Читать книгу Kazakhstan's Assassinated Democracy - Yerzhan Psy.D. Dosmukhamedov - Страница 7

Der Standard (Austria)

14 January 2010

Dr. Yerzhan Dosmukhamedov is Chairman of the Kazakhstan opposition party "Atameken" and lives in London since 2007. He served as advisor to Timur Kulibayev, son-in-law of the President of Kazakhstan, at the National petroleum company "KazMunaiGaz", and deputy ambassador to Germany.

For the first time an Asiatic, post-Soviet and predominantly muslim Republic of Kazakhstan has taken charge of the Organisation for Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The world's major human rights defender is headed by the despotic and anti-democratic regime for the first time in its history.

Kazakhstan's chairmanship undermines the integrity of the institution's fundamental principles.

Kazakhstan's human rights record may now rival Zimbabwe and Burma in its ferocity. Facts speak for themselves:

Prominent opposition leaders like Altynbek Sarsenbayev were killed in Kazakhstan by the KGB special forces.

President Nazarbayev amended the Constitution and proclaimed himself a president for life literally after the decision by 55 OSCE member-states to grant Kazakhstan the 2010 Presidency.

The recently released documentary book by the exiled former Kazakh Ambassador to the OSCE and chief of the KGB confirms the fact of gross falsification of the presidential elections which makes the regime illegitimate, but still acceptable for the OSCE presidency.

The Kazakh journalists operate in an environment of anxiety, facing intimidating lawsuits, personal threats and physical attacks. Just four months ago, Ramazan Yesergepov, my friend and editor of an opposition newspaper Alma Ata Info, was jailed for reporting on the KGB anti-democratic methods of activities.

Public assembly is very tightly controlled, and any politically motivated public meeting is to be denied a permit or broken up by police, or both.

The 2009 Report by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture has now officially confirmed the state-sponsored practice of torture in Kazakhstan.

President Nazarbayev has been delaying the full registration of our political party - ATAMEKEN - for more than 3 years since its Founding Convention held on 27 October 2006. The archaic reason is my refusal to give him a secret oath of personal loyalty on the Quran and thus become his puppet to fool the Kazakh people and Western public opinion. This procedure is not stipulated by the Constitution. Thus, my party's refusal to be a pseudo-democratic rattle in the hands of the dictator prevents it from official registration. My relatives remaining in Kazakhstan have become hostages in order to control my mind and political activities.

All the above facts prove a genetic systemic unwillingness of Nazarbayev's regime to transform Kazakhstan into a genuinely democratic society.

US and European politicians, who made the decision to grant Kazakhstan the OSCE presidency, were well aware of the above facts. They were therefore insincere when publicly arguing that the presidency of the OSCE will contribute to the process of democratization of Kazakhstan.

My colleagues and I feel betrayed by the US and Europe. We are convinced that the decision was bought by the despotic regime's petrodollars to perpetuate its survival and further crackdown on the remaining political opposition.

After a short-sighted endorsement given by Western leaders to dictator Nazarbayev, Europe must now show unwavering support for democratic forces in Kazakhstan, the last hope of the entire Central Asian region, or else risk the recreation of dictators that have cost the Western allies so much blood and treasure in the recent past.

Yerzhan Dosmukhamedov