Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev has given a prolonged interview by which he discusses what he sees because the origins of the ”Bloody January” protests of 2022 in addition to the specter of twin energy programs.
Chatting with the state-run Egemen Qazaqstan newspaper, which printed the interview on January 3, Toqaev stated the protests that started within the southwestern city Zhanaozen on January 2, 2022, following a pointy rise in gasoline costs and which rapidly unfold to different cities, together with Almaty, had been instigated by an unidentified ”rogue group.”
Toqaev’s shoot-to-kill order to quell the unrest led to the deaths of greater than 230 protesters, and the Kazakh president has been criticized for not dwelling as much as his promise to the general public to reply questions in regards to the incident.
The Kazakh authorities have prosecuted a number of high-ranking officers on fees that they tried to grab energy through the protests, with some faraway from workplace or sentenced to jail, and others acquitted.
Many had been seen to be allies of Toqaev’s predecessor, long-serving Kazakh chief Nursultan Nazarbaev.
When requested what induced the unrest, Toqaev initially cited ”socio-economic issues collected through the years,” which had led to stagnation and undermined religion within the authorities.
Nonetheless, Toqaev then steered that ”some influential individuals” didn’t just like the modifications to the nation’s political scene after he was appointed as performing president by Nazarbaev in 2019 and later that 12 months elected as president.
Toqaev stated the unknown individuals perceived the change ”as a risk” to the facility construction after many years of rule by Nazarbaev, after which ”determined to show again the face of reform and destroy every little thing so as to return to the outdated scenario that was handy for them.”
”This group of high-ranking officers had an enormous affect on the facility constructions and the legal world,” Toqaev alleged. ”That is why they determined to grab energy by drive.”
Toqaev, citing investigations by the Prosecutor-Basic’s Workplace, stated the unidentified group started ”preparations” about six months earlier than the nationwide demonstrations in January 2022, when the federal government made what he referred to as ”an ill-conceived, unlawful resolution to sharply enhance the value of liquefied gasoline.”
From there, Toqaev alleged, ”extremists, legal teams, and spiritual extremists” labored collectively to stage a coup. When the protests broke out in January 2022, Toqaev claimed that 20,000 ”terrorists” had entered the nation.
Specialists have broadly dismissed recommendations of international involvement within the mass protests.
Except for about 10 members of the fundamentalist Islamic group Yakyn Inkar — which is taken into account a banned extremist group in Kazakhstan — who had been arrested in reference to the protests, no non secular teams have been singled out for alleged involvement within the protests.
The purpose of the alleged coup plotters, Toqaev stated, was to arrange a twin energy construction that will compete with the federal government.
”I brazenly instructed Nazarbaev that the political conceitedness of his shut associates nearly destroyed the nation,” Toqaev stated, with out expounding on who the associates is likely to be.
Toqaev had not beforehand talked about talking with Nazarbaev in regards to the mass protests.
Toqaev additionally steered that Kazakhstan, which has come below criticism for its imprisonment of journalists and civil and political activists, doesn’t have any political prisoners.
When requested about political prisoners, Toqaev stated solely that ”our laws doesn’t include a single decree, a single legislation, a single regulatory doc that gives a foundation for prosecuting residents for his or her political opinions.”
For there to be political persecution, in response to Toqaev, there would have to be ”censorship, particular legal guidelines, and punitive our bodies” in place.
Toqaev additionally appeared to subtly criticize Nazarbaev, who turned head of Soviet Kazakhstan in 1990 and have become Kazakhstan’s first president after the nation turned unbiased in 1991.
Nazarbaev served as president till he resigned in 2019, though he held the title of ”Chief of the Nation” from 2010 to 2020 and in addition served as chairman of the Safety Council from 1991 to 2022. Nazarbaev has since been stripped of these roles and titles.
Whereas discussing Nazarbaev, Toqaev stated that ”everybody is aware of his contribution to the formation of an unbiased state of Kazakhstan. He’s an individual who deserves a good historic analysis.”
However the present Kazakh president additionally stated that ”there must be no senior or junior president within the nation.”
”Go away, do not beg!” Toqaev stated. ”Residents who might be in control of the nation sooner or later ought to be taught from this example and avoid such issues and suppose solely in regards to the pursuits of the state and the prosperity of society.”