Kazakhstan will always hold a special place for me as it was the first of the former Asian Republics to accredit my credentials as a journalist.
Of the Asian countries making up the former Soviet Republics, Kazakhstan is the most modern and quasi-Westernized although under an authoritarian President for life who has been in power since independence and controls politics with an iron fist. What Kazakhs lack in political options however they strive to make up for in a modern standard of living in spite of high levels of official corruption. Of the Asian republics, Kazakhstan is not only the largest but the most modern.
The Soviets populated Kazakhstan with ethnic Russians as their standard practice of diluting nationalist identity of their subjects and today 26% of the population claims to be Russian Orthodox while the large majority are moderate Muslims. The national language is Kazakh but Russian is the de facto official language with Constitutional standing. Legal documents are acceptable in either language.
Kazakhstan's
Baikonur Cosmodrome remains the world's main space complex and is leased to the Russian space agency until the year 2050. The complex has an essential role in operating and resupplying of the International