1.
Nursultan Nazarbayev
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Nursultan Äbishuly Nazarbayev is the President of Kazakhstan. He holds the title Leader of the Nation, in April 2015, Nazarbayev was re-elected with almost 98% of the vote. Nazarbayev has suppressed dissent, been accused of human rights abuses by several human rights organizations, no election held in Kazakhstan since independence has met international standards. In 2010 he announced reforms to encourage a multi-party system, in January 2017, President Nazarbayev proposed constitutional reforms that would delegate powers to the parliament. Nazarbayev was born in Chemolgan, a town near Almaty. His father was a labourer who worked for a wealthy local family until Soviet rule confiscated the familys farmland in the 1930s during Joseph Stalins collectivization policy. Following this, his father took the family to the mountains to live out a nomadic existence and his father avoided compulsory military service due to a withered arm he sustained when putting out a fire. At the end of World War II the family returned to the village of Chemolgan and he performed well at school, and was sent to a boarding school in Kaskelen. After leaving school he took up a one-year, government-funded scholarship at the Karaganda Steel Mill in Temirtau and he also spent time training at a steel plant in Dniprodzerzhynsk, and therefore was away from Temirtau when riots broke out there over working conditions. By 20, he was earning a good wage doing incredibly heavy. He joined the Communist Party in 1962, becoming a prominent member of the Young Communist League, and full-time worker for the party, and attended the Karagandy Polytechnic Institute. He was appointed secretary of the Communist Party Committee of the Karaganda Metallurgical Kombinat in 1972, in his role as a bureaucrat, Nazarbayev dealt with legal papers, logistical problems and industrial disputes, as well as meeting workers to solve individual issues. In 1984, Nazarbayev became the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, under Dinmukhamed Kunayev, at the 16th session of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan in January 1986, Nazarbayev criticized Askar Kunayev, head of the Academy of Sciences, for not reforming his department. Dinmukhamed Kunayev, Nazarbayevs boss and Askars brother, felt deeply angered and betrayed, Kunayev went to Moscow and demanded Nazarbayevs dismissal while Nazarbayevs supporters campaigned for Kunayevs dismissal and Nazarbayevs promotion. Kunayev was ousted in 1986 and replaced by a Russian, Gennady Kolbin, Nazarbayev was named party leader on 22 June 1989-- only the second Kazakh to hold the post. He was Chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 22 February to 24 April 1990, on 24 April 1990, Nazarbayev was named the first President of Kazakhstan by the Supreme Soviet. He supported Russian President Boris Yeltsin against the coup in August 1991 by Soviet hardliners. Nazarbayev was close enough to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev for Gorbachev to consider him for the post of Vice President of the Soviet Union, however, the Soviet Union disintegrated following the failed coup, though Nazarbayev was highly concerned with maintaining the close economic ties between Kazakhstan and Russia
2.
Official residence
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An official residence is the residence at which a nations head of state, head of government, governor or other senior figure officially resides. It may or may not be the location where the individual conducts work-related functions or lives. This has occurred in the 21st century in Detroit and New York City, in the case of Denver, no mayor has ever lived in the official residence, the city instead makes it available to certain non-profit groups for special functions. The President uses own private residence, - Its address is 1 Cheongwadae-ro, Jongro-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea. It is located next to Gyeongbokgung, the palace during the Joseon Dynasty. Cheong Nam Dae - Cheong Nam Dae used to be one of the two residences for the President of Republic of Korea. It was returned to public in 2003, - It is located in Cheongwon-gun, North Chungcheong Province. Cheong Hae Dae - Cheong Hae Dae used to be one of the two residences for the President of Republic of Korea. Although the president no longer uses this facility this compound is still under the administration of the Republic of Korea Navy, - It is located on one of the islands of Geoje-shi, South Gyeongsang Province. Chongri Gonggwan - This is the residence for the Prime Minister of Republic of Korea. The Prime Minister, however, does not work here, - Its address is 111-2 Samcheongdong-gil, Jongro-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea. It is located close to Cheong Wa Dae, gukhoeuijang Gonggwan - This is the official residence for the Speaker of the National Assembly of Republic of Korea. The Speaker, also, does not work here, - It is located in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, where many foreign missions to Korea are located. Daebeobwonjang Gonggwan - This is the residence for the Chief Justice of Republic of Korea. The Chief Justice, also, does not work here, - It is also located in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Most ministers of state and heads of administrative regions also have official residences, although they are not listed here. S
3.
Ak Orda Presidential Palace
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The Akorda Presidential Palace is the official workplace of the President of Kazakhstan, located in the capital city of Astana. Akorda Presidential Palace was built three years, and officially opened in 2004. It was built by the Mabetex group, founded by Behgjet Pacolli 3rd President of Kosovo and 1st Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo. Situated on the bank of the Ishim River, it is the president’s place of work and houses the staff of the Presidential Administration. The palace includes a blue and gold dome topped with a spire and this golden statue atop the dome includes a sun with 32 rays at its apex, and also includes a steppe eagle flying beneath the sun. The buildings height is 80 meters, the first floor includes a Grand Central Hall, the Hall of Press Conferences, the Gala Hall, and the Winter Garden. The second floor offices, while the third floor is used for international events. The fourth floor includes a Dome Hall, meeting hall for the Government of the Republic, the color gold features prominently throughout the complex and twenty-one types of marble were used for the floor patterns
4.
Term of office
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A term of office is the length of time a person serves in a particular elected office. In many jurisdictions there is a limit on how long terms of office may be before the officeholder must be subject to re-election. Some jurisdictions exercise term limits, setting a number of terms an individual may hold in a particular office. Being the origin of the Westminster system, aspects of the United Kingdoms system of government are replicated in other countries. The monarch serves as head of state until his or her death or abdication, in the United Kingdom Members of Parliament in the House of Commons are elected for the duration of the parliament. Following dissolution of the Parliament, an election is held which consists of simultaneous elections for all seats. For most MPs this means that their terms of office are identical to the duration of the Parliament, an MP elected in a by-election mid-way through a Parliament, regardless of how long they have occupied the seat, is not exempt from facing re-election at the next general election. The Septennial Act 1715 provided that a Parliament expired seven years after it had been summoned, prior to the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 parliaments had no minimum duration. Parliaments could be dissolved early by the monarch at the Prime Ministers request, the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 mandated that Parliaments should last their full five years. Early dissolution is possible, but under much more limited circumstances. Hereditary peers and life peers retain membership of the House of Lords for life, Lords Spiritual hold membership of the House of Lords until the end of their time as bishops, though a senior bishop may be made a life peer upon the end of their bishopric. The devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are variations on the system of government used at Westminster, the office of the leader of the devolved administrations has no numeric term limit imposed upon it. However, in the case of the Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly Government there are fixed terms for which the legislatures can sit and this is imposed at four years. Elections may be held before this time but only if no administration can be formed, offices of local government other regional elected officials follow similar rules to the national offices discussed above, with persons elected to fixed terms of a few years. Federal judges have different terms in office, however, the majority of the federal judiciary, Article III judges, such as those of the Supreme Court, courts of appeal, and federal district courts, serve for life. The terms of office for officials in state governments according to the provisions of state constitutions. The term for state governors is four years in all states but Vermont and New Hampshire, the National Conference of State Legislatures reported in January 2007 that among state legislatures,44 states had terms of office for the lower house of the state legislature at two years. Five had terms of office at four years,37 states had terms of office for the upper house of the state legislature at four years
5.
Senate of Kazakhstan
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The Senate of Kazakhastan is the upper house of two chambers in Kazakhstans legislature, known as the Parliament. Members of the Senate are elected on the basis of indirect suffrage by secret ballot, half of elected members of the Senate are up for election every three years. Fifteen members are appointed by the President of Kazakhstan with the view to ensure representation for all the national, cultural components of society. The term of office for the members of the Senate is 6 years, the Chairman of the Senate is a person elected by the Senate among the members of the House by a secret voting majority from the total number of deputies of the House. The candidature on the post of the Chairman of the Senate is nominated by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, kassym-Jomart Tokayev is the current Chairman of the Senate. There are two Deputy Chairmen of the Senate A member of the Parliament must be a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan who has been a permanent resident on its territory over the last ten years. Powers of a member of the Parliament commence from the moment of registration as a member of the Parliament by the Central Election Commission of the Republic. Administration of the oath is done by the President at a ceremony in the presence of members of the Government, senators, along with all other MPs, must participate in the work of the Parliament and its bodies, they may only vote in person. Member of the Senate exercises the right of a vote on all issues considered at sessions of Parliament. Committees of the Senate hold visiting sessions across regions in order to examine public opinion on bills under consideration by the Parliament, up to now members of the Senate have made more than thousand inquiries on various issues of state and public life. Parliament’s involvement in international activity of Kazakhstan and engagement of MPs in identifying and implementing foreign policy of our country has significantly increased, Parliament website Kazakhstan, Senate Selection Holds Unusual Significance
6.
