VZCZCXRO9323
PP RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHPW RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHTA #1279/01 1990157
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 170157Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY ASTANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2755
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE 0562
RUCNCLS/SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASTANA 001279 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV SOCI PREL ECON KZ
 
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN - ASTANA CELEBRATES 10TH ANNIVERSARY IN GRAND 
STYLE 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (SBU) Astana celebrated its 10th anniversary as Kazakhstan's 
capital on July 6.  The jubilee consisted of a week of events, 
ranging from monument dedications and gala concerts to an official 
anniversary ceremony attended by nine foreign heads of state, 
including Russian President Medvedev.  The government appeared to 
spare no expense in preparing Astana for the anniversary -- with 
work continuing around the clock in recent months to pave roads, 
finish off key construction projects, and bedeck the city with 
festive billboards and placards.  In his speech at the official 
ceremony, President Nazarbayev justified his decision to move the 
capital to Astana as in Kazakhstan's "strategic interests."  The 
glitzy city has become a point of genuine pride for a sizeable 
portion of the population.  End Summary. 
 
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GRAND CELEBRATION 
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¶2. (SBU) Astana celebrated its 10th anniversary as Kazakhstan's 
capital in grand style.  Astana's "birthday" is officially July 6 -- 
moved from a date in early June several years ago to improve the 
chances for good weather and to coincide with President Nazarbayev's 
birthday -- but the 10th anniversary events extended a whole week, 
from June 30 through July 7.  (Note: Elsewhere in Kazakhstan the 
celebration actually began earlier, with events scheduled on a 
rolling basis in the country's oblast centers.  End Note.)  The 
beginning of the festivities overlapped with the annual meeting of 
the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, which Astana hosted from June 28 to 
July 3.  Immediately before going out of session for the summer, 
parliament passed legislation making the "Day of the Capital" a 
permanent national holiday -- and thus a day off from work. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The domestic credit crunch resulting from the global 
financial crisis had stalled many of Astana's key construction 
projects since last year.  Beginning in the spring, however, the 
government embarked on a crash effort to complete as many as 
possible for the 10th anniversary.  Remarkable progress was made in 
a short period, though some notable projects did not get finished in 
time -- including a new bridge spanning the city's Ishim River, a 
massive new concert hall (the "Palace of Independence") around the 
corner from the Embassy, and a domed sports stadium.  (Note: The 
official 10th anniversary ceremony with foreign heads of states in 
attendance could thus not be conducted in the concert hall, as 
planned, but rather had to be moved across the street to Astana's 
"Peace and Reconciliation" pyramid.  However, a gala jubilee concert 
was nevertheless staged in the unfinished stadium, amid exposed 
rafters and girders.  End Note.)  In the run up to the celebration, 
the government also repaved Astana's major streets -- many 
simultaneously, causing major traffic snarls for weeks -- and 
repaired sidewalks all over town.  An army of several thousand 
laborers, many seemingly migrants from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, 
was mobilized for the work.  Almost overnight, more than a dozen new 
monuments were erected around the capital, each one a "gift" from 
one of Kazakhstan's oblasts.  The monuments were unveiled and 
dedicated during the 10th anniversary festivities. 
 
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"FROM ASTANA WITH LOVE" 
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¶4. (SBU) The government also designed an attractive "Astana 10" logo 
and branded the celebration with a motto -- "From Astana with Love." 
 Virtually every single billboard in Astana, thousands of lampposts, 
and the corrugated metal walls surrounding hundreds of construction 
sites were festooned with giant placards, banners, and posters 
bearing the logo, motto (in Kazakh, Russian, and English, in 
Nazarbayev's own handwriting), and other graphic designs created for 
the jubilee.   The logo also made its way onto pins, tee shirts, 
baseball caps, and knapsacks -- and was painted on buses all over 
the country.  Astana city authorities set up a trilingual website -- 
www.astana10.com -- to publicize the celebration.  The site includes 
a glitzy ad-agency style webpage entitled "celebration concept," 
which lists such "aims" for the anniversary event as "the 
positioning of the first president of the Republic of Kazakhstan as 
a leader of world-scale" and "confirmation of the correctness of the 
decision to move the capital." 
 
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THIRTY-TWO CRITERIA FOR MOVING THE CAPITAL 
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¶5. (SBU) The key 10th anniversary events took place over the July 
5-6 weekend.  On those days, the streets of Astana's cavernous 
government quarter were full as perhaps never before -- with a 
notably large number of Kazakh speakers, an indication that 
 
