appointed Sagadat Nurmagambetov Defense Minister on 7 May 1992. The Supreme Council, under the leadership of Speaker Serikbolsyn Abdilin, began debating over a draft constitution in June 1992. The constitution created a strong executive branch with limited checks on executive power. Opposition political parties Azat, Zheltoqsan, and the Republican Party, held demonstrations in Almaty from 10 June-17 calling for the formation of a coalition government and the resignation of the government of Prime Minister Sergey Tereshchenko and the Supreme Council. Kazakh security personnel forcibly put down the protest on 18 June. The Parliament of Kazakhstan, comprised of Communist Party legislators who had yet to stand in an election since the country gained its independence, adopted the constitution on 28 January 1993.^[4]

An April 1995 referendum extended his term until 2000. He was re-elected in January 1999 and again in December 2005. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe criticized the last presidential election as falling short of international democratic standards.^{[citation needed]}

Nazarbayev appointed Altynbek Sarsenbayev, who at the time served as the Minister of Culture, Information, and Concord, the Secretary of the Kazakh Security Council, replacing Marat Tazhin, on 4 May 2001. Tazhin became the Chairman of the National Security Council, replacing Alnur Musayev. Musayev became the head of the Guards' Service of the President.^[5]

His government's policies are considered moderate and maintain a balance between the United States and Russia. Notwithstanding Kazakhstan's membership in the Organization of the Islamic Conference, under Nazarbayev the country has had good relations with Israel. Diplomatic relations were established in 1992 and President Nazarbayev paid official visits to Israel in 1995 and 2000.[1][2][3] Bilateral trade between the two countries amounted to $724 million in 2005.[4] He initiated the move of the administration from Almaty to Astana.

[edit] Personal wealth

Transparency International ranked Kazakhstan 124th in its list of countries by corruption in 2004 with a score of 2.2 (on a scale of 0-10 with 0 indicating a "highly corrupt" state).[5]. Nazarbayev himself has been called one of "ultimate oligarchs" of the post-Soviet central Asia states.^[6] He is believed to have transferred at least $1 billion worth of oil revenues to his private bank accounts in other countries and his family controls many other key enterprises in Kazakhstan.^[6] He is also said to have benefitted financially from his "special relations" with Kazakh-Israeli billionaire Alexander Mashkevich, who, as of 2004, was believed to control as much as one-fourth of Kazakhstan's economy.^[7][8][9]

[edit] Family

He is married to Sara Alpysovna Nazarbayeva, with whom he has had three daughters; Dariga, Dinara and Aliya. Dariga is married to Rakhat Aliyev, son of a former minister of healthcare, who served as the First Deputy Foreign Minister. Dinara is married to Timur Kulibayev, son of a former Minister of Construction, who serves as the First Deputy Chairman of the national holding company Samruk which manages several state-owned companies and, formerly, as the first Vice President of the state-owned petroleum company KazMunaiGas. Aliya is a prominent businesswoman. She was married to Aidar Akayev, the son of former Kyrgyz President, Askar Akaev, whom she divorced.

On 4 December 2005 new Presidential elections were held and President Nazarbayev won by an overwhelming majority of 91.15% (from a total of 6,871,571 eligible participating voters) as reported by the Central Electoral Commission of Kazakhstan, an estimation criticized by the OSCE and other election watchdog organizations. Nazarbayev was sworn in for another seven-year term on 11 January 2006.

[edit] Criticism of Iran

In a speech given on 15 December 2006 marking the 15th anniversary of Kazakhstan's independence Nazarbayev criticized actions taken by the Iranian government, saying Iran had become a center of growing insecurity in Asia by engaging in international terrorism, fundamentalism, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, illegal immigration, and weapons and drug trafficking. The Kazakh Foreign Ministry released a statement on 19 December, saying his remarks were not "what he really meant," and his comments were "mistakes."^[10]

[edit] 2007 presidential address

Nazarbayev delivered his annual presidential address on 28 February 2007. He advocated membership in the World Trade Organization, the establishment of a Eurasian Customs Union, and discussed cooperation with foreign states in the "fight against terrorism and fight against epidemics and environmental disasters."^[11]

[edit] See also

• Government of Kazakhstan
• Politics of Kazakhstan
• Kazakhgate
• List of national leaders
• Friedhelm Eronat
• Galymzhan Zhakiyanov
• Mukhtar Ablyazov
• Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan
• Zharmakhan Tuyakbay
• For a Just Kazakhstan
• Zamanbek Nurkadylov
• Altynbek Sarsenbayev

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official webpage
• Pro-Nazarbayev video
• Kazakh President demands firing of telecom chief
• Brief introduction to relations between China and Kazakhstan
• Kazakhstan, Armenia sign agreements to develop relations
• Kazakhstan has no need for West's advice - Nazarbayev
• Kazakhstan to export 6-7 mln tonnes of grains of this year harvest
• Pro-Nazarbayev party merges with President's power base
• Kazakhstan: New political party borrows from Western right
• Kazakhstan to be top oil producer by 2011: Nazarbayev
• Kazakh blogger found guilty
• Kazakhstan and the Nazarbayev Kleptocracy - Islamic Human Rights Commission

Preceded by Position created

President of Kazakhstan 1991–-

Succeeded by Incumbent

Current members of the Cabinet of President Nursultan Nazarbayev
Abdykarimov • D. Akhmetov • S. Akhmetov • Baliyeva • Dernovoi • Dosmukhanbetov • Dzhaksybekov • Iskakov • Izmukhambetov • Karagusova • Korzhova • Masimov • Mukhamedzhanov • Musin • Shabdarbayev • Tazhin • Tusupbekov • Yertysbayev • Yesimov • Zhumabekov

Leaders of Kazakhstan
Kazakh SSR, First Secretaries: Levon Mirzoyan • Nikolay Skvortsov • Zhumabay Shayakhmetov • Panteleimon Ponomarenko • Leonid Brezhnev • Ivan Yakovlev • Nikolay Belyayev • Dinmukhamed Konayev • Ismail Yusupov • Dinmukhamed Konayev • Gennady Kolbin • Nursultan Nazarbayev Kazakhstan, President: Nursultan Nazarbayev

Prime Ministers of Kazakhstan

Kazakh ASSR: Uraz Isayev Kazakh SSR: Uraz Isayev • Ibragim Tazhiyev • Nurtas Undasynov • Elubai Taibekov • Dinmukhamed Konayev • Zhumabek Tashenev • Salken Daulenov • Masymkhan Beysembayev • Dinmukhamed Konayev • Masymkhan Beysembayev • Bayken Ashimov • Nursultan Nazarbayev • Uzakbay Karamanov Kazakhstan: Sergey Tereshchenko • Akezhan Kazhegeldin • Nurlan Balgimbayev • Kassym-Jomart Tokayev • Imangali Tasmagambetov • Daniyal Akhmetov • Karim Masimov