Kazakhstan
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Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in northern Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Kazakhstan is the worlds largest landlocked country, and the ninth largest in the world, Kazakhstan is the dominant nation of Central Asia economically, generating 60% of the regions GDP, primarily through its oil/gas industry. It also has vast mineral resources, Kazakhstan is officially a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage. Kazakhstan shares borders with Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, the terrain of Kazakhstan includes flatlands, steppe, taiga, rock canyons, hills, deltas, snow-capped mountains, and deserts. Kazakhstan has an estimated 18 million people as of 2014, Given its large area, its population density is among the lowest. The capital is Astana, where it was moved in 1997 from Almaty, the territory of Kazakhstan has historically been inhabited by nomadic tribes. This changed in the 13th century, when Genghis Khan occupied the country as part of the Mongolian Empire, following internal struggles among the conquerors, power eventually reverted to the nomads. By the 16th century, the Kazakh emerged as a distinct group, the Russians began advancing into the Kazakh steppe in the 18th century, and by the mid-19th century, they nominally ruled all of Kazakhstan as part of the Russian Empire. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, and subsequent civil war, the territory of Kazakhstan was reorganised several times, in 1936, it was made the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union. Kazakhstan was the last of the Soviet republics to declare independence during the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kazakhstan has worked to develop its economy, especially its dominant hydrocarbon industry. Kazakhstans 131 ethnicities include Kazakhs, Russians, Uzbeks, Ukrainians, Germans, Tatars, the Kazakh language is the state language, and Russian has equal official status for all levels of administrative and institutional purposes. The name Kazakh comes from the ancient Turkic word qaz, to wander, the name Cossack is of the same origin. The Persian suffix -stan means land or place of, so Kazakhstan can be translated as land of the wanderers. Kazakhstan has been inhabited since the Neolithic Age, the regions climate, archaeologists believe that humans first domesticated the horse in the regions vast steppes. Central Asia was originally inhabited by the Scythians, the Cuman entered the steppes of modern-day Kazakhstan around the early 11th century, where they later joined with the Kipchak and established the vast Cuman-Kipchak confederation. Under the Mongol Empire, the largest in history, administrative districts were established. These eventually came under the rule of the emergent Kazakh Khanate, throughout this period, traditional nomadic life and a livestock-based economy continued to dominate the steppe. Nevertheless, the region was the focus of ever-increasing disputes between the native Kazakh emirs and the neighbouring Persian-speaking peoples to the south, at its height the Khanate would rule parts of Central Asia and control Cumania
7.
Politics of Kazakhstan
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The politics of Kazakhstan takes place in the framework of a presidential republic, whereby the President of Kazakhstan is head of state and nominates the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government, legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament. The president is elected by popular vote for a five-year term, the prime minister and first deputy prime minister are appointed by the president. Council of Ministers is also appointed by the president, the president is the head of state. He also is the commander in chief of the armed forces, on top of this the election was unconstitutionally called two years ahead of schedule. Free access to the media is also denied to opposing opinions, in 2002 a law set very stringent requirements for the maintenance of legal status of a political party, which lowered the number of legal parties from 19 in 2002 to 8 in 2003. The prime minister, who serves at the pleasure of the president, chairs the Cabinet of Ministers, there are three deputy prime ministers and 16 ministers in the Cabinet. Bakhytzhan Sagintayev became the Prime Minister in September 2016, the legislature, known as the Parliament, has two chambers. The Lower House Assembly has 107 seats, elected for a term,98 seats are from party lists,9 - from Assembly of People. All MPs are elected for 5 years, the Upper House Senate has 47 members,40 of whom are elected for six-year terms in double-seat constituencies by the local assemblies, half renewed every two years, and 7 presidential appointees. In addition, ex-presidents are ex officio senators for life, majilis deputies and the government both have the right of legislative initiative, though most legislation considered by the Parliament is proposed by the government. Several deputies are elected from the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan, there are 44 judges on the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan. There are seven members of the Constitutional Council, out of the 7 members,3 are appointed by the president. There are local and oblast level courts, and a national-level Supreme Court, local level courts serve as courts of first instance for less serious crimes such as theft and vandalism. Oblast level courts hear more serious cases and also hear cases in rural areas where no local courts have been established. A judgment by a court may be appealed to the oblast level. The Supreme Court hears appeals from the oblast courts, the constitution establishes a seven-member Constitutional Council to determine the constitutionality of laws adopted by the legislature. It also rules on challenges to elections and referendums and interprets the constitution, the president appoints three of its members, including the chair
8.
Constitution of Kazakhstan
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The Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan is the highest law of Kazakhstan, as stated in Article 4. The Constitution was approved by referendum on 30 August 1995, the preamble of the constitution emphasizes the importance of freedom, equality and concord and Kazakhstans role in the international community. Article 1 establishes the state as a democracy that values individual life, rights. It outlines social and political stability, economic development, patriotism and this is the first article in which the Parliament is mentioned. Article 2 states that Kazakhstan is a state and the government is presidential. The government has jurisdiction over, and is responsible for, all territory in Kazakhstan, regional, political divisions, including location of the capital, are left open to lower level legislation. Republic of Kazakhstan and Kazakhstan are considered one and the same, the governments power is derived from the people and citizens have the right to vote in referendums and free elections. Representation of the people is a right reserved to the executive and legislative branches, the government is divided between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Each branch is prevented from abusing its power by a system of checks and this is the first article to mention constitutional limits on the executive branch. The Constitution is made the highest law, the government shall publish all laws
9.
Human rights in Kazakhstan
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Kazakhstans human rights situation is uniformly described as poor by independent observers. Human Rights Watch says that Kazakhstan heavily restricts freedom of assembly, speech, in 2014, authorities closed newspapers, jailed or fined dozens of people after peaceful but unsanctioned protests, and fined or detained worshipers for practicing religion outside state controls. Government critics, including opposition leader Vladimir Kozlov, remained in detention after unfair trials, torture remains common in places of detention. Kazakhstans political structure concentrates power in the presidency, no election ever held in Kazakhstan has met international standards. In 2012 Kazakhstan was elected as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Kazakh authorities reportedly attempted to restrict freedom of speech and shut down independent media and civil society groups. In September, the Vremya printing house unexpectedly cancelled contracts with seven newspapers, likewise, other printing firms in Kazakhstans former capital, Almaty, also refused to print the publications. After a week-long hunger strike by the editors of these papers, virtually all of Kazakhstans broadcast media are owned by firms closely associated with the government, newspapers are some of the few sources of independent reporting. Some outsider observers, including HRW, have noted increasing anxiety in the Kazakh government after recent democratic revolutions in former Soviet states including Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. Efforts to restrict dissent ahead of the 2 December 2005 elections may have indicated the governments attempt to prevent such transformation from occurring in Kazakhstan, in 2016 Astana hosted a roundtable discussion on Human Rights Day, December 10. According to a US government report released in 2014, in Kazakhstan, the executive branch sharply limited judicial independence. Prosecutors enjoyed a role and had the authority to suspend court decisions. Corruption was evident at every stage of the judicial process, in 1992 after gaining independence Kazakhstan adopted the Law on Freedom of Religion and Religious Associations, which aimed to ensure inter-faith tolerance and religious freedom. As of 2014, there were over 3400 religious organizations in Kazakhstan, Human Rights watch however has said that Minority religious groups continued to be subjected to fines and short-term detention in 2014 for violating a restrictive religion law. A UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion recommended far-reaching reforms to the 2011 religion law, finding, for example, suffer from serious infringements of their freedom of religion. In order to promote dialogue and prevent religious conflict worldwide, Kazakhstan hosts regular Congress of the Leaders of World. The first congress was held in 2003 and was attended by 17 religious delegations, in order to address the threat of religious extremism, the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions held international conference, Religions against Terrorism, on May 31,2016. One day later the Congress held its 15th session in Astana, the Forum 18 News Service reported, Riot police who took part in the destruction threw personal belongings of the Hare Krishna devotees into the snow, and many devotees were left without clothes. Power for lighting and heating systems had been cut off before the demolition began, furniture and larger household belongings were loaded onto trucks
10.
Parliament of Kazakhstan
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The Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan is the bicameral legislature of Kazakhstan, according to the 1995 Constitution of Kazakhstan. The lower house is the Majilis, with 107 seats, and are elected to four year terms, the upper house is the Senate, which has 47 members. As of January 2007, 10% of the representatives are women and 19% of local. Its predecessor was the Supreme Soviet, Kazakhstan held elections to the Senate on 1 October 2014. According to the Central Electoral Commission of Kazakhstan, it was an open, the OSCE commented that Preparations for the 26 April election were efficiently administered, however, necessary reforms for holding genuine democratic elections still have to materialize. The predominant position of the incumbent and the lack of genuine opposition limited voter choice, a restricted media environment stifled public debate and freedom of expression. About 250 observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization were present for the voting, four women were among the 80 candidates vying for the 16 open Senate seats. The results to be announced on 7 October 2014, List of Chairmen of the Supreme Soviet of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic Politics of Kazakhstan List of legislatures by country List of political parties in Kazakhstan Parliament website
11.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev
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Kassym-Zhomart Kemeluly Tokayev is a Kazakh politician and diplomat who has served as Chairman of the Senate of Kazakhstan since 16 October 2013. He previously held the same post from 11 January 2007 to 15 April 2011, Tokayev served as Prime Minister of Kazakhstan from 1 October 1999 to 28 January 2002 and as Director General of the United Nations Office at Geneva from 12 March 2011 to 16 October 2013. His father, Kemel Tokayev, was a veteran of the Second World War and his mother, Turar Shabarbayeva, worked at the Alma-Ata Institute of Foreign Languages. In 1970, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev joined the Moscow State Institute of International relations, in his fifth year, he was sent to the training courses at the USSR Embassay in China for six months. In 1979, he returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, in 1983, he went to the People’s Republic of China for training courses at the Beijing Language Institute. In 1984–1985, he served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and he was then posted to the Soviet Embassy in Beijing where he served until 1991 as Second Secretary, First Secretary, and Counsellor. In 1991, he enrolled at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR in Moscow in a course for senior diplomats. In 1992, Tokayev was appointed Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in 1993, he became First Deputy Foreign Minister and in 1994 he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. In March 1999, he was promoted to the post of Deputy Prime Minister, in October 1999, with the endorsement of the Parliament, he was appointed Prime Minister by Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In January 2002, he resigned and was subsequently appointed Secretary of State – Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tokayev continued to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs until January 2007 when he was elected Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Tokayev held the post of Foreign Minister for ten years, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tokayev played an active role in the field of nuclear non-proliferation. In 1995 and 2005, he participated in the Review Conferences for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in New York, in 1996, he signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in New York, and in 2005 the Treaty on a Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone in Central Asia in Semipalatinsk. He was elected Chairman of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Tokayev took part in ten sessions of the United Nations General Assembly. He holds the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. As Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament of Kazakhstan, Tokayev was elected in 2008 Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and his view on the political system of Kazakhstan, Strong President, authoritative Parliament, accountable Government. We must ensure the implementation of this important provision by legislative, and most importantly, it is essential to carry out the President’s demand on the national jurisdiction over the land as well as its efficient and rational use”. Mr. Tokayev made these comments during the hearings in the Senate on 29 April 2016. He serves as Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament and he is also the Designated Official for safety and security of UN personnel for Switzerland
12.