ASTANA 00001279  002 OF 003 
 
 
thousands traveled or were bused in to the city from the provinces. 
Nine foreign heads of state -- Russian President Medvedev (making 
his second trip to Astana since taking office), Turkish President 
Gul, Georgia's Saakashvili, Armenia's Sargsyan, Azerbaijan's Aliyev, 
Kyrgyzstan's Bakiyev, Tajikistan's Rakhmon, Turkmenistan's 
Berdymukhamedov, and Jordan's King Abdullah -- attended the official 
10th anniversary ceremony on July 5, a VIP event that included 
several hours of speeches.  In his own address, Nazarbayev justified 
the transfer of the capital to Astana as having been compelled by 
the "strategic interests of the nation."  He claimed that 32 
criteria had been taken into account in selecting the location of 
the new capital, including socio-economic indicators, the 
environment, labor resources, transport infrastructure, and -- oddly 
enough, given the ultimate choice of sub-Siberian Astana -- climate. 
 Describing nine ways in which Astana had fundamentally changed the 
life of the country, Nazarbayev contended that moving the capital 
there had "completed the process the constructing Kazakhstan's new 
statehood," created social mobility, and facilitated the revival of 
a "governing elite."  Astana, he argued, had significantly grown in 
international significance, and was a clear example of innovative 
architecture and of the nation's success. 
 
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"FROM MOSCOW WITH LOVE" 
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¶6. (SBU) On the evening of July 5, Astana hosted a spectacular 
five-hour "From Moscow with Love" concert, a gift from Moscow mayor 
Yuriy Luzhkov, who flew in a number of big-name performers for the 
event, from the aging Latvian pop star Laima Vaikule to the ageless 
Russian crooner Iosif Kobzon.  Dima Bilan, the 2008 Eurovision Song 
Contest winner, was the finale act. Luzhkov himself was invited to 
Astana for the 10th anniversary festivities together with another 
100 or so big city mayors.  A session of the International Forum of 
Capitals and Large Cities was held on the margins of the jubilee. 
 
 
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"ASTANA - MY HEART" 
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¶7. (SBU) On July 6, Nazarbayev participated in the dedication of the 
Kazakh Yeli ("Kazakh nation") monument, a 91-meter tall obelisk 
positioned in front of the Palace of Independence (see para 3 above) 
-- with its height symbolizing 1991, the year Kazakhstan gained its 
statehood.  That evening, Nazarbayev hosted a private dinner for 
senior government officials, other Kazakhstani elites, and foreign 
ambassadors.  Nazarbayev sat at the head table, together with his 
closest political confidants -- including Senate chairman Tokayev, 
Astana mayor Tasmagambetov, Nur Otan Party deputy chairman 
Dzhaksybekov, and Astana Musical Academy rector Ayman 
Mukhahodzhayeva.  Also at the head table were wife Sara and daughter 
Dariga.  In remarks to those present, after describing the 
contributions of the various categories of guests (ministers, 
regional governors, Presidential Administration, intelligentsia and 
the diplomatic corps) Nazarbayev praised his wife in glowing terms 
-- an unexpected gesture given that she had appeared to be sidelined 
in recent years.  Ukrainian pop star Sofia Rotary performed at the 
dinner and enticed Nazarbayev onto the dance floor. 
 
¶8. (SBU) After the dinner, Nazarbayev attended a gala VIP show, 
"Astana - My Heart," staged in an amphitheater in front of Astana's 
"White House" and broadcast live on national television.  This show 
was dominated by Kazakh folk and pop performers, though Sofia Rotary 
proved to be the crowd pleaser and American star Whitney Houston 
sang several numbers as the closing act -- which was following by a 
thundering fireworks display. 
 
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VICTORY ON THE GOLF COURSE 
-------------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) The Astana jubilee would not have been complete without 
sports activities.  An enthusiastic tennis fan, Nazarbayev, 
accompanied by Cypriot tennis star Marcos Baghdatis, opened up a 
modern new Astana tennis center, where international tournaments 
will be played.  Nazarbayev also played in a golf tournament at 
Astana's sole golf club (riding around the course in a miniaturized 
Cadillac Escalade golf-cart).  Other tournament participants 
included senior government officials, business leaders, and 
representatives of the diplomatic community.  Players were paired up 
into two-man teams.  One Embassy Astana staffer -- a former golf pro 
-- was paired with Minister of Industry and Trade Vladimir Shkolnik. 
 Though no scores were released, he and Shkolnik were declared to 
have come in second place.  The crowd applauded wildly when 
Nazarbayev and his partner were announced to be the winners. 
 
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COMMENT 
 
ASTANA 00001279  003 OF 003 
 
 
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¶10. (SBU) Love it or hate it, Astana has made great strides in just 
a few short years.  Its rapid transformation from sleepy, remote, 
provincial city to gleaming national capital is the most remarkable 
development in the country's post-independence period, topping even 
the discovery and exploitation of Kazakhstan's vast Caspian crude 
reserves.  Though many Kazakhstanis -- notably the Almaty elite -- 
still deeply resent the transfer of the capital and the money spent 
moving it ($7 billion thus far, according to Nazarbayev himself), 
Astana is a point of pride for millions of the country's citizens. 
It may very well prove to be President Nazarbayev's most lasting 
legacy -- a futuristic steel, concrete, and glass "monument" that 
endures and perhaps even thrives well beyond the date when 
Kazakhstan's hydrocarbon resources are fully exhausted.  End 
Comment. 
 
Pictures of the event can be found on the Embassy's site at 
 
http://kazakhstan.usembassy.gov/news07062008. html 
 
ORDWAY