Kazakhstan: Russian separatists plot uncovered

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Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 09:14:20 +0200 (EET)
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Subject: Kazakhstan: Russian separatists plot uncovered

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Original sender: Felix Corley <[email protected]>

Kazakhstan: Russian separatist plot uncovered

 
KAZAKHSTAN: ETHNIC MINORITIES PROTECTED - NAZARBAYEV
----------------------------------------------------

ALMATY, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said
he had done his best to protect the interests of ethnic minorities,
comments recorded before news that an alleged Russian separatist plot
had been uncovered. "We respect ourselves for the fact that in
Kazakhstan there is political stability, friendship between peoples,
and that minority nationality rights are not violated," Nazarbayev
said in a TV interview broadcast late Monday but recorded on Sunday. 

The recording was made before the president was informed of the arrest
late last week of an armed group of 22, including 12 Russian citizens,
on suspicion of plotting armed separatist attacks in the northern city
of Ust-Kamenogorsk. Their aim was to create a "Russian land" on Kazakh
territory, Kazakh security officials have said. The officials said the
"extremists" did not enjoy the support of the large number of Russians
in the former Soviet republic. 

Nazarbayev has been credited with handling potentially explosive
ethnic divisions in his country with tact since winning independence
from Moscow in 1991. As well as Russians, there are tens of thousands
of Uighurs in Kazakhstan who crossed from China's Moslem northwestern
province of Xinjiang, many of whom dream of their own homeland. 

Analysts say the discovery of the armed group was a sign discontent
was strong among ethnic Russians, who make up 30 percent of the
population of 15 million. Hundreds of thousands have already left,
sidelined by the gradual trend towards Kazakh nationalism which has
affected job selection, education and culture, they add. 
"We are trying to create conditions for all so that they can live
comfortably, so that they can teach their children in the language
that they want, speak the language they want, and work where they
want," Nazarbayev said. Nazarbayev said he and other Central Asian
leaders were more concerned about radical religious ideas spreading
from Iran and Afghanistan, which border the vast region to the south.
"We in Central Asia today are more worried about the problem of
extremism and terrorism, and that our territory is a transit route for
drugs," he said.

(C) Reuters Limited 1999.
 
 
KAZAKHSTAN: ETHNIC FAULTLINES DEEP IN CENTRAL ASIA
--------------------------------------------------
By Mike Collett-White

ALMATY, Nov 22 (Reuters) - The recent arrest by Kazakh police of armed
Russian separatists plotting a local coup provided further proof that
ethnic tensions in oil-rich Central Asia run deep. In the deserts and
steppes that sprawl between Russia, China and Iran, ethnic divisions
rarely match political boundaries. Kazakhstan's anxieties are typical.

Its industrial heartland to the north is heavily populated by
Russians, many disgruntled at the inevitable tide towards greater
Kazakh nationalism since independence from the now defunct Soviet
Union in 1991. Its eastern flank is home to tens of thousands of
Turkic-speaking Uighurs who have fled repression in China's Moslem
Xinjiang province and who in many cases still dream of creating their
own homeland. To the south, other Central Asian states worry about the
spread of Islamic radicalism and the sort of ancient ethnic rivalries
that now fuel civil war in Afghanistan nearby. Kazakhstan, left
vulnerable by meagre defences and a small population, has dealt with
Moscow and Beijing with copybook tact. But last week's arrests of the
Russian separatists suggests diplomacy has its limits.


KAZAKHSTAN PLAYS DOWN RUSSIAN SEPARATIST THREAT 

Security forces in Kazakhstan's northeastern industrial city of
Ust-Kamenogorsk arrested 22 people on Friday, 12 of them Russian
citizens, on suspicion of plotting to stage a coup and declare a
"Russian land" on Kazakh territory. They were holding a stash of
weapons including petrol bombs, a grenade and various ammunition. The
intelligence service says that several were former soldiers with
experience of serving in Tajikistan, Chechnya and in Moldova's
breakaway Dnestr region. 

Kenzhebulat Beknazarov, senior spokesman for Kazakhstan's National
Security Committee (KNB), was quick to play down the broader
implications of the discovery. "Ideas have appeared in the north that
supposedly this has been Russian land for time immemorial," he told
Reuters. "But it is not in the consciousness of our people - Russians
and Kazakhs have lived together as friends." 

That is partly true of the eight years of independence, during which
President Nursultan Nazarbayev has successfully avoided widespread
ethnic strife even in the northern industrial heartland, heavily
populated by Russians. But analysts say a gradual yet irreversible
shift towards Kazakh nationalism means the problem continues to run
just under the surface of apparent accord. 

"The mood which feeds this group is very widely felt," said Alexandra
Dokuchayeva, an expert on Russian-Kazakh relations at the Moscow-based
Institute for Diaspora and Integration. "That such groups exist bears
witness to the fact that the mood of Russians in northern Kazakhstan
is one of discontentment with the government's policies." 

Nazarbayev has had to treat ethnic Russians with care. His oil-rich
republic relies on Russia for 30-40 percent of its trade and for vital
political support. Russians make up a large part of the skilled
workforce. But at the same time he has named Kazakh as the official
state language and promoted Kazakhs to key government positions. The
shift triggered an exodus of hundreds of thousands of Russians, and
their share of the 15 million-16 million population has dropped to
around 30 from over 40 percent in Soviet times.


RUSSIAN SEPARATISTS ONLY PART OF BIGGER PROBLEM 

The plight of ethnic Russians in just one of a myriad of potential
flashpoints across Central Asia. Another is minority groups from
China, which borders Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Tensions
along the Sino-Soviet frontier have been reduced by a military pact
between Beijing, Moscow and Central Asia, but Kazakhstan and others
are worried that their huge land mass and energy resources may prove
irresistible in the long run. Keen to avoid any grounds for discord,
they keep a tight lid on the tens of thousands of Uighurs living on
their territory after fleeing repression in China's Moslem province of
Xinjiang. Add to the melting pot deep-rooted tensions between Uzbeks,
Tajiks and Kyrgyz in Central Asia's impoverished Fergana Valley and an
Islamic revival stoked by hardline believers from Afghanistan, and
regional stability begins to look shaky. Little wonder that Max van
der Stoel, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe's
commissioner for national minorities, sounded a warning over the
weekend of "a new Kosovo" looming in Central Asia were the West to go
on ignoring it.

(C) Reuters Limited 1999.
---------------------------
---------------------------

>From the moderator: Just one short remark not related to the content
of the message. It is revealing that even so prominent agency as
Reuters calls van der Stoel "the OSCE commissioner for national
minorities". As well known, the official title is "...on national
minorities". The difference is crucial, indeed - the Commissioner's
mission is not "to serve and protect" minorities as such but to
prevent minority related conflicts. Max van der Stoel himself stressed
this difference beetween "on" and "for". Unfortunately, this is the
next evidence that the OSCE HCNM activities are still not adequately
understood by the broad public.
Boris 

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