Mazhilis
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The Mazhilis is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Kazakhstan, known as the Parlamenti, in the Government of Kazakhstan. The upper house of Parliament is the Senate of Kazakhstan, members of Parliament are elected to five year terms. International observers reported procedural violations in the Majlis voting, the new parliament, which was seated in January 1996, included sixty-eight Kazak and thirty-one Russian deputies, even ten deputies were women
13.
Nurlan Nigmatulin
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Nurlan Nigmatulin is a Kazakh politician, who has been Chairman of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan since 2016. From 1984 to 1985 Nigmatulin worked as an engineer in the Director of Transportation Department in Production Association Karagandaoblgas,1990 –1993 - Committee of Youth Organizations of Kazakhstan, Chairman. 1993 –1995 - President of Kazakh-American Joint Venture Tengri,1995 –1999 - State Inspector, Deputy Head of Organizational-Control Department of the President Administration of Kazakhstan. 1999 –2002 - Deputy Governor of Astana city 2002 –2004 - Vice-Minister of Transport,2004, June –2006, January - Deputy Head of the President Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan. 2006, January –2009, November - Governor of Karaganda Region,2009, November -2012, September - First Deputy Chairman of Nur Otan Peoples Democratic Party. 20 January 2012 –3 April 2014 - Chairman of Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan,3 April 2014 -21 June 2016 - Head of the Executive Office of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Since 22 June 2016 - Chairman of Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 1999-2002 - Member of the Political Council of Otan Party. 2000-2002 - Chairman of the Astana city branch of the OtanParty, 2002-2003 - Member of the Board of Directors of CJSC National Information Technologies. 2002-2003 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Аstana International Airport,2003 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of KazakhTelecom. 2007 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Аir Astana Married, sons – Nurzhan, Nurkhan, Madi and two grandchildren. Twin-brother Yerlan Nigmatulin – Member of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Member of Committee on the Environment and Rural Development
14.
Elections in Kazakhstan
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Elections in Kazakhstan are held on a national level to elect a President and the Parliament, which is divided into two bodies, the Majilis and the Senate. Local elections for maslikhats are held five years. Elections are administered by the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan, there are more than 10 political parties in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan’s political opposition is the most developed in the region in terms of its abilities and resources. The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights has deployed election monitors to Kazakhstan for observation of parliamentary, in the recent Kazakh elections, many Kazakh voters were offered a choice of voting on electronic voting machines or on paper ballots. At least some of the boxes used in Kazakhstan are transparent in order to defend against ballot box stuffing. Each polling place was equipped with both a large box and smaller mobile ballot boxes. The latter are designed to be carried, by poll-workers, to voters outside the polling place and this is an alternative to offering absentee ballots or proxy voting for voters with disabilities that prevent them from going to the polls. Electronic voting in Kazakhstan is based on the AIS Sailau electronic voting system developed in Belarus and this system is best described as an indirect-recording electronic voting system, as opposed to the DRE voting machines that have been more widely studied. In this system, the touch-screen voting terminal in the voting booth serves as a ballot marking device, the voting terminal itself retains no record of the vote after the voter takes the smart card. Candidates for elected office in Kazakhstan can receive financial support to cover campaign costs. In Senate elections, each candidate receives about $2,170, there have been several international election observation missions organised in Kazakhstan. The OSCE has observed the elections, kazakhstans president is elected by the people and serves for at most two five-year terms. Term limits were removed for the incumbent Nursultan Nazarbayev on 18 May 2007, early presidential elections were called by President Nazarbayev and were held on April 26,2015. President Barack Obama sent a letter to President Nazarbayev congratulating him on his reelection in the April 26 election, the legislature, known as the Parliament, has two chambers. The Assembly has 107 seats, elected for a term,98 elected in general elections by proportional representation with 7% threshold and 9 elected by the Assembly of Kazakhstani Nation. The Senate has 47 members,40 of whom are elected to terms in double-seat constituencies by the local assemblies. In addition, ex-presidents are ex officio senators for life, as of March 2015, none of the elections held in Kazakhstan have been considered free or fair by Western countries or international observers
15.
Kazakh presidential election, 2005
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Kazakhstan held a presidential election on 4 December 2005. Incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbayev, in power since 1989, sought, opposition candidates were allowed some access to the mass media, but this was still restricted. According to western election observers, opposition candidates also suffered considerable harassment, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe criticized the elections, calling them unfair, but noted improvements. Zamanbek Nurkadilov, described as the figure of the opposition, was unable to take part. A former mayor of Almaty and government minister, Nurkadilov had joined the opposition and he was found shot dead in November, shortly after reportedly saying that he would go public with documents proving government corruption. Near his body was a pillow pierced by bullets that may have used as a silencer. The official cause of death was presented as suicide, with a report stating that Nurkadilov had shot himself twice in the chest, onalsyn Zhumabekov, Chairman of Kazakhstan’s Central Election Commission, declared the election valid. About 1,600 observers monitored the election, including 465 from the influential Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe
16.
Kazakh presidential election, 2011
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Early presidential elections were held in Kazakhstan on 3 April 2011, having been originally scheduled for 2012. The elections were called after a plan for holding a referendum to increase president term limits to 2020 was rejected by the Constitutional Council, Nazarbayev was re-elected for a third term with 95% of the votes and 90% turnout, against three nominal candidates. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe has complained about a lack of transparency, Kazakhstan was reported at the 132nd place over 167 on The Economists Democracy Index for 2010, as an authoritarian regime. A referendum on extending presidential term limits was proposed to be held around March 2011, President Nursultan Nazarbayevs term was due to expire in 2012 and the referendum would have bypassed the next two scheduled elections. A Kazakh official stated that the move would help save our efforts, although Nazarbayev rejected the proposal, it would still have gone ahead if 80% of the members of the parliament voted for it, or if a public petition obtained at least 200,000 signatures. Media reports suggested that a petition for the referendum had already signed by 2,600,000 people. The Court therefore referred the matter to the President himself, as required by the Constitution of Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev agreed on putting aside the Constitutional referendum and immediately called for an early presidential election. Twenty-two potential candidates were counted before the process began, their number was finally reduced to four. The law requiring fluency in Kazakh was enacted in the 1990s, opponents charged that the test was administered in such a way as to disqualify Nazarbayevs opponents. Nazarbayev himself announced on 11 February 2011 that he would run for reelection and his candidacy was approved on 18 February 2011. Former member of parliament Ualikhan Qaisarov had taken the test on 8 February 2011, in total, eight candidates have either withdrawn their applications or failed the mandatory Kazakh language test. The environmentalist Mels Yeleusizov, even admitted to voting for Nazarbayev, the short timespan before election was cited by opposition leaders as impeding them to prepare and contest the poll. They therefore refused to part in the vote and called for a boycott. The option to vote against all, common in countries, was last legally available in the 1999 presidential election. Independent NGOs such as RFE/RL have reported increasing censorship by Kazakh authorities since February, on March 2, RFE/RL reported severe disruption of access to its websites, allegedly linked to orders received by government-controlled service providers KazTelecom and Nursat. International monitors cited numerous cases of ballot box-stuffing, voter intimidation, the OSCE received multiple reports of people being pressured to vote, and government officials were seen intimidating voters in universities, hospitals and military encampments. Other kinds of reported violations include seemingly identical signatures on voter lists, the OSCE concluded that the vote count lacked transparency and that correct procedures were often disregarded. The OSCE complained about a lack of transparency and competition in the vote
17.
Kazakh presidential election, 2015
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Early presidential elections were held in Kazakhstan on 26 April 2015, having been originally scheduled for 2016. The result was a victory for long-term incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Nur Otan, on 14 February 2015, the Peoples Assembly unanimously voted on the initiative to move presidential elections forward from 2016 to 2015. One motivation was that elections would help the development of the country. On 18 February, the Mazhilis unanimously asked President Nursultan Nazarbayev to move the elections, on 19 February, the Senate followed. In the first vote, there was one vote against the initiative, the senators were asked to vote again, and the second vote was unanimous. The first vote was explained as a technical error. On 25 February 2015 Nazarbayev signed a decree scheduling the elections for 26 April. He also confirmed that he would run
18.
