Why does Aliyev insinuate to Nazarbayev the financing of Kwaśniewski?

© mukhtarablyazov.org 01.03.2013

Rakhat Aliyev’s reports on the attempts to finance the campaign to the European Parliament, are an attempt to point out to Nazarbayev his failures in Brussels. Recent activities of MEPs served to support civil society in Kazakhstan and undermine the interests of the dictator.

In his political career, Aliyev, the former son-in-law of the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, held many important posts – he was the leader of the party ‘Asar’, the head of the tax police, the deputy chief of the National Security Committee, and twice he held the post of deputy foreign minister. As long as he remained in the good graces of the president, he boldly used the privileges of the autocratic power. At the time, a few accusations appeared with regard to him. In 2005 and 2006 he was suspected, along with others, of arranging the murder of two opposition politicians - Zamanbek Nurkadilov and Altynbek Sarsenbayev. The case, however, was muted due to his family affinities with the president. Due to his political ruthlessness, for many years he has been earmarked as a potential successor to the incumbent president. In order to draw Aliyev away from political life, Nazarbayev twice sent him to Vienna, where he served as an ambassador of Kazakhstan to Austria and the OSCE. It was a declaration of his intention to participate in the presidential elections in 2012, combined with criticism of changes in Kazakhstan's Constitution, allowing the current president to run in the next elections, which prejudiced Aliyev’s position. Immediately afterwards, the General Prosecutor's Office of Kazakhstan opened an investigation against him in connection with a high-profile case of kidnapping two directors of Nurbank in late January and early February 2007, as well as in connection with the earlier accusations of the assassination of two oppositionists. A few days later, he was dismissed from his post of ambassador of Kazakhstan to Austria and the OSCE, and an international arrest warrant was issued for him. Austrian police arrested him, however, contrary to the position of Kazakhstan, he was released on bail in the amount of one million euro and remained in Austria. A few weeks later, he received information about his imminent divorce and the transfer of his shares in Nurbank to his ex-wife Diariga and his son Nurali; he was also stripped of his shares in the KTK TV channel and the ‘Karavan’ newspaper.

Currently, Aliyev has the status of ‘public enemy number 2’ (giving way to Ablyazov) in Kazakhstan. Several years ago, he became famous with the publication entitled ‘Godfather-in-law’, devoted to Nazarbayev. He does not cease in his attacks of the clan system associated with Nazarbayev, currently ruling in Kazakhstan. He is well-versed in relations between Kazakhstan and Europe. Recently, in the face of increasingly strong pressure, exerted on him by Kazakhstan, he has moved on to increasingly strong counter-attacks. The allegation of financing Europe Plus, despite its considerable remoteness from reality, was designed to hit the weak point of Nazarbayev's policy, i.e. Kazakh relations with Europe.

Last year, Kazakhstan's relations with the European Union were highly influenced by two resolutions of the European Parliament (of 15 March and 22 November, 2012). They urged Kazakhstan to cease repression in domestic policy, and the progress in this field was a condition of further progress in the negotiations of a new agreement on partnership and economic cooperation between the EU and Kazakhstan. Resolutions were produced due to the strong commitment of Polish MEPs and the support of the Open Dialog Foundation. They were adopted on the basis of numerous documented reports of drastic deterioration of freedom of expression and the broadly understood human rights situation, particularly the citizenship rights in Kazakhstan over the last two years. Kazakhstan is currently a party to over 60 international conventions on human rights and related rights, and, when assuming the presidency of the OSCE in 2010, it undertook to implement far-reaching reforms in the way of democratisation and the rule of law.

The European Union as a whole, remains the main trade partner of Kazakhstan. Negotiations on a new cooperation agreement are carried out by the European Commission, which is required to take into account the recommendations of the European Parliament. In this situation, resolutions are an effective tool used to influence the policies of the ruling elite - the resolution of 15 March, 2012 led to the release of several arrested journalists and NGO activists, who had been placed in custody and charged with inciting social hatred. In addition to the direct impact on the negotiations, Kazakhstan also considers important the loss of image suffered, undermining the carefully constructed reputation of the leader of the reform and cultivator of European values ​​in Central Asia.

###

The Open Dialog Foundation was founded in 2009, so that European values ​​such as personal freedom, human rights, democracy and the right to self-determination would be applied, rather than just remain declarative.

The aim of the foundation is: promoting European values​​, informing citizens of countries that have recently joined the path of democracy about their rights. The Foundation is particularly focused on Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. It works through public advocacy of human rights and civil liberties, open and non-destructive social pressure on politicians and government bodies of the countries, educational programmes and training courses for social activists from countries of the former Eastern Bloc, organisation of projects aimed at exchanging experience between social activists from countries in Europe and Asia, financial and organisational support for social initiatives, the activities of NGOs and individual citizens, aimed at practical execution of human rights; organisation of international independent election observation missions in post-totalitarian countries; organisation and conduct of research projects in order to determine the actual needs and social conditions as well as thorough examination of opinion in countries being at different stages of democratic transition and the formation of public opinion in the European Union countries towards a better understanding of the importance of maintaining human rights and democracy in the post-totalitarian states.

Contact person:
Tomasz Czuwara
The Press Office of the Open Dialog Foundation
e-mail: [email protected], tel: +48 534 670 800

Tweet