From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Thu May 17 2001 - 15:11:22 EDT
Kazakh paper Karavan analyses recent government reshuffle
Rakhat Aliyev, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's son-in-law, has been
appointed first deputy chairman of the Kazakh National Security Committee,
the Kazakh newspaper Karavan reported on 11 May. This was the first
decision taken by Marat Tazhin, the new head of the security service
appointed to this position during the last government reshuffle on 4 May,
the newspaper said in an article reviewing the reshuffle. The reason for
this was that despite his experience gained working as secretary of the
Kazakh Security Council, Marat Tazhin "is still a theoretician and Rakhat
Aliyev's practical experience will be very important for him", the report
said. It also added, quoting some "informed people", that many officials,
including Kazakh Internal Affairs Minister Bolat Iskakov, were severely
criticized during the closed government meeting at which the decision on
the reshuffle was taken. The author also voiced a supposition that the
reshuffle might be a repeat of the Russian reinforcement of power-wielding
ministries and therefore further reshuffles could be expected in the
Internal Affairs Ministry and the Defence Ministry. The following is an
excerpt from the report by the Russian-language newspaper Karavan on 11
May:
[Newspaper headline] Spring: first harbingers in power-wielding offices
The political life of the country has not abated despite the holiday mood.
On the contrary, several major events happened at the same time this week.
Above all, the point at issue is, of course, the government reshuffle: it
struck [gryanul in Russian] the moment when it seemed that the storm was
over. So, it is worth after all listening to rumours in the capital, which
predicted some reshuffle in recent days. Clever people answered the
rumours: what reshuffles can take place when it is almost summer now...
[ellipsis as given]. And the April [expanded government] meeting attended
by ministers and regional governors when, in the absence of Prime Minister
Kasymzhomart Tokayev, [Kazakh] President [Nursultan Nazarbayev] lambasted
almost every other official [is over] but no resignations followed.
And then, after a pause of three weeks, the president sprang another
surprise. The meeting at which appointments were made was closed, even the
official press was not admitted to it. Marat Tazhin has been appointed
chairman of the National Security Committee [NSC]: the appointment, on the
one hand, is unexpected, but this is only on the face of it. Working as
secretary of the Security Council, Marat Mukhambetkaziyevich [Tazhin] has
evidently become such an excellent specialist that the president entrusted
him with tackling state security in practice. But even that is not the
point. It seems that the democratization of our society has reached,
finally, the point when civilians start heading power-wielding agencies.
Thus, Tazhin is a political appointee. Besides, the president announced
that this was only the first harbinger. Therefore, one does not have to be
a great analyst to expect changes to follow in the camp of the other two
power-wielding agencies: the Internal Affairs Ministry and the Defence
Ministry.
The first initiative by Marat Tazhin in the new position is a new
appointment for Rakhat Aliyev, who is leaving the position of head of the
NSC Department for Almaty and [Almaty] Region and moving to the capital
[Astana], where he will work as first deputy chairman [of the NSC]. The
logic behind the initiative is quite understandable: Mr Tazhin, though he
is a specialist, is still a theoretician and Rakhat Aliyev's practical
experience will be very important for him. Why, someone should be looking
after the business!
It is time to change [K]GB working methods, the president announced. And we,
citizens of Kazakhstan, absolutely agree with this! By the way, we have
already witnessed new methods when NSCD [National Security Department for
Almaty and Almaty Region is meant here] officers quietly detained an
international terrorist in the southern capital [Almaty] without special
effects, shooting and armoured vehicles. This is the main thing for us:
after all, we are not residents of the political Olympus, and all movements
there are of interest to us as long as we want to live and breathe calmly.
Tazhin's predecessor, the former counter-intelligence chief Alnur Musayev,
is now responsible for the president's security as head of his security
service, incidentally Alnur Musayev has already been Nursultan Nazarbayev's
security guard once. This appointment has not raised many questions either
since the specialist simply returned to his place. By the way, the very
personality of Alnur Musayev befits the position even in terms of style:
for example, he does not like (or, he is even not good at) giving news
conferences. But whoever saw Edgar Hoover [former FBI director] or Allen
Dalles [former CIA head] taking pains to give a good speech in front of
journalists?
Another "linear" relocation: the most "long-playing" minister who outlived
many prime ministers in his position, Altynbek Sarsenbayev, has finally
left his post as [culture], information and public accord minister and
replaced Marat Tazhin in the post of secretary of the Security Council.
Some call it a promotion: the position is obviously calmer and less
noticeable than life in the press minister's armchair.
And the armchair has been taken by a man who has never held ministerial
positions before; however, he is far from being new to the power Olympus.
Let us introduce him to you: Mukhtar Kul-Mukhammed, doctor of judicial
sciences, professor and full member of the New York Academy of Sciences, a
deputy of the Senate [the upper house] of the parliament (appointed by the
president of the republic), laureate of the State Prize of Kazakhstan,
author of over 100 scientific works and the publisher of the president's
book entitled "Tarikh Tolqynynda" [on the wave of history]... [ellipsis as
given]. So, can you call Mr Mukhtar Kul-Mukhammed a "novice" after this
enumeration?
It is the former head of the president's security service, Bulat Bakenov,
for whom no place has been found on the chessboard (at least for now). He
is already being intended [kotorogo uzhe prochyat in Russian] for the now
vacant Senate seat on the state list.
Informed people say that the last closed meeting was even more turbulent
than that in April. They say that people who were not able to attend it
suffered much worse than those who attended it and that Internal Affairs
Minister Bolat Iskakov has been hit especially hard, though no
organizational decisions on him have followed... [ellipsis as given].
What does all this mean? Simply anther reshuffle (they happen periodically)
or - in the Russian experience - the strengthening of the vertical power
structure of the power-wielding agencies? The last would mean that the
threats to national security that have appeared recently (terrorists, drugs
and others) are even more serious that we have got used to imagining.
[Passage to end omitted: Kazakh communists have supported the idea of their
Georgian counterparts to rehabilitate Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's
activities; the flight of the three astronauts to the International Space
Station, including Talgat Musabayev, an ethnic Kazakh, and the first space
tourist Dennis Tito, is a historical event for Kazakhstan] [By Irina
Galkina, p6]
Source: Karavan, Almaty, in Russian 16 May 01 p6
BBC Mon CAU 160501/** ag/dg
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