Kazakhstani legislative election, 2007
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Parliamentary elections were held in Kazakhstan on 18 August 2007. President Nursultan Nazarbayevs Nur Otan party received 88% of the vote, none of the six other parties contesting the election passed the 7% threshold to win seats. A total of 107 seats were at stake in the Majilis, under the changes,98 deputies were elected by party lists, an increase from just 10 in the previous parliament. The remaining nine seats were reserved for members elected by the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan, bias in the state media was also considered a problem. Elections of the Majilis 2007 Central Election Commission
19.
Kazakhstani legislative election, 2012
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Parliamentary elections were held in Kazakhstan on 15 January 2012. The result was a victory for the Nur Otan party, which won 83 of the 98 seats in the Mazhilis, however, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe stated that the election did not meet fundamental principles of democratic elections. The elections marked the first time that the party would gain parliamentary seats irrespective of whether it cleared the 7% electoral threshold. Due to the 2011 Mangystau riots and the state of emergency there. However, this decision was overturned on 10 January 2012, the OSDP was the only party considered to be in opposition to long-time president Nursultan Nazarbayev. The opposition claimed there was widespread irregularities and fraud, the OSCE and US Department of State did not recognise the elections as democratic. Haraszti said the results of the election, including the presence of two parties apart from the party, can be described as an orchestrated election
20.
Administrative divisions of Kazakhstan
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Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in northern Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Kazakhstan is the worlds largest landlocked country, and the ninth largest in the world, Kazakhstan is the dominant nation of Central Asia economically, generating 60% of the regions GDP, primarily through its oil/gas industry. It also has vast mineral resources, Kazakhstan is officially a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage. Kazakhstan shares borders with Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, the terrain of Kazakhstan includes flatlands, steppe, taiga, rock canyons, hills, deltas, snow-capped mountains, and deserts. Kazakhstan has an estimated 18 million people as of 2014, Given its large area, its population density is among the lowest. The capital is Astana, where it was moved in 1997 from Almaty, the territory of Kazakhstan has historically been inhabited by nomadic tribes. This changed in the 13th century, when Genghis Khan occupied the country as part of the Mongolian Empire, following internal struggles among the conquerors, power eventually reverted to the nomads. By the 16th century, the Kazakh emerged as a distinct group, the Russians began advancing into the Kazakh steppe in the 18th century, and by the mid-19th century, they nominally ruled all of Kazakhstan as part of the Russian Empire. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, and subsequent civil war, the territory of Kazakhstan was reorganised several times, in 1936, it was made the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union. Kazakhstan was the last of the Soviet republics to declare independence during the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kazakhstan has worked to develop its economy, especially its dominant hydrocarbon industry. Kazakhstans 131 ethnicities include Kazakhs, Russians, Uzbeks, Ukrainians, Germans, Tatars, the Kazakh language is the state language, and Russian has equal official status for all levels of administrative and institutional purposes. The name Kazakh comes from the ancient Turkic word qaz, to wander, the name Cossack is of the same origin. The Persian suffix -stan means land or place of, so Kazakhstan can be translated as land of the wanderers. Kazakhstan has been inhabited since the Neolithic Age, the regions climate, archaeologists believe that humans first domesticated the horse in the regions vast steppes. Central Asia was originally inhabited by the Scythians, the Cuman entered the steppes of modern-day Kazakhstan around the early 11th century, where they later joined with the Kipchak and established the vast Cuman-Kipchak confederation. Under the Mongol Empire, the largest in history, administrative districts were established. These eventually came under the rule of the emergent Kazakh Khanate, throughout this period, traditional nomadic life and a livestock-based economy continued to dominate the steppe. Nevertheless, the region was the focus of ever-increasing disputes between the native Kazakh emirs and the neighbouring Persian-speaking peoples to the south, at its height the Khanate would rule parts of Central Asia and control Cumania
21.
Regions of Kazakhstan
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Kazakhstan is divided into 14 regions. The regions are subdivided into districts. Three cities, Baykonur, the largest city Almaty and the capital Astana are not part of the regions they are surrounded by, ^1 Almaty and Astana cities have the status of State importance and do not relate to any region. ^2 The West Kazakhstan and Atyrau regions are both located in Eastern Europe as the Ural River run through Atyrau and Oral, their respective capital cities. ^3 Baikonur city has a special status because it is currently being leased to Russia with Baikonur Cosmodrome until the year 2050, over the last 60 years, both the distribution and names of regions of Kazakhstan have changed considerably. Changes in region names were often in line with the renaming of cities, after the administrative reform in 1997, the last change happened since then took place in 1999, when parts of North Kazakhstan that originally belonged to Kokshetau region became part of Akmola. The 1990s merges were in order to dilute Russian population in the resulting region and to avoid having regions where Russians form majority
22.
Foreign relations of Kazakhstan
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Foreign relations of Kazakhstan are primarily based on economic and political security. S. in the War on Terror. Kazakhstan established a union with Russia and Belarus, transformed into the Eurasian Economic Community then in 2015 into the Eurasian Economic Union. President Nazarbayev has prioritized economic diplomacy into Kazakhstans foreign policy, Kazakhstan has a multi-vector foreign policy, i. e. a triangulation between the major powers of Russia, China and the US. Kazakhstan has called for integration in Central Asia” and international integration of the region. In December 2010 Kazakhstan held the first OSCE summit since 1999, in 2015 Kazakhstan joined the Inter-American Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters. In September the Kazakh Senate ratified the Convention, which unites 26 countries, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, not until 2005 did Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan agree to begin demarcating their shared borders. No seabed boundary with Turkmenistan in the Caspian Sea has been agreed on, according to Sagintaev Bakytzshan Abdirovich, first deputy prime minister, in 2015 Kazakhstan and China will sign an intergovernmental agreement on water allocation of the 24 transboundary rivers. When the Soviet Union collapsed in December 1991, Kazakhstan inherited 1,410 nuclear warheads, by April 1995, Kazakhstan had returned the warheads to Russia and, by July 2000, had destroyed the nuclear testing infrastructure at Semipalatinsk. The contribution of Kazakhstans President Nazarbayev to nuclear non-proliferation was highly recognized by Japan, during his visit to Japan in November 2016, Nursultan Nazarbayev was awarded the title of special honorary citizen of Hiroshima for his non-proliferation efforts. In 1998, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimated that a minimum of 1,517 tons of cannabis was harvested in Kazakhstan, with the fall of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan became a major transit country for narcotics produced in Southwest Asia, primarily from Afghanistan. In 2001, Kazakh authorities reported 1,320 cases of trafficking and seized 18 metric tons of narcotics.2. Russia and other parts of Europe are the markets for these drugs although drug use is growing in Kazakhstan as well. The KazAID program implies technical assistance and humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, as of 2016, Kazakhstan provided Afghanistan with 20,000 tons of food products valued at some $20 million. Diplomatic relations were established on August 27,1992, azerbaijan has an embassy in Astana. Kazakhstan has had an embassy in Baku since December 16,1994, bilateral relationships between the countries are very strong and Kyrgyz and Kazakh are very close in terms of language, culture and religion. On April 26,2007 the presidents of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan signed an agreement to create an International Supreme Council between the two states and this historic event took place during an official visit of the Kazakh president to the Kyrgyzstan capital, Bishkek. Kazakhstan has an embassy in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan has an embassy in Astana. Kazakhstan–Uzbekistan relations have always been sincere and strong, since the rapid development of Kazakhstan the president of Uzbekistan Mr. Karimov has visited Kazakhstan several times
23.
