To the Editor: Joshua Kucera’s May 13 dispatch, “Kazakhstan: Washington Experts Go on Spin Cycle,” is misleading and unfair. The whole idea of organizing a panel discussion in Washington, D.C., was to allow serious people to examine Kazakhstan in a serious way. That was what happened during the panel entitled, “The Future of Kazakhstan after the Presidential Election,” which was hosted May 12 by the Jamestown Foundation and held at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mr. Kucera might not have liked what he heard, but the participants knew their stuff. They highlighted the many ways that the nation is working hard to enhance political modernization, economic growth and the rule of law. Mr. Kucera chose to focus only on critics’ views and missed the point of the event: Kazakhstan is eager to develop its democracy and is making real progress.
Kazakhstan is tired of being bombarded with narrow, one-sided and unfair criticisms like those leveled by Mr. Kucera. The panel was one of many public events that contradict the critics’ views. In fact, over the last twenty years, Kazakhstan has steadily and methodically built its fledgling democracy and the rule of law. Despite its misguided critics, the government will continue to work to reach these goals and promote its civil society. Kazakhstan has not yet reached Western standards for these things, but we are getting closer every year. We should be given credit for doing so.
Scholars are free to say what they wish and the speakers on the panel were experts with a deep knowledge of Kazakhstan. Their views were not tainted. There is plenty of evidence that the progress they cited in Kazakhstan is real. In addition, the recent presidential elections were real as well. The International Republican Institute’s poll in the country showed the kind of overwhelming support for President Nursultan Nazarbayev that was demonstrated on election day. The people have spoken in Kazakhstan and they like what they see. Critics like Mr. Kucera should open their eyes and their minds to a new – and more positive – consensus about my country.
Sincerely,
Erlan Idrissov
Kazakhstan’s ambassador to the United States
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