Kazakhstan

The areas that make up modern-day Kazakhstan have been populated since the early Stone Age and have seen a variety of migrating peoples, nomadic tribes and different statehoods throughout history. Today, the Republic of Kazakhstan is the largest country in Central Asia and home to about 20 million people and more than 120 different ethnic groups. The titular population – the Kazakhs – make up around 71% of the population, with the second largest ethnic group being Russians (around 15%). Kazakhstan is a bilingual state with Kazakh – a Turkic language – being the state language, while Russian holds status as an official language. Major religions are Sunni Islam (around 70%) and orthodox Christianity (around 15%). The Kazakh people’s first statehood can be traced back to 1465 with the establishment of the first Kazakh Khanate. The Kazakh Khanate flourished during the next two centuries before gradually growing weaker and decaying. The areas where conquered by the Russian Empire in the late 1800s. In 1920 Kazakhstan became part of the Russian Soviet Republic and in 1936 the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic was established. Kazakhstan declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Developments since independence

When Kazakhstan declared independence on December 16, 1991, the young country inherited a fragile state with weak institutions, widespread corruption, a communist economy, and a heavy reliance upon the now-collapsed Soviet Union.

In the first years of independence authorities concentrated efforts on consolidating the nation and building the state. As part of its nation-building efforts, Kazakhstan offered economic incentives to Kazakhs immigration from abroad – it is estimated that around one million Kazakhs immigrated to Kazakhstan from countries such as China, Mongolia, Russia and other neighboring countries during the 1990s. As a result, the titular population of Kazakhstan, formerly a minority, quickly came to make up around two thirds of the citizenry, which would also lay the foundation for the prevalence of the Kazakh language.

Kazakhstan’s first president was Nursultan Nazarbayev, who had led Kazakhstan in his prior role as Secretary General of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan before the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the 1990s, Nazarbayev implemented several measures to cement his own hold on power – he installed a super-presidential system with a weak legislative branch, granting excessive powers and privileges to himself. By the middle of the decade, an authoritarian system had been established in which basic human rights had few protections, power was concentrated in the hands of the president and the state persecuted political opponents.

By the turn of the millennium, Kazakhstan saw its economic boom, and established itself as a middle-income country, mainly due to export of oil and gas, in addition to minerals and grain. However, most of Kazakhstan’s 20 million people still benefit only modestly from the country’s economic adventure, and the poverty rate remains high ( at around 15%).

In 2019, at 78 years’ of age, president Nazarbayev stepped down from the presidency. He was succeeded by Qazzym-Jomart Toqayev – a former prime minister, high-level diplomat and successful career politician. During the first years of his presidency, Toqayev announced widespread political reforms, liberalization and the listening state – now the government would listen to and consider the views and perspectives of the population, while critics objected that little genuine change took place inside Kazakhstan.

January 2022 events

In early January 2022, western Kazakhstan saw large demonstrations protesting an announced fuel-price hike. The demonstrations spread quickly across the country and soon spiraled out of control. Around January 4-5 chaos ensued in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city and cultural capital, as the peaceful protests were hijacked by violent elements. Rioters occupied government buildings and/or set them ablaze, while looting, rioting and violence ravaged the city. On January 5, president Toqayev declared martial law in Almaty and deployed armed forces to dispel the unrest. On the next day, a contingent from the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) arrived in Kazakhstan.

When order was finally restored a couple days later, hundreds had been killed by the security forces. Torture was widespread of those who were detained under and after the bloody days. While the events shook and traumatized the young nation, authorities have yet to allow an independent investigation into the events.

Since the January events, Toqayev has continued his reform agenda including by reintroducing the Constitutional Court, strengthening the legislative branch, easing party registration procedures and introducing one-term presidential limits. However, authorities still repress the peaceful political opposition and continue exerting tight control over civil society and the media landscape. When Kazakhstan held parliamentary elections in 2023, no genuine opposition candidates won seats, and the OSCE/ODIHR stated that “significant prodecural irregularities were observed and important safeguards were often disregarded during counting and tabulation, undermining the transparency of the process. Later in 2023, authorities in Kazakhstan introduced the so-called “foreign funding register”, echoing Russian “foreign agent” legislation.

NHC and Kazakhstan

The NHC has been involved in supporting human rights and democratic principles in Kazakstan since the opening of our first Central Asia Representative Office in the region in 2006. Since 2010 our Representative Office is located in Almaty, Kazakhstan from where we work with partners across Kazakhstan. Through our programs we have trained human rights defenders, journalists and activists and supported and incubated numerous emerging civil-society initiatives. Through our work in Kazakhstan we document human rights violations, promote equal rights and women’s rights, protect fundamental freedoms such as media freedom, freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly. We and our partners monitor elections, provide legal aid and other types of assistance to victims of abuse, monitor court proceedings and advocate for the freedom of political prisoners.

Timeline

• 1465: The first Kazakh Khanate is established
• 1600s: The Kazakh people divide into three Zhuzes (hordes), the Elder, Middle and Lesser Zhuzes
• 1730: Russians gains control over the Lesser Zhuz after Khan Abdul Khayr seeks alliance with the Russian Empire
• 1798: The Russian Empire conquers the Middle Zhuz
• 1820: The Russian Empire conquers the Elder Zhuz
• 1836-1858: A period of Kazakh rebellion and uprising against the Russian Empire
• Late 1800s: All area of modern-day Kazakhstan is conquered by the Russian Empire
• 1917: Kazakh activists form the Alash Orda, the national-independence movement and party, and unrecognized Kazakh proto-state. The party is banned by the Soviets in 1920.
• 1919: The first Kazakh famine occurs during the Russian Civil War
• 1920: Kazakhstan becomes part of the Russian Socialist Soviet Republic
• 1929-1934: Asharshylyk, the great Kazakh famine
• 1936: The Kazakh Socialist Soviet Republic is established
• 1940s: Stalin forcibly deports ethnic Koreans, Crimean Tartars, Germans and other ethnic groups to Kazakhstan in hundreds of thousands
• 1949: First nuclear test explosion take place in Semipalatinsk (now Semey) in Kazakhstan
• 1961: Jury Gagarin is launched into orbit around earth from Baikonur in Kazakhstan
• 1986: Central Soviet authorites replace popular Kazakh leader Dinmukhammed Konayev, with Gennady Kolbin, an ethnic Russian who had never lived in Kazkahstan, as head of the Kazakh SSR. Thousands protest in Kazakhstan, Soviet authorities crack down brutally. While Soviet authorities obscured the death toll, the United States Library Congress cites over 200 dead, possibly over 1000. The events came to be known as Jeltoqsan (December).
• 1991: Kazakhstan declares independence from the Soviet Union
• 1991: Nursultan Nazarbayev, wins presidential elections
• 1993: A new Constitution is adopted, giving the president increased powers
• 1995: President Nazarbayev abolishes the Constitutional Court
• 1997: The capital is moved from Almaty to Akmola (formerly Tselinograd) in the North
• 1998: The capital is renamed to Astana
• 1998: The Constitution is amended, extending presidential terms from five to seven years
• 1999: Nursultan Nazarbayev is reelected
• 2005: Nursultan Nazarbayev is reelected
• 2007: Parliament votes to allow President Nazarbayev to stay in office for an indefinite number of presidential terms
• 2010: Parliament gives increased powers to president Nazarbayev, grants him official titles of “Leader of the Nation”
• 2011: President Nazabayev is reelected in snap presidential elections
• 2011: Security forces open fire on striking oil workers in Zhanaozen in western Kazakhstan, at least 16 are killed.
• 2015: President Nazarbayev is reelected in another snap election
• 2019: President Nazarbayev resigns
• 2019: Qassim-Jomart Toqayev wins presidential election
• 2019: Capital is renamed Nur-Sultan
• 2022: January Events. Chaos erupts in Kazakhstan as violent elements hijack demonstrations against fuel-price hikes. More than 240 are killed as security forces open fire on protesters.
• 2022: Constitution is amended, amendments include one-term presidential limit, extension of presidential period from five to seven years. Authorities also easy party-registration procedures and reintroduces the Constitutional Court.
• 2022: Capital is again named Astana
• 2022: President Toqayev is reelected.