Askar DARIMBET
ALMATY
Nov 29
(THE GLOBE)
In the early 1990s, the number of ethnic Kazakhs living outside Kazakhstan was about 4 million people, according to official data. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many were eager to return to the newly sovereign Kazakhstan, their historic motherland. The Kazakhs came from developing countries such as Iran, Pakistan and Mongolia, as well as from Germany and Turkey. The first wave of repartriates abruptly slackened when people understood that Kazakhstan could not guarantee them a proper life. Kazakhs who immigrated from Mongolia, for example, reported difficulties settling, whereas before they had at least been able to maintain flocks of sheep and some cattle. Some people even returned to Mongolia.
At the 5th session of the Kazakhstani Peoples� Assembly, held on January 21, 1999, the national government called people to return to their motherland. Speaking at the conference President Nursultan Nazarbaev invited both Kazakhs who had long been living abroad, and also former citizens of the republic who had left Kazakhstan for various reasons. Despite this invitation, today the country cannot assist ethnic Kazakhs�neither those who would like to come nor those who have. For instance, questions about granting Kazakh citizenship to many Kazakhs who returned from Mongolia and China several years ago have still not been settled.
In fact, Kazakhstan lacks any state authority directly devoted to the peoblems of immigrants. Although President Nazarbaev issued an invitation to return, he did not address the living conditions available upon their return. Immigration authorities consider repatriation to be a private affair; as a result, returnees are left make their way in a new country without government assistance.
�Kazakhstan does not need the Kazakhs!� pitifully cries Koldeibek Sansyzbaiuly, a repatriate who emigrated from Uzbekistan and now chairman of the Uzbek Repatriates Society. In an exclusive interview with THE GLOBE, Sansyzbaiuly talked about conditions for Kazakhs living in Uzbekistan, and difficulties they face here, in their native land.
�Uzbeks� national consciousness is strong. Almost all representatives of other nationalities living in Uzbekistan speak Uzbek. Even Russians wear Uzbek national skullcaps. But Kazakhs in Uzbekistan also have national dignity. They honor their traditions, play dombra, sing folk songs and, despite everything, they do not forget their language.�
�The history of Kazakhs� life in Uzbekistan goes back to ancient times. Long ago, Kazakh khans captured territories that now belong to Uzbekistan. For a long time these lands were considered Kazakh. Maybe, that is why the number of Kazakhs living in Uzbekistan is so large in comparison with other former Soviet republics. At present, about 1.5 million Kazakhs live there. Historically, not a single Uzbek lived in some of the regions bordering Kazakhstan�such as Tamdy, Zeravshan, and Ushkuduk. Only Kazakhs, Russians and Tatars lived there. After the Great Patriotic War, Uzbeks moved to these regions.�
�To my mind, after the Soviet Union collapsed, the Kazakhs� condition rapidly deteriorated. Many ministers and scientists, ethnic Kazakhs, were dismissed. Thousands of Kazakhs working in the banking system also lost their jobs. There are a lot of examples how Kazakhs were assimilated by force. For example, when receiving passports, Kazakh children had to change their official nationality to Uzbek. This is very simple to do: you come to receive a passport, in which �Uzbek� has been written in the line �nationality�. If you are outraged, people from the passport department tell you: �you live in Uzbekistan.� Only those people who had changed their nationality could get a good education or mid-level posts. People will not buy houses of those Kazakhs who would like to leave the country, as they hope the Kazakhs will despair and will just leave their houses. People have to pay bribes to cancel their passport registration and cross through Customs. The amount is different everywhere. To leave Tashkent or Samarkand, you have to pay over US$ 1,000.�
Satybaldy Tairov, advisor to the Uzbek Ambassador to Kazakhstan, denied Sansyzbaiuly�s claims about forced assimilation of Kazakhs in Uzbekistan. �This is impossible! Who needs to make a Kazakh man Uzbek?� was his official answer. In response to accusations of bribery at Uzbek Customs, the embassy spokesman added, �I�ve crossed Customs many times. Nobody demands any money.�
Sansyzbaiuly turned to a discussion of living conditions in Kazakhstan: �Having arrived in Kazakhstan, immigrants have the same number of problems as they did in the foreign land. Nobody here anticipated their arrival. For example, people come with Uzbek or Soviet passports, having just cancelled their registration. To become Kazakhstani citizens they need a dwelling, a new registration, but they fail to receive these at once. Thus, they have to live for several years, paying penalties for violation of the passport regime. There are no jobs even for local people, much less for migrants. Many of them become street vendors. There are a lot of other problems. Local Kazakhs do not consider repatriates to be Kazakhs, but label people who came from Uzbekistan �Uzbeks�, from Iran � �Iranians�, and so forth. This psychologically represses them. All of these people arrived by their forefathers� call. Men that were not born in a strange country and did not live there will never understand what that means. Since the early 1990s, more than 100,000 Kazakhs have arrived in the Almaty region. I think, if the President really wants to improve the demographic situation, it is necessary to create proper conditions for normal life of both local Kazakhs and our brothers who have come to the motherland.�
All Over the Globe is published by IPA House.
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