22 October 1999
KAZAKHSTANI OPPOSITION ON PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS.
Correspondents of RFE/RL report from Almaty that the leader of the Azamat party, Piyotr Svoik held press conference in the former Kazakh capital on October 22. He harshly criticized the Kazakh Central Election Commission, saying that the first stage of the Parliamentary elections had been held October 10 with numerous falsifications and breaking of the law. Another candidate to Kazakh Parliament, Serik Abdrakhmanov met with journalists in his own apartment on October 21, where he said that he had been monitored by unknown persons the whole time. According to Serik Abdrakhamov, one of his colleagues had been beaten by unknown people this week. He also told journalists that Almaty Oblast's governor Zamanbek Nurkadilov had instructed local officials to make every effort to bar Serik Abdrakhmanov from being elected to Parliament. Activists of the Pokolenie movement, uniting elderly citizens of the country, held a press conference on Thursday too, at which they said that some politicians used veterans of Word War II in the election campaign, but it was not likely that their promises would be fulfilled. The second stage of the elections is scheduled for October 24.
GROUP OF BIGELDY GABDULLIN SUPPORTERS HELD A MASS GATHERING IN TALGHAR.
Correspondents of RFE/RL report from Almaty that dozens of voters supporting Bigeldy Gabdullin, an activist of the Kazakh Republican People's Party and Editor-in-Chief of DAT newspaper, gathered in the central part of the town of Talghar, Almaty Oblast, to express their support for Mr. Gabdullin. The gathering held on October 21 was dismissed by the police. According to official statements, all those demonstrators who gathered were drunk.
LEADER OF ORLEU PARTY WANTS HIS MONEY BACK.
Seydakhmet Quttyqadam - leader of Orleu party - has sued the Kazakh Central Election Committee at Almaly District's Court of the former capital, accusing the Election Committee of having committed serious mistakes during the first round of the Parliamentary elections on October 10. Mr. Quttyqadam also wants the fee he paid to take part in the elections to be returned to him. But the Court found the suit groundless.
NEW BUILDING OF ALMATY AIRPORT TO START BEING RAISED.
Correspondents of RFE/RL quote Almaty City Administration as reporting that a special tender will be organized this month to select a construction company for the construction of Almaty airport's new building. It was also reported that the project's cost will be about $15 million. The building of Almaty airport was burnt to ashes on July 9 this year. Complete results of the investigations into the fire have never been announced.
71 PAKISTANIS EXTRADITED FROM KAZAKHSTAN LAST NIGHT.
71 citizens of Pakistan were returned to Karachi from Almaty during the night of 21 October. The Pakistani nationals were detained by local police and customs officers this week. Their travel documents and the firms that invited them to Kazakhstan were found to be suspicious. All the extradited Pakistanis were males of 25-30 years of age.
LEADER OF ETHNIC CHECHENS IN KAZAKHSTAN ON SITUATION IN CHECHNYA.
Akhmet Muradov, the leader of ethnic Chechens living in Kazakhstan, told journalists on 21 October that Chechen refugees continue arriving in Kazakhstan from the North Caucasus. About 200 Chechen refugees arrived to Almaty this week. In general, 70,000 ethnic Chechens are now living in Kazakhstan on a permanent basis. They are descendants of those Chechens who decided to stay in Kazakhstan after deportation in the 1940's.
ASSOCIATION OF KAZAKHSTAN'S ETHNIC KURDS MAKES STATEMENT.
Correspondents of RFE/RL report from the former capital that leaders and activists of the Association of Ethnic Kurds held a press conference in Almaty on 20 October, at which they announced their intention to hold a conference on the situation of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, who was given the death penalty by the Turkish Court. The conference will be held on October 27 in Almaty. Nadir Nadirov, leader of ethnic Kurds in Kazakhstan, told journalists that the main task of the conference will be to focus on the situation of the Kurdish population in Turkey. He also said that Abdullah Ocalan's death penalty verdict should be changed. According to Nadir Nadirov, in case Ocalan's verdict is not changed, Kazakh Kurds will appeal to the international community and the European Court. Ethnic Kurds of Kazakhstan are going to send an open letter to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev asking him to intervene in the case and urge Turkey to change the verdict. Turkish Appeals Court was scheduled to start revising the verdict of Abdullah Ocalan on October 21. There would be no action of protest organized by ethnic Kurds of Kazakhstan on 21 October , said leaders of the Kazakh Kurds.
ALMATY'S ZHETYSU DISTRICT COURT DECIDES TO CLOSE RELIGIOUS SCHOOL IN QARASU.
Zhetysu District Court of the former capital decided to close the activities of the Medrese (Islamic religious school) in Qarasu, Almaty Oblast. It turned out that about 40 students of the school "had been tortured" by the religious teachers at the school. 25 of the students were kids under 18 years of age. Local religious leader Dinmuhammed Imam and Prosecutor of Zhetysu District say that the school had been opened by Islamic missionaries from Pakistan and Afghanistan.
INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE CASE OF 50 PAKISTANI NATIONALS DETAINED BY KAZAKH CUSTOMS OFFICERS AT ALMATY AIRPORT CONTINUES.
According to information provided by correspondents of RFE/RL, some of the Pakistanis detained on 20 October by Kazakh police and Customs officers held US, German and Canadian passports. It became clear that they had been invited by some Pakistani companies working in the former Kazakh capital. Two opinions were expressed by the investigators of the case. According to the first one, the Pakistanis had plans "to advertise radical Islam and religious extremism" among the Kazakhs. According the second opinion, they wanted to reach Chechnya through Kazakhstan in order to fight on the side of Chechen warriors against Russian troops Investigations continue. 20 more suspicious Pakistanis were detained by the Kazakh officials the previous day, October 19.
LEADER OF POLITICAL GROUP "RESPUBLIKA-2000" ON PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS.
Lira Bayseitova, the leader of the Respublika-2000 political group, held a press conference at the National Press Club in Almaty on October 20. She told journalists that a rival of Ghaziz Aldamzharov in Atyrau Oblast, Western Kazakhstan - Iran Elekeyev - had been supported by the local administration during the Parliamentary elections held on October 10. According to Mrs. Bayseitova, the local administration of Atyrau Oblast is preparing for the second state of Parliamentary Elections scheduled for October 24. She said that about 15,000 extra ballot forms had been made by the authorities of Atyrau in order to falsify the outcome of the polls. On Tuesday, the leader of the Orleu party, Seydakhmet Quttyqadam said that President Nazarbayev should step down in order to make it possible to improve the drastic situation in the country. Lira Bayseitova told journalists that she did not consider Nursultan Nazarbayev as Kazakhstan's legitimate president, since he had been elected illegally." Another political figure, former Vice Premier of Kazakhstan and presently a candidate to Kazakh parliament, told correspondents of RFE/RL in Astana that Nursultan Nazarbayev should sue the New York Times in case he was really innocent and had no accounts in any Swiss banks. That could help to save his image and that of the whole nation, said Baltash Tursynbayev. The New York Times published an article last Saturday, in which they drove the point that large amounts of money had been transferred from bank accounts of the Kazakh government to accounts in Swiss banks presumably serving the personal interests of the Kazakh President himself.
KAZAKH PRESIDENT IS SCHEDULED TO VISIT MONGOLIA THIS MONTH.
Mongolian Ambassador to Kazakhstan, Mr. Yondon told journalists at an exhibition devoted to culture and traditions of ethnic Kazakhs living in Mongolia held in Almaty this week, that Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev would pay an official visit to Ulan-Baator at the end of October. Together with issues on further development of economic and trade ties between the two countries, the situation of ethnic Kazakhs in Mongolia will be taken under discussion. About 60,000 ethnic Kazakhs moved from Mongolia to Kazakhstan after Kazakhstan got independence in 1991. Around 90,000 ethnic Kazakhs are currently living in Bayan-Olgey region of West Mongolia.
CANDIDATE TO KAZAKH PARLIAMENT, GENNADY BELIYAKOV, LOST HIS TRIAL.
Correspondents of RFE/RL report from Almaty that Gennady Beliyakov, a candidate to Kazakh parliament's Lower Chamber who lost the race on October 10, lost the trial suit initiated by him earlier this week. Yuriy Bobrov, a Judge of the Auezov District in the former Kazakh capital, announced his decision on October 19, according to which the activities of the Almaty Electoral District were found "appropriate" and Mr. Beliyakov's accusations as "non- proved". Gennadiy Beliyakov tried to sue the Electoral District for "falsification of the poll results in the District by illegal activities of the district's election commission", saying that hundreds of unknown ballot forms were added to the ballot boxes by the commission members in disguise. Gennadiy Beliyakov has the right to appeal the decision of the Auezov District's Judge in the Almaty City Court.
ABOUT FIFTY PAKISTANI CITIZENS WITH INVALID TRAVEL DOCUMENTS STOPPED AT ALMATY AIRPORT'S HOTEL.
According to correspondents of RFE/RL, about 50 Pakistani nationals were detained by police and customs officers at Almaty airport Hotel on October 19. The Pakistani citizens had no valid visas for entering Kazakh territory. Investigations are underway.
Also, hundreds of Chechen refugees have reportedly started arriving in different parts of Kazakhstan. Chechens have deep ties to Kazakhstan. Thousands of ethnic Chechens have been living in Kazakhstan since the 1940's, after the last large deportation of Chechens conducted by Stalin. During the Chechen war of 1994-1996, thousands of Chechens found asylum with their relatives in Kazakhstan. Almost all the current leading politicians of Chechnya were born in Kazakhstan as part of the first Kazakhstan-born Chechen generation during the World War II. The first President of the Independent Chechen Republic of Ichkeria - Dzhokhar Dudayev, as well as the current Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov were also born in Kazakhstan.