Tokayev Disbands Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 1 – Reflecting the increasing dominance of the ethnic Kazakhs in Kazakhstan’s population and Astana’s commitment to building a unified civic society, Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has disbanded the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan.

            That body, which provided official representation of the country’s ethnic minorities, worked to prevent ethnic conflicts, and promoted a civic identity was set up in the early 1990s when the ethnic mix of Kazakhstan was very different and its possibilities for forming a nation state far less (spik.kz/2647-ank-bolshe-net-pochemu-ona-stala-lishnej-v-novom-kazahstane.html).

            At the end of Soviet times, ethnic Kazakhs formed only 39.7 percent of the population, barely more than the share of ethnic Russians who had been a plurality and then continued 37.8 percent. Now, ethnic Kazakhs represent 71 percent of the population with ethnic Russians forming only 14.4 percent and other ethnic groups even fewer.

            The Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan, originally called the Assembly of the Peoples of Kazakhstan, was quite active in the 1990s but has been less so in the last decade. Consequently, most Kazakhstan residents have not been all that concerned by its demise, seeing it as a structure that has already done all that it could.

            Indeed, it is striking that many analysts in Kazakhstan welcomed the demise of the Assembly, arguing that its continued existence could do more harm than good by encouraging smaller ethnic groups to mobilize against the ethnic Kazakhs and slowing the process of forming a Kazakh-informed civic nation.