Translated material
Boucher came to support Nazarbayev
And democratization in Kazakhstan
Today, the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, will deliver a message to the people of his country at a joint meeting of both chambers of parliament - the Senate and the Majilis. Today marks the end of a three-day visit to Astana by US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher (pictured) . The coincidence of these two events is by no means accidental. The American diplomat made this clear yesterday during a briefing in the Kazakh capital after a meeting with Mr. Nazarbayev.“We talked a little about the process of political reforms , about the discussions taking place in Kazakhstan around this issue and about the speech that the president (Nazarbayev - Ed. ) plans to give,” said Richard Boucher. “I told the president that we welcome this process of political reform and also want to support steps aimed at implementing these political reforms.”
The US Assistant Secretary of State's apparent repetition of the phrase "political reforms" in his account of his conversation with Mr. Nazarbayev looks like a pointed reminder from Washington of the promises made by the President of Kazakhstan during his visit to the United States in September 2006 - that President Bush expects these to be fulfilled. promises. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain the level of reception that was obviously inconsistent with state protocol, which was provided by the head of the Kazakh state to the American diplomat, who was far from the first in the table of ranks.
It is significant that Condoleezza Rice's assistant is discussing issues of political reforms in Kazakhstan with their initiator. Boucher came not only with his personal presence to support President Nazarbayev’s determination to announce his readiness to begin reform, but also to find out what specific steps will be taken along this path. Therefore, the US Assistant Secretary of State will not leave Astana before hearing Mr. Nazarbayev's message.
Before going to a reception at the residence of the President of Kazakhstan "Ak Orda", the American diplomat met yesterday with the leader of the Kazakh opposition, chairman of the United Social Democratic Party Zharmakhan Tuyakbai . Nazarbayev's former rival in the presidential election told Vremya Novostey that during the hour-long conversation, Richard Boucher listened more than he spoke. According to Mr. Tuyakbai, the American guest was interested in the opposition’s point of view on the prospects for democratization in Kazakhstan, how consistent and inevitable the reforms could be and how the West should treat them.
It was important for the American to check the validity of the US position on the issue of Kazakhstan’s chairmanship in the OSCE in 2009. Washington supports Kazakhstan's desire to lead this organization while fulfilling the country's leadership's promises to democratize. The reforms already announced by President Nazarbayev “will lead to nothing,” the leader of the Kazakh Social Democrats told VN, “unless the election legislation is changed in such a way as to eliminate the influence of administrative resources and ensure equal non-discriminatory access of all political forces to information resources, primarily electronic media,” which “must be demonopolized.”
At the same time, Mr. Tuyakbai considers the US position on the issue of Kazakhstan and the OSCE correct. “To deny Astana this desire,” Mr. Tuyakbai believes, “means to put the situation in Kazakhstan beyond the control of the civilized community.” This “will lead to Astana seeking support from those external forces that are quite happy with the current situation in Kazakhstan, and the country will lose the chance to join the community of democratic European states.”
Yesterday, Nursultan Nazarbayev gave a preliminary presentation of his today's message for members of the political council of the pro-presidential Nur Otan party. According to member of the political council, deputy of parliament Vera Sukhorukova, “the strongest section of the document will be the social block.” As for “future political reforms,” as stated by the leader of the Nur Otan parliamentary faction, Amzebek Zholshibekov, they are “based on the proposals of the state commission on democratization.” If this means that all of them will be accepted by Mr. Nazarbayev (earlier Zharmakhan Tuyakbay told VN that there are “interesting proposals” among them), then today’s speech by the Kazakh president may turn out to be historic.