Accessibility links

Breaking News

Schoolmate Chronicles Kazakh President's Childhood


"Ushqonyr - My Golden Cradle" recounts Nazarbaev's childhood
"Ushqonyr - My Golden Cradle" recounts Nazarbaev's childhood
ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- A new book about the childhood of Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev has been launched in Almaty, with the author saying his subject can be a model for today's children to follow, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.

"Ushqonyr - My Golden Cradle," is written by Saduaqas Yesimbai, who grew up next door to Nazarbaev's family and attended the same class in the village of Ushqonyr in Almaty Oblast's Shamolghan district.

Yesimbai told journalists that it is time to introduce in secondary schools the study of "Nursultanology," meaning the qualities that enabled Nazarbaev to transcend his humble background and become a world statesman.

Yesimbai, the president of Qurdastar (Contemporaries) Foundation that funded the book's publication, said it is published in three languages -- Kazakh, Russian, and English -- and is the first about Nazarbaev's childhood.

Qurdastar's vice president, Daurenbek Nusupaliev, said at the October 19 book launch that the initiative for the book came from the presidential Nur-Otan party.

Although Yesimbai and Nusupaliev claim the new book is the first about Nazarbaev's childhood, a book on the same subject by Shaken Kumisbaiuly was published in Almaty several years ago.

A movie about Nazarbaev's early years called "The Sky of My Childhood" is currently being shot in Nazarbaev's native village.
XS
SM
MD
LG