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RUEHAST/USOFFICE ALMATY 0673

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 001527 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: ALMATY NOTES, AUGUST 4 - AUGUST 15, 2008 
 
¶1. The "Almaty Notes" series is intended to maintain focus on 
developments in civil society, the media, and the opposition in 
Kazakhstan's "southern capital" following the move of the Embassy to 
Astana. 
 
Protest at Nur Otan Office 
-------------------------- 
 
¶2. On August 1, approximately 100 Almaty residents picketed the 
Almaty office of the ruling Nur Otan party. Participants in the 
demonstration included "dolshiki" (i.e., individuals who lost money 
they gave to construction companies to build homes for them) and 
those whose residences have been demolished to make way for new 
construction projects.  The rationale behind the protest were the 
broken promises made by the Nur Otan leadership a year ago, said 
Aynur Kurmanov, head of a new public organization called Taymas 
(Tireless).  (Note: Activist Kurmanov is also head of the Socialist 
Resistance Movement.  End Note.)   According to Kurmanov, during the 
2007 parliamentary elections, Nur Otan promised to help Almaty 
residents, particularly those from the outskirts of the city, 
resolve property-related problems.  "Today we want to know what the 
party has done and what it plans to do to resolve social conflicts," 
Kurmanov said. 
 
¶3. The head of Nur Otan's Almaty branch, Tokmukhamed Sadykov, 
invited the participants into his office, but was not able to answer 
their questions to their satisfaction.  Sadykov referred the 
protestors to a new public council set up to review property and 
other disputes.  The council includes representatives from the 
government, Nur Otan, opposition parties, and NGOs. 
 
Masimov Meets With Dolshiki 
--------------------------- 
 
¶4.  On August 2, Prime Minister Masimov met in Almaty with 
representatives of construction companies as well as with "dolshiki" 
-- including some of the participants in the August 1 demonstration 
at Nur Otan's office (see paras 2-3 above).  Masimov said he would 
issue an order for $10 billion tenge (approximately $83 million) to 
be transferred from the state budget directly to construction 
companies, rather than through the Kazyna Sustainable Development 
Fund as intermediary, in order to assist the companies in completing 
unfinished projects.  Masimov said that these funds would resolve 
the housing problems of 2500 dolshiki.  He also promised that the 
government would help dolshiki who were defrauded by construction 
companies, adding that criminal cases would be opened and that 
guilty parties would go to prison. Masimov explained that the 
government had introduced into parliament new legislation on 
"shared-based" construction, which would stiffen conditions so that 
in the future, construction companies would not find themselves in 
the same situation they are in today. 
 
Nazarbayev Visits Wholesale Market 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶5. President Nazarbayev visited Almaty on August 11, following his 
trip to Beijing for the Olympics.  Among other things, Nazarbayev 
walked through the Arzan wholesale market, which reportedly has 
lower prices on food and other goods than other Almaty markets. 
Nazarbayev gave an order to Almaty mayor Akhmetzhan Yesimov to 
assist the owners of Arzan in opening up similar stores in other 
parts of the city.  "It would be great if such wholesale markets 
appeared in all Kazakhstani cities," Nazarbayev remarked. 
 
Kazakh-Uighur Friction in Village 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶6. Opposition newspaper Svoboda Slova reported that on August 3, 
activists from Kazakh nationalist organizations traveled to the 
village of Malybay in Almaty oblast to participate in a memorial 
ceremony for a village resident, Aydyn Khalykov, who had been killed 
in an alleged interethnic incident on June 27.  Police cordoned off 
the village while the ceremony was going on.  Two suspects have been 
detained in conjunction with Khalykov's murder, but his relatives 
maintain that at least five people were involved.  Approximately 10 
per cent of the residents of Malybay are ethnic Kazakhs and the rest 
are Uighurs.  Khalykov had spoken out on more than one occasion 
against public signage in the Uighur language -- and reportedly once 
pulled down a Uighur-language sign.  His relatives believe that this 
may have been the trigger for his murder. 
 
¶7. Following the memorial ceremony, Kazazh nationalist activists 
demanded that national-level law enforcement authorities launch an 
investigation into the murder.  They also demanded that the 
village's Uighur-language signage be replaced.  Dos Kushim, leader 
of the Ult Tagdyry (Nation's Destiny) Kazakh nationalist 
 
ASTANA 00001527  002 OF 002 
 
 
organization suggested that oralman (i.e., ethnic Kazakh immigrants 
from other countries) be resettled to the village to counter-balance 
the Uighur population. 
 
ORDWAY