Kazakh language
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Kazakh belongs to the Kipchak branch of the Turkic languages. It is closely related to Nogai, Kyrgyz, and especially Karakalpak, Kazakh is also spoken by many ethnic Kazakhs through the former Soviet Union, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, and Germany. Like other Turkic languages, Kazakh is a language. The Kazakh language has its speakers spread over a vast territory from the Tian Shan to the shore of Caspian Sea. Kazakh is the state language of Kazakhstan, in which nearly 10 million speakers are reported to live. In China, more than one million ethnic Kazakhs and Kazakh speakers reside in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang. Today, Kazakh is written in Cyrillic in Kazakhstan and Mongolia, the oldest known written records of languages closely related to Kazakh were written in the Old Turkic alphabet. However, it is not believed any of these varieties were direct predecessors of Kazakh. Modern Kazakh has historically been written using versions of the Latin, in October 2006, Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President of Kazakhstan, brought up the topic of using the Latin alphabet instead of the Cyrillic alphabet as the official script for Kazakh in Kazakhstan. A Kazakh government study released in September 2007 said that Kazakhstan could feasibly switch to a Latin script over a 10- to 12-year period, the transition was halted temporarily on December 13,2007, with President Nazarbayev declaring, “For 70 years the Kazakhstanis read and wrote in Cyrillic. More than 100 nationalities live in our state, thus we need stability and peace. We should be in no hurry in the issue of alphabet transformation”, Kazakh exhibits tongue-root vowel harmony, with some words of recent foreign origin as exceptions. There is also a system of rounding harmony which resembles that of Kyrgyz, the following chart depicts the consonant inventory of standard Kazakh, many of the sounds, however, are allophones of other sounds or appear only in recent loan-words. The 18 consonant phonemes listed by Vajda are in bold—since these are phonemes, their place and manner of articulation are very general. The borrowed phonemes /f/, /v/, /ɕ/, /t͡ɕ/ and /x/, only occur in recent mostly Russian borrowings, in the table, the elements left of a divide are voiceless, while those to the right are voiced. Kazakh has a system of nine phonemic vowels, three of which are diphthongs, the rounding contrast and /æ/ generally only occur as phonemes in the first syllable of a word, but do occur later allophonically, see the section on harmony below for more information. According to Vajda, the quality of vowels is actually one of neutral versus retracted tongue root. Per convention, rounded vowels are presented to the right of their unrounded counterparts, phonetic values are paired with the corresponding character in Kazakhs Cyrillic alphabet
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Russian language
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Russian is an East Slavic language and an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many minor or unrecognised territories. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages, written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century and beyond. It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages and it is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Russian is also the second most widespread language on the Internet after English, Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language, another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Russian is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family and it is a lineal descendant of the language used in Kievan Rus. From the point of view of the language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect, although vanished during the 15th or 16th century, is considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. In the 19th century, the language was often called Great Russian to distinguish it from Belarusian, then called White Russian and Ukrainian, however, the East Slavic forms have tended to be used exclusively in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with different meanings. For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language and it is also regarded by the United States Intelligence Community as a hard target language, due to both its difficulty to master for English speakers and its critical role in American world policy. The standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language, mikhail Lomonosov first compiled a normalizing grammar book in 1755, in 1783 the Russian Academys first explanatory Russian dictionary appeared. By the mid-20th century, such dialects were forced out with the introduction of the education system that was established by the Soviet government. Despite the formalization of Standard Russian, some nonstandard dialectal features are observed in colloquial speech. Thus, the Russian language is the 6th largest in the world by number of speakers, after English, Mandarin, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a choice for both Russian as a second language and native speakers in Russia as well as many of the former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics, samuel P. Huntington wrote in the Clash of Civilizations, During the heyday of the Soviet Union, Russian was the lingua franca from Prague to Hanoi
25.
Head of state
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A head of state is the public persona that officially represents the national unity and legitimacy of a sovereign state. In some countries, the head of state is a figurehead with limited or no executive power, while in others. Former French president Charles de Gaulle, while developing the current Constitution of France, some academic writers discuss states and governments in terms of models. An independent nation state normally has a head of state, the non-executive model, in which the head of state has either none or very limited executive powers, and mainly has a ceremonial and symbolic role. In parliamentary systems the head of state may be merely the chief executive officer, heading the executive branch of the state. This accountability and legitimacy requires that someone be chosen who has a majority support in the legislature and it also gives the legislature the right to vote down the head of government and their cabinet, forcing it either to resign or seek a parliamentary dissolution. In parliamentary constitutional monarchies, the legitimacy of the head of state typically derives from the tacit approval of the people via the elected representatives. In reality, numerous variants exist to the position of a head of state within a parliamentary system, usually, the king had the power of declaring war without previous consent of the parliament. For example, under the 1848 constitution of the Kingdom of Italy, the Statuto Albertino—the parliamentary approval to the government appointed by the king—was customary, so, Italy had a de facto parliamentarian system, but a de jure presidential system. These officials are excluded completely from the executive, they do not possess even theoretical executive powers or any role, even formal, hence their states governments are not referred to by the traditional parliamentary model head of state styles of His/Her Majestys Government or His/Her Excellencys Government. Within this general category, variants in terms of powers and functions may exist, the constitution explicitly vests all executive power in the Cabinet, who is chaired by the prime minister and responsible to the Diet. The emperor is defined in the constitution as the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people and he is a ceremonial figurehead with no independent discretionary powers related to the governance of Japan. Today, the Speaker of the Riksdag appoints the prime minister, Cabinet members are appointed and dismissed at the sole discretion of the prime minister. In contrast, the contact the President of Ireland has with the Irish government is through a formal briefing session given by the taoiseach to the president. However, he or she has no access to documentation and all access to ministers goes through the Department of the Taoiseach. The president does, however, hold limited reserve powers, such as referring a bill to the court to test its constitutionality. The most extreme non-executive republican Head of State is the President of Israel, semi-presidential systems combine features of presidential and parliamentary systems, notably a requirement that the government be answerable to both the president and the legislature. The constitution of the Fifth French Republic provides for a minister who is chosen by the president
26.
Commander-in-chief
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A commander-in-chief is the person or body that exercises supreme operational command and control of a nations military forces or significant elements of those forces. In the latter case, the element is those forces within a particular region. Often, a given countrys commander-in-chief need not be or have been an officer or even a veteran. This follows the principle of civilian control of the military, the role of commander-in-chief derives from the Latin, imperator. Imperatores of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire possessed imperium powers, in its modern use, the term first applied to King Charles I of England in 1639. It continued to be used during the English Civil War, a nations head of state usually holds the nominal position of commander-in-chief, even if effective executive power is held by a separate head of government. Governors-general and colonial governors are also often appointed commander-in-chief of the forces within their territory. A commander-in-chief is sometimes referred to as commander, which is sometimes used as a specific term. The term is used for military officers who hold such power and authority, not always through dictatorship. The term is used for officers who hold authority over an individual military branch. According to the Constitution of Albania, The President of the Republic of Albania is the Commander-in-chief of Albanian Armed Forces, the incumbent Commander-in-chief is President Bujar Nishani. The Ministry of Defense is the government department that assists and serves the President in the management of the armed forces, the Minister for Defence and several subordinate ministers exercise this control through the Australian Defence Organisation. The Constitution states, in Article 80, that the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Armed Forces. e, the cabinet under the chairmanship of the Federal Chancellor, as defined in Article 69. The commander-in-chief is the president, although executive power and responsibility for national defense resides with the prime minister and he retired on 7 April 1972 and relinquished all authority and duties to the President of Bangladesh. Article 142 of the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 states that the Brazilian Armed Forces is under the command of the President of the Republic. The Sultan of Brunei is the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces, the powers of command-in-chief over the Canadian Armed Forces are vested in the Canadian monarch, and are delegated to the Governor General of Canada, who also uses the title Commander-in-Chief. In this capacity, the general is entitled to the uniform of a general/flag officer, with the crest of the office. According to the National Defence Act, the Minister of National Defence is responsible and accountable to parliament for all related to national defence
27.
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union was dissolved on December 26,1991. It was a result of the declaration number 142-Н of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union and that evening at 7,32, the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin for the last time and replaced with the pre-revolutionary Russian flag. Previously, from August to December, all the individual republics, the week before the unions formal dissolution,11 republics signed the Alma-Ata Protocol formally establishing the CIS and declaring that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist. The Revolutions of 1989 and the dissolution of the USSR also signalled the end of the Cold War, on the other hand, only the Baltic states have joined NATO and the European Union. Mikhail Gorbachev was elected General Secretary by the Politburo on March 11,1985, Gorbachev, aged 54, was the youngest member of the Politburo. His initial goal as general secretary was to revive the Soviet economy, the reforms began with personnel changes of senior Brezhnev-era officials who would impede political and economic change. On April 23,1985, Gorbachev brought two protégés, Yegor Ligachev and Nikolai Ryzhkov, into the Politburo as full members. He kept the power ministries happy by promoting KGB Head Viktor Chebrikov from candidate to full member and this liberalisation, however, fostered nationalist movements and ethnic disputes within the Soviet Union. Under Gorbachevs leadership, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1989 introduced limited competitive elections to a new central legislature, in May 1985, Gorbachev delivered a speech in Leningrad advocating reforms and an anti-alcohol campaign to tackle widespread alcoholism. Prices of vodka, wine, and beer were raised in order to make these drinks more expensive and a disincentive to consumers, unlike most forms of rationing intended to conserve scarce goods, this was done to restrict sales with the overt goal of curtailing drunkenness. Gorbachevs plan also included billboards promoting sobriety, increased penalties for public drunkenness, however, Gorbachev soon faced the same adverse economic reaction to his prohibition as did the last Tsar. The disincentivization of alcohol consumption was a blow to the state budget according to Alexander Yakovlev. Alcohol production migrated to the market, or through moonshining as some made bathtub vodka with homegrown potatoes. The purpose of these reforms, however, was to prop up the centrally planned economy, unlike later reforms. The latter, disparaged as Mr Nyet in the West, had served for 28 years as Minister of Foreign Affairs, gromyko was relegated to the largely ceremonial position of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, as he was considered an old thinker. In the fall of 1985, Gorbachev continued to bring younger, at the next Central Committee meeting on October 15, Tikhonov retired from the Politburo and Talyzin became a candidate. Finally, on December 23,1985, Gorbachev appointed Yeltsin First Secretary of the Moscow Communist Party replacing Viktor Grishin, Gorbachev continued to press for greater liberalization. The CTAG Helsinki-86 was founded in July 1986 in the Latvian port town of Liepāja by three workers, Linards Grantiņš, Raimonds Bitenieks, and Mārtiņš Bariss and its name refers to the human-rights statements of the Helsinki Accords
28.
