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Do Kazakhstan?s protests signal an end to the Nazarbayev era?


Security Council
Tokayev
the Collective Security Treaty Organization
CSTO
Al Jazeera
the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law
Nazarbayev
the Security Council
PM.Trib­al
pub­lic


Yevgeniy Zhovtis
Kassym-
Tokayev
Nursultan Nazarbayev
Andrey Sakharov Freedom
earlier?Zhovtis
Vladimir Putin’s
think?Zhovtis
Week af­ter
Alikhan Smailov
Al Jazeera


Soviet
Kazakh
Norwegian
Zhovtis
Russian
Cen­tral Asian
English


Almaty


Almaty


Almaty
Kazakhstan
Zhanaozen
Russia

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Positivity     41.00%   
   Negativity   59.00%
The New York Times
SOURCE: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/11/qa-kazakh-activist-yevgeniy-zhovtis-on-mass-unrest
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Summary

Yevgeniy Zhovtis, a prominent activist in Almaty, explains the causes and potential effects of unprecedented unrest.The protests and subsequent violence in Kazakhstan last week came as a surprise.Days after hundreds of protesters rallied against rising fuel prices in a western town, Zhanaozen, demonstrations rapidly spiralled to other cities, where various socioeconomic grievances were shared.Finally, protesters demanded an end to what they and many observers see as a corrupt political system.President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev initially promised to lower fuel prices, then dismissed the government and removed former president Nursultan Nazarbayev, the symbol of the system, as the head of the powerful Security Council.Despite his moves, the protests soon turned violent.Rioters stormed shops, police stations and local administration buildings and the country fell into disarray.Tokayev ordered security forces to fire without warning and claimed – without providing evidence – that 20,000 foreign-trained “terrorists” had attacked the main city of Almaty.At the president’s request, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) – a Russia-led military alliance – deployed troops to Kazakhstan to protect strategic objects.According to official data, 8,000 people were arrested.Dozens died, including citizens and police. On the 8th, an operation started to pacify the situation.Al Jazeera: Who were the groups that Tokayev has called “foreign-sponsored terrorists”?Zhovtis: It is important to understand that protesters are never a unified mass. But we have to remember that apart from that, there were peaceful protests which had nothing to do with this power struggle and which are rooted in socioeconomic problems, social dissatisfaction and corruption.Clearly, the situation has strengthened Tokayev.He is now placing his people in power positions and he has become the head of the Security Council, so in a way, it is the end of Nazarbayev’s era.It does not mean, however, that the former president will leave or face trial, or that his close associates will be sidelined and lose their economic and political power.

As said here by Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska