Sergei VOLKOV
On photo: A.Kazhegeldin and Zh. Tuyakbai, Paris, 15th March 2006
A while ago they stick together, they were together engaged in politics and law making.
Today Zharmakhan Tuyakbai, Akezhan Kazhegeldin and the Kazakh authorities are in different
camps.
Tuyakbai, formerly a speaker of the Kazakh parliament, is now a leader of the opposition
block “For a Just Kazakhstan”; he was the strongest opponent of Nursultan Nazarbayev
in the recent presidential election in Kazakhstan.
Former Kazakh prime minister Kazhegeldin was forced to flee Kazakhstan after the Kazakh
authorities fabricated a criminal case against him.
And still the current Kazakh authorities and opposition leaders found themselves at the
negotiation table, though not in Kazakhstan. They all met at a hearing of the political
affairs committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe held last week in
Paris.
The idea to invite Kazakh partners to the French capital belongs to Michael Laubsñh, one
of the most renowned European experts on Central Asia from Germany:
Unfortunately, the official Astana is reluctant to start a normal full-fledged dialog
with opposition. On top of that, Mr. Kazhegeldin is still unable to return to Kazakhstan,
where he will be jailed. For these reasons, we turned to the Council of Europe with a
request to arrange the exchange of opinions between the authorities and opposition with
participation of international intermediaries, said the German political scientist.
Head of the PACE political affairs committee, former foreign minister of Romania Adrian
Severin and deputy of Polish Sejm Tadeusz Iwinski welcomed the idea.
Except the two “giants” - Mr. Kazhegeldin and Mr. Tuyakbai - the hearing in Paris was
attended by leader of the Foreign Bureau of the Kazakh opposition Serik Medetbekov, and
two members of the youth movement “Kahar”, Ms. Balgabayeva and Mr. Netalin. Deputies
of the Kazakh Majilis (lower chamber of Kazakh parliament) and Senate led by Mukhambet
Kopeyev were their opponents.
In the course of the hearings the impression was created that the positions of the Kazakh
authorities and of the opposition didn't come any closer. When entering the room before
the hearing started, the Kazakh MPs hardly nodded the representatives of Kazakh
opposition, which in our opinion speaks volumes. After the hearing was over, they vanished
before one could say Jack Robinson: senators and deputies from Kazakhstan refused flatly
to comment the results of the meeting.
During the discussion, the sides apparently failed to hear each other. When Mr.
Kazhegeldin and Mr. Tyakbai openly said that the recent killings of two prominent
opposition figures in Kazakhstan were “politically motivated”, Mr. Kopeyev suggested
that they all wait until the official investigation was over. Questions about any
possibility for the Kazakh press to be independent when the President's family members own
almost 80 percent of the Kazakh media were not answered.
Members of the PACE political affairs committee were not given any reasonable explanations
as to why many opposition politicians were jailed in Kazakhstan, as well as why many
political parties that support the movement “For a Just Kazakhstan” were denied
registration.
Akezhan Kazhegeldin, normally very calm and even-minded, resented when listening to Mr.
Kopeyev:
They just failed to read the OSCE final report that said that the presidential election
in Kazakhstan was undemocratic and didn't meet the standards of that renowned
organization.
In the opinion of many experts, Kazakhstan is far from being in a position to chair the
OSCE in 2009. The official decision regarding this is expected to be taken late this year.
Michael Laubsh believes that the decision is likely to suggest that the official Astana
put off the idea until 2012.
The Kazakh authorities should use this period to bring their policy at home in line
with the democratic norms, the political scientist stressed.
However, the main PACE speaker on Kazakhstan Tadeusz Iwinski views this issue “with
modest optimism”:
We should conduct a dialog with Kazakhstan instead of cornering it. Especially as we
lack other candidates to chair OSCE in 2009, the Polish deputy said.
Very much in the relations of the PACE with the official Astana will depend on Mr.
Iwinski's position. This politician is expected to head a visit of a group of deputies
from the Council of Europe to Kazakhstan in early summer to prepare a special report on
the development of democratic processes in this Central Asian state. Basing on this
report, the PACE as well as the OSCE will plan much of their contacts with Kazakhstan.
Currently members of the PACE's political affairs committee intend to assist the dialog
between the Kazakh government and opposition. PACE is quite capable to facilitate the
nation-wide dialog between the authorities and opposition, Adrian Severin said.
We are not going to be judges, we would like to become intermediaries, the politician
said. Europe and Kazakhstan have the historically determined border, which we must take
into account. We should pursue a convergent policy regarding Kazakhstan.
The concrete forms of proposed assistance include, for instance, the participation of
PACE's Venice commission experts in the analysis and drafting of the Kazakh constitution,
support of the Kazakh authorities efforts to solve the migration problem. PACE experts
could also participate in the creation of the truly independent judiciary in Kazakhstan.
The meeting of opposition members with representatives of the Kazakh authorities under the
aegis of PACE undoubtedly speaks volumes. Though sometimes the interlocutors failed to
hear or didn't want to hear each other, the impetus to start negotiations has been given.
As Turkish deputy Abdulkadir Ates stressed, “the opposing political forces sitting at
one table is a good sign for the development of a dialog.”
The final PACE resolution points out that Kazakhstan is not a poor country, that the
republic is rich in natural resources that ought to become a capital for the democratic
future of Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan needs freedom, stressed Adrian Severin at the end of the hearing. Only
then prosperity will come to this country.
Radio RBB, Berlin
24 Mar 2006 |