The Washington Post
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The Washington Post is an American daily newspaper. It is the most widely circulated newspaper published in Washington, D. C. and was founded on December 6,1877 and its current slogan is Democracy Dies in Darkness. Located in the city of the United States, the newspaper has a particular emphasis on national politics. Daily editions are printed for the District of Columbia, Maryland, the newspaper is published as a broadsheet, with photographs printed both in color and in black and white. The newspaper has won 47 Pulitzer Prizes and this includes six separate Pulitzers awarded in 2008, the second-highest number ever awarded to a single newspaper in one year, second only to The New York Times seven awards in 2002. Post journalists have also received 18 Nieman Fellowships and 368 White House News Photographers Association awards, in years since, its investigations have led to increased review of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In 2013, its owners, the Graham family, sold the newspaper to billionaire entrepreneur. The newspaper is owned by Nash Holdings LLC, a holding company Bezos created for the acquisition, the Washington Post is generally regarded as one of the leading daily American newspapers, along with The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. The Post has distinguished itself through its reporting on the workings of the White House, Congress. It is one of the two daily broadsheets published in Washington D. C. the other being its smaller rival The Washington Times, unlike The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post does not print an edition for distribution away from the East Coast. In 2009, the newspaper ceased publication of its National Weekly Edition, the majority of its newsprint readership is in District of Columbia and its suburbs in Maryland and Northern Virginia. The Sunday Style section differs slightly from the weekday Style section, it is in a tabloid format, and it houses the reader-written humor contest The Style Invitational. Additional weekly sections appear on weekdays, Health & Science on Tuesday, Food on Wednesday, Local Living on Thursday, the latter two are in a tabloid format. In November 2009, it announced the closure of its U. S. regional bureaus—Chicago, Los Angeles and New York—as part of a focus on. political stories. The newspaper has bureaus in Maryland and Virginia. While its circulation has been slipping, it has one of the highest market-penetration rates of any metropolitan news daily, for many decades, the Post had its main office at 1150 15th Street NW. This real estate remained with Graham Holdings when the newspaper was sold to Jeff Bezos Nash Holdings in 2013, Graham Holdings sold 1150 15th Street for US$159 million in November 2013. The Washington Post continued to lease space at 1150 L Street NW, in May 2014, The Washington Post leased the west tower of One Franklin Square, a high-rise building at 1301 K Street NW in Washington, D. C
29.
Communist Party of Kazakhstan
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The Communist Party of Kazakhstan is a banned political party in Kazakhstan. The Communist Party of Kazakhstan was founded 1936, when Kazakhstan was granted a Union Republic status within the Soviet Union, the Communist Party of Kazakhstan had been a branch of CPSU until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The 18th Congress of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan took a decision to rename the Communist Party as the Socialist Party, nursultan Nazarbayev, the party chairman, resigned when he became the first President of Kazakhstan in 1991. Dissatisfied members of the old Communist Party recreated the Communist Party of Kazakhstan in October 1991 at the 19th Congress of the party, CPK was officially registered on August 27,1998. Communist Party of Kazakhstan has a party structure with offices in all of the oblasts. CPK is estimated to have around 70 thousand members, CPK largely appeals to above-middle age segment of the population especially in Urban areas who have a strong nostalgia for Soviet times. The leader of CPK has been by Serikbolsyn Abdildin, a respected, in the mid-1990s CPK participated in opposition coalition movements Azamat and Pokolenie. In 1996, CPK initiated unregistered National-Patriotic Movement-Republic, in February 1998, it joined the opposition bloc People’s Front of Kazakhstan. The party split at the start of 2004, when a group led Vladislav Kosarev started accusing party First Secretary Serikbolsyn Abdildin of accepting money from questionable sources. The splinter party, the Communist Peoples Party of Kazakhstan, has failed to meet 50,000 membership requirement to be officially registered. At the last legislative elections,19 September and 3 October 2004, an alliance of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan and the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan won 3. 4% of the popular vote and no seats
30.
Kazakh presidential election, 1999
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Presidential elections were held in Kazakhstan on 10 January 1999. Incumbent president Nursultan Nazarbayev won the election with over 80% of the vote, most observers viewed the election as blatantly unfair, further confirming that Nazarbayev was not interested in promoting a democratic system of government. Voter turnout was reported to be 87. 0%, kazakhstans second presidential election was originally scheduled to occur in 1996. However, after a 1995 referendum the date was set to be in December 2000. Parliamentary action in the fall of 1998, however, ultimately resulted in the election occurring in early 1999, on 7 October 1998, nineteen amendments to the constitution were passed by Parliament and signed into law by President Nazarbayev. One amendment to article 94 reads, Acting under this new amendment, the president agreed, after which the Majilis set January 10,1999 as the date for new elections. The main opposition candidate, Akezhan Kazhegeldin, was barred from running in the election, a recently passed law prohibited anyone convicted of a crime from running in the election. Kazhegeldin had recently been convicted of participating in an election rally. For the first time in a Kazakh election, ballots included an option to vote against all candidates, nazarbayevs party, the Party of Peoples Unity of Kazakhstan, was reformed into the Otan Party two months after the election. Even before the election, groups such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe expressed concern about the short preparation, OSCE pressed the Kazakh government to postpone the election so that all candidates could have adequate time to campaign, but to no avail. Vice President Al Gore called Nazarbayev in November 1998 to express concerns about the upcoming election, the lack of fair access to mass media also concerned many observers. According to OSCE, most major media outlets focused disproportionately on Nazarbayev, serikbolsyn Abdilin, the runner-up in the election, claimed widespread voter fraud and a failure to properly count ballots. The U. S. Department of State commented that the nature of the elections cast a shadow on bilateral relations. OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the Republic of Kazakhstan Presidential Election,10 January 1999 - Assessment Mission. Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
31.
Fatherland (Kazakhstan)
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Fatherland was the largest political party in Kazakhstan, led by Bakhytzhan Zhumagulov with over 700,000 members until December 22. At a subsequent party congress, delegates agreed to incorporate the Civic Party, at the uniting congress, the new party outlined a program largely supportive of the government led by President Nursultan Nazarbayev. During its last legislative elections under the Otan banner, the party won 60. 6% of the vote and 42 out of 77 seats. In the run-up to previous elections, Otan usually received a majority of media coverage. Before the 1999 election, for example, it was reported that Otan was the focus in almost 60% of the coverage. Additionally, most of the major media outlets had political leanings towards Otan
32.
Nur Otan
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The Nur Otan Democratic Peoples Party, called simply Nur Otan, is the ruling political party in Kazakhstan with over 762,000 members. Since 2007 it is headed by President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev Nazarbayevs predecessor in the party was Bakhytzhan Zhumagulov, the partys First Deputy Chairman is Askar Myrzakhmetov. At the uniting congress the new party outlined a program largely supportive of the government of Nazarbayev, at the last legislative elections under the Otan banner in 2004, the party won 60. 6% of the popular vote and 42 out of 77 seats. Otan merged with Dariga Nazarbayevas Asar on 25 September 2006, increasing the seats by 4 to 46 out of 77. After the merged party was formed, Nazarbayev remarked to his daughter Tell your Asar members that and you are returning to your father. Nazarbayeva said on 19 June 2006 that all parties should combine to create a grouping with which no other party will be able to compete in the next 50 years. In December 2006 it was announced that the Civic Party and the Agrarian Party would follow in Asars path, Nazarbayev said he expected other parties to merge with Otan. Nazarbayev said there should be fewer, stronger parties that efficiently defend the interests of the population, at the subsequent party congress on 22 December 2006, delegates voted to rename the party Nur Otan. In the 18 August 2007 Assembly elections, the party won 88. 05% of the vote, in October 2011 a cooperation agreement was signed in Astana between Nur Otan and the Ukrainian Party of Regions, and another in 2015 with United Russia
33.
The Guardian
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The Guardian is a British daily newspaper, known from 1821 until 1959 as the Manchester Guardian. Along with its sister papers The Observer and The Guardian Weekly, The Guardian is part of the Guardian Media Group, the Scott Trust became a limited company in 2008, with a constitution to maintain the same protections for The Guardian. Profits are reinvested in journalism rather than to the benefit of an owner or shareholders, the Guardian is edited by Katharine Viner, who succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. In 2016, The Guardians print edition had a daily circulation of roughly 162,000 copies in the country, behind The Daily Telegraph. The newspaper has an online UK edition as well as two international websites, Guardian Australia and Guardian US, the newspapers online edition was the fifth most widely read in the world in October 2014, with over 42.6 million readers. Its combined print and online editions reach nearly 9 million British readers, notable scoops include the 2011 News International phone hacking scandal, in particular the hacking of murdered English teenager Milly Dowlers phone. The investigation led to the closure of the UKs biggest selling Sunday newspaper, and one of the highest circulation newspapers in the world, in 2016, it led the investigation into the Panama Papers, exposing the then British Prime Minister David Camerons links to offshore bank accounts. The Guardian has been named Newspaper of the Year four times at the annual British Press Awards, the paper is still occasionally referred to by its nickname of The Grauniad, given originally for the purported frequency of its typographical errors. The Manchester Guardian was founded in Manchester in 1821 by cotton merchant John Edward Taylor with backing from the Little Circle and they launched their paper after the police closure of the more radical Manchester Observer, a paper that had championed the cause of the Peterloo Massacre protesters. They do not toil, neither do they spin, but they better than those that do. When the government closed down the Manchester Observer, the champions had the upper hand. The influential journalist Jeremiah Garnett joined Taylor during the establishment of the paper, the prospectus announcing the new publication proclaimed that it would zealously enforce the principles of civil and religious Liberty. Warmly advocate the cause of Reform, endeavour to assist in the diffusion of just principles of Political Economy and. Support, without reference to the party from which they emanate, in 1825 the paper merged with the British Volunteer and was known as The Manchester Guardian and British Volunteer until 1828. The working-class Manchester and Salford Advertiser called the Manchester Guardian the foul prostitute, the Manchester Guardian was generally hostile to labours claims. The Manchester Guardian dismissed strikes as the work of outside agitators –, if an accommodation can be effected, the occupation of the agents of the Union is gone. CP Scott made the newspaper nationally recognised and he was editor for 57 years from 1872, and became its owner when he bought the paper from the estate of Taylors son in 1907. Under Scott, the moderate editorial line became more radical, supporting William Gladstone when the Liberals split in 1886
34.
Wayback Machine
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The Internet Archive launched the Wayback Machine in October 2001. It was set up by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat, and is maintained with content from Alexa Internet, the service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the archive calls a three dimensional index. Since 1996, the Wayback Machine has been archiving cached pages of websites onto its large cluster of Linux nodes and it revisits sites every few weeks or months and archives a new version. Sites can also be captured on the fly by visitors who enter the sites URL into a search box, the intent is to capture and archive content that otherwise would be lost whenever a site is changed or closed down. The overall vision of the machines creators is to archive the entire Internet, the name Wayback Machine was chosen as a reference to the WABAC machine, a time-traveling device used by the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, an animated cartoon. These crawlers also respect the robots exclusion standard for websites whose owners opt for them not to appear in search results or be cached, to overcome inconsistencies in partially cached websites, Archive-It. Information had been kept on digital tape for five years, with Kahle occasionally allowing researchers, when the archive reached its fifth anniversary, it was unveiled and opened to the public in a ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley. Snapshots usually become more than six months after they are archived or, in some cases, even later. The frequency of snapshots is variable, so not all tracked website updates are recorded, Sometimes there are intervals of several weeks or years between snapshots. After August 2008 sites had to be listed on the Open Directory in order to be included. As of 2009, the Wayback Machine contained approximately three petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of 100 terabytes each month, the growth rate reported in 2003 was 12 terabytes/month, the data is stored on PetaBox rack systems manufactured by Capricorn Technologies. In 2009, the Internet Archive migrated its customized storage architecture to Sun Open Storage, in 2011 a new, improved version of the Wayback Machine, with an updated interface and fresher index of archived content, was made available for public testing. The index driving the classic Wayback Machine only has a bit of material past 2008. In January 2013, the company announced a ground-breaking milestone of 240 billion URLs, in October 2013, the company announced the Save a Page feature which allows any Internet user to archive the contents of a URL. This became a threat of abuse by the service for hosting malicious binaries, as of December 2014, the Wayback Machine contained almost nine petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of about 20 terabytes each week. Between October 2013 and March 2015 the websites global Alexa rank changed from 162 to 208, in a 2009 case, Netbula, LLC v. Chordiant Software Inc. defendant Chordiant filed a motion to compel Netbula to disable the robots. Netbula objected to the motion on the ground that defendants were asking to alter Netbulas website, in an October 2004 case, Telewizja Polska USA, Inc. v. Echostar Satellite, No.02 C3293,65 Fed. 673, a litigant attempted to use the Wayback Machine archives as a source of admissible evidence, Telewizja Polska is the provider of TVP Polonia and EchoStar operates the Dish Network
35.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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The Australian Broadcasting Corporation is Australias national public broadcaster, owned and funded by the government. The ABC plays a role in the history of broadcasting in Australia. With a total budget of A$1. Founded in 1929 as the Australian Broadcasting Company, it was made a state-owned corporation on 1 July 1932 as the Australian Broadcasting Commission. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983 changed the name of the organisation to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, although funded and owned by the government, the ABC remains editorially independent as ensured through the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983. The ABC is sometimes referred to as Aunty, originally in imitation of the British Broadcasting Corporations nickname. The first public station in Australia opened in Sydney on 23 November 1923 under the call sign 2SB with other stations in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth. It also nationalised the Australian Broadcasting Company which had created by entertainment interests to supply programs to various radio stations. Over the next four years the stations were reformed into a broadcasting organisation through regular program relays. The Australian broadcast radio spectrum was constituted of the ABC and the commercial sector, in 1942 The Australian Broadcasting Act was passed, giving the ABC the power to decide when, and in what circumstances, political speeches should be broadcast. Directions from the Minister about whether or not to broadcast any matter now had to be made in writing and it was used only once, in 1963. In the same year, Kindergarten of the Air began on ABC Radio in Perth, cater argues that reform was urgently needed in 1945, By the end of World War II, the ABC was a decadent, hollow institution. Its authority had been compromised by a poorly drafted charter and further undermined by timid management, poor governance, in April 1945, Boyer refused to accept the post of chairman until Prime Minister Curtin issued a mandate of independence which Boyer drafted itself. The ABC commenced television broadcasting in 1956, and followed the earlier practice of naming the station after the first letter of the base state. ABN-2 Sydney was inaugurated by Prime Minister Robert Menzies on 5 November 1956, with the first broadcast presented by Michael Charlton, aBV-2 followed two weeks later, on 18 November 1956. Stations in other cities followed, ABQ-2, ABS-2, ABW-2. ABC-3 Canberra opened in 1961, and ABD-6 started broadcasting in 1971, although radio programs could be distributed nationally by landline, television relay facilities were not in place until the early 1960s. This meant that news bulletins had to be sent to each city by teleprinter, to be prepared and presented separately in each city, with filmed materials copied manually
36.
History of Kazakhstan
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Kazakhstan, the largest country of the Eurasian Steppe, has been a historical crossroads and home to numerous different peoples, states and empires throughout history. Human activity in the region began with the extinct Pithecanthropus and Sinanthropus one million–800,000 years ago in the Karatau Mountains, neanderthals were present from 140,000 to 40,000 years ago in the Karatau Mountains and central Kazakhstan. Modern Homo sapiens appeared from 40,000 to 12,000 years ago in southern, central, after the end of the last glacial period, human settlement spread across the country and led to the extinction of the mammoth and the woolly rhinoceros. Hunter-gatherer communes invented bows and boats, and used domesticated wolves, the Neolithic Revolution was marked by the appearance of animal husbandry and agriculture, giving rise to the Atbasar, Kelteminar, Botai, and Ust-Narym cultures. The Botai culture is credited with the first domestication of horses, the fourth and third millennia witnessed the beginning of metal production, the manufacture of copper tools, and the use of casting molds. In the second millennium BCE, ore mining developed in central Kazakhstan, the change in climate forced the massive relocation of populations in and out of the steppe belt. Following with the end of the period at the beginning of the first millennium BCE, nomadic populations migrated into Kazakhstan from the west. These included several Indo-European tribes, often known collectively as the Scythians, during the fourth century CE the Huns controlled Kazakhstan, absorbing 26 independent territories and uniting a number of steppe and forest peoples into a single state. Under pressure from the Göktürks, the Huns migrated west and south, in the 13th century Kazakhstan was under the dominion of the Mongol Empire, and remained in the sphere of Mongol successor states for 300 years. Portions of the country began to be annexed by the Russian Empire in the 16th century, the modern Republic of Kazakhstan became a political entity during the 1930s Soviet subdivision of Russian Turkestan. Humans have inhabited Kazakhstan since the Lower Paleolithic, generally pursuing the nomadic pastoralism for which the regions climate, prehistoric Bronze Age cultures which extended into the region include the Srubna, the Afanasevo, and the Andronovo. Between 500 BC and 500 AD Kazakhstan was home to the Saka, the names, relations between and constituents of these peoples were sometimes fluid and interchangeable. Some of them formed states, including Yancai and Kangju in the east, over the course of several centuries, the area became dominated by Turkic and other exogenous languages, which arrived with nomad invaders and settlers from the east. Following the entry of the Huns many of the inhabitants migrated westward into Europe. By 91 AD, according to Tacitus, the Huns had reached the Turan Depression, the focus of the Hun Empire gradually moved westward from the steppes into Eastern Europe. From the middle of the 2nd Century, the Yueban – an offshoot of the Xiongnu, over the next few centuries, peoples such as the Akatziri, Avars, Sabirs and Bulgars migrated through the area and into the Caucasus and Eastern Europe. By the beginning of the 6th Century, the proto-Mongolian Rouran Khaganate had annexed areas that were part of the east Kazakhstan. The Göktürks, a Turkic people formerly subject to the Rouran, migrated westward, pushing the remnants of the Huns west, by the mid-6th Century, the Central Eurasian steppes had become controlled by the Turkic Khaganate, also known as the Göktürk Khaganate
37.
Saka
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The Saka or Saca was the term used in Persian and Sanskrit sources for the Scythians, a large group of Eastern Iranian nomadic tribes on the Eurasian Steppe. Modern scholars usually use the term Saka to refer to Iranians of the Eastern Steppe, rené Grousset wrote that they formed a particular branch of the Scytho-Sarmatian family originating from nomadic Iranian peoples of the northwestern steppe in Eurasia. They migrated into Sogdiana and Bactria in Central Asia and then to the northwest of the Indian subcontinent where they were known as the Indo-Scythians, modern debate about the identity of the Saka is partly from ambiguous usage of the word by ancient, non-Saka authorities. According to Herodotus, the Persians gave the name Saka to all Scythians, however, Pliny the Elder claims that the Persians gave the name Sakai only to the Scythian tribes nearest to them. The Scythians to the far north of Assyria were also called the Saka suni by the Persians, the Assyrians, of the time of Esarhaddon, record campaigning against a people they called in the Akkadian the Ashkuza or Ishhuza. However, modern consensus is that the Saka language, ancestor to the Pamir languages in northern India and Khotanese in Xinjiang. Another people, the Gimirrai, who were known to the ancient Greeks as the Cimmerians, were associated with the Sakas. In ancient Hebrew texts, the Ashkuz are considered to be an offshoot from the Gimirri. The Saka were regarded by the Babylonians as synonymous with the Gimirrai, the Sakā paradraya were the western Scythians or Sarmatians. Both the Sakā tigraxaudā and Sakā haumavargā are thought to be located in Central Asia east of the Caspian Sea, Sakā haumavargā is considered to be the same as Amyrgians, the Saka tribe in closest proximity to Bactria and Sogdiana. In the modern era, the archaeologist Hugo Winckler was the first to associate the Sakas with the Scyths, J. M. Sakā and Skuthai evidently constituted a generic name for the nomads on the northern frontiers. Persian sources often treat them as a tribe called the Saka. Modern scholars usually use the term Saka to refer to Iranian-speaking tribes who inhabited the Eastern Steppe, the Saka people were an Iranian people who spoke a language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. They are known to the ancient Greeks as Scythians and are attested in historical and archaeological records dating to around the 8th century BC. In the Achaemenid-era Old Persian inscriptions found at Persepolis, dated to the reign of Darius I, likewise an inscription dated to the reign of Xerxes I has them coupled with the Dahae people of Central Asia. The contemporary Greek historian Herodotus noted that the Achaemenid Persians called all of the Iranian Scythian peoples as the Saka. According to Herodotus, Cyrus the Great confronted the Massagetae, a related to the Saka. Darius the Great also waged wars against the eastern Sakas, who fought him with three armies led by three kings according to Polyaenus, in 520–519 BC, Darius I defeated the Sakā tigraxaudā tribe and captured their king Skunkha
38.
Kangju
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Kangju was the Chinese name of an ancient kingdom in Central Asia which became for a couple of centuries the second greatest power in Transoxiana after the Yuezhi. Its people, the Kang were an Indo-European semi-nomadic people probably identical to the Iranian Sogdians, Kangju 康居 = the Talas basin, Tashkent and Sogdiana. It is not clear whether the Chinese name 康居 Kangju was intended to transcribe an ethnic name, or to be descriptive, 居 ju can mean, seat, central place of activity or authority, to settle down, residence, or to occupy. The term, therefore, could mean the abode of the Kang. As kang 康 means well-being, peaceful, happy, settle, stability, Kangju can be translated as the Peaceful Land, Kangju was referred to as the State of Kang during the Sui and Tang dynasties, though by that time the area was ruled by the Göktürk Khaganate. According to 2nd century BC Chinese sources, Kangju lay north of the Dayuan and west of the Wusun and their territory covered the region of the Ferghana Valley and the area between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, with the core territory along the middle Syr Darya. Since historians of Alexander the Great do not mention the existence of any power in the area except the Khwarezmians. Chinese sources state that the Kangju were tributiaries of the Yuezhi in the south and its people are nomads and resemble the Yuezhi in their customs. They have 80,000 or 90,000 skilled archers, the country is small, and borders Dayuan. It acknowledges sovereignty to the Yuezhi people in the South and the Xiongnu in the East, qian also visited a land known to the Chinese as Yancai 奄蔡, which lay north-west of the Kangju. The people of Yancai and were said to resemble the Kangju in their customs, the people are nomads and their customs are generally similar to those of the people of Kangju. Kangju was clearly now a power in its own right. By this time it had gained control of Dayuan and Sogdiana in which it controlled “five lesser kings”, in 101 BCE, the Kangju allied themselves with the Dayuan, helping them preserve their independence against the Han. Yancai is identified with the Aorsi of Roman records, scholars have connected name Alanliao to Alans. The Yan people of the Urals, paid tribute to the Kangju in furs, the Kangju established close connections with the Sarmatians, their western neighbors. Through this expansion the Kangju gained control over key parts of the Silk Route, the Kangju state came to unite a number of regions which had sedentary, agricultural and nomadic populations. Although their territory was small, the fertility of the land and their sophisticated civilization enabled the Kangju to maintain a large population, the Kangju were in frequent struggles with the Wusun, during which they in the mid 1st century BCE allied themselved with the northern Xiongnu. The Kangju ruler gave his daughter in marriage to the northern Xiongnu ruler Chih-Chih while Chih-Chih married the daughter of the Kangju ruler, the Xiongnu and Kangju were initially successful, besieging the Wusun in 42 BCE
39.
Wusun
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The Wusun were an Indo-European semi-nomadic steppe people mentioned in Chinese records from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD. The Wusun originally lived between the Qilian Mountains and Dunhuang near the Yuezhi, around 176 BC the Yuezhi were raided by the Xiongnu, subsequently attacking the Wusun, killing their king and seizing their land. The Wusun prince was subsequently adopted by the Xiongnu ruler and made a Xiongnu general, after the Yuezhi around 162 BC were driven into the Ili Valley of Zhetysu, Dzungaria and Tian Shan formerly inhabited by the Sai, the Wusun resettled Gansu as vassals of the Xiongnu. In 133-132 BC, the Wusun drove the Yuezhi from the Ili Valley and they subsequently became close allies of the Han dynasty and a powerful force in the region for several centuries. Pressured by the Rouran, the Wusun are last mentioned by the Chinese as having settled the Pamir Mountains in the 5th century AD and they possibly became subsumed into the later Hephthalites. Wusun is a pronunciation of the Chinese Characters 烏孫. The Chinese name 烏孫 literally means wū ‘crow, raven’ + sūn ‘grandson, there are several theories about the origin of the name. Sinologist Victor H. Mair compared Wusun with Sanskrit áśva ‘horse’, aśvin ‘mare’, the name would thus mean ‘the horse people’. Hence he put forward the hypothesis that the Wusun used a language within the Indo-European languages. However, the hypothesis is not supported by Edwin G. Pulleyblank. Beckwith suggests that the Wusun were a remnant of the Indo-Aryans. Around 176 BC Mody Chanyu launched a raid against the Yuezhi. Around 173 BC, the Yuezhi subsequently attacked the Wusun, at time a small nation. According to legend Nandoumis infant son Liejiaomi was left in the wild and he was miraculously saved from hunger being suckled by a she-wolf, and fed meat by ravens. The Wusun ancestor myth shares striking similarities with those of the Hittites, the Zhou Chinese, the Scythians, the Romans, in 162 BC, the Yuezhi were finally defeated by the Xiongnu, after which they fled Gansu. According to Zhang Qian, the Yuezhi were defeated by the rising Xiongnu empire and fled westward, driving away the Sai from the Ili Valley in the Zhetysu, the Sai would subsequently migrate into South Asia, where they founded various Indo-Scythian kingdoms. After the Yuezhi retreat the Wusun subsequently settled the province of Gansu, in the valley of the Ushui-he. It is not clear whether the river was named after the tribe or vice versa, the Xiongnu ruler was impressed with Liejiaomi, considering him a supernatural being, and adopted the child
40.
Huns
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The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia between the 1st century AD and the 7th century AD. In 91 AD, the Huns were said to be living near the Caspian Sea, by 370, the Huns had established a vast, if short-lived, dominion in Europe. In the 18th century, the French scholar Joseph de Guignes became the first to propose a link between the Huns and the Xiongnu people, who were neighbours of China in the 3rd century BC. Since Guignes time, considerable effort has been devoted to investigating such a connection. However, there is no consensus on a direct connection between the dominant element of the Xiongnu and that of the Huns. Numerous other ethnic groups were included under Attilas rule, including very many speakers of Gothic and their main military technique was mounted archery. The Huns may have stimulated the Great Migration, a factor in the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. They formed an empire under Attila the Hun, who died in 453. Variants of the Hun name are recorded in the Caucasus until the early 8th century, the Huns were a confederation of warrior bands, ready to integrate other groups to increase their military power, in the Eurasian Steppe in the 4th to 6th centuries AD. Most aspects of their ethnogenesis are uncertain, walter Pohl explicitly states, All we can say safely is that the name Huns, in late antiquity, described prestigious ruling groups of steppe warriors. Jerome associated them with the Scythians in a letter, written four years after the Huns invaded the eastern provinces in 395. The equation of the Huns with the Scythians, together with a fear of the coming of the Antichrist in the late 4th century. This demonization of the Huns is also reflected in Jordaness Getica, written in the 6th century, otto J. Maenchen-Helfen was the first to challenge the traditional approach, based primarily on the study of written sources, and to emphasize the importance of archaeological research. Thereafter the identification of the Xiongnu as the Huns ancestors became controversial among some, the similarity of their ethnonyms is one of the most important links between the two peoples. A Sogdian merchant described the invasion of northern China by the Xwn people in a letter, Étienne de la Vaissière asserts both documents prove that Huna or Xwn were the exact transcriptions of the Chinese Xiongnu name. Christopher P. Atwood rejects that identification because of the very poor match between the three words. For instance, Xiongnu begins with a velar fricative, Huna with a voiceless glottal fricative, Xiongnu is a two-syllable word. However, according to Zhengzhang Shangfang, Xiongnu was pronounced in Late Old Chinese, the Chinese Book of Wei contain references to the remains of the descendants of the Xiongnu who lived in the region of the Altai Mountains in the early 5th century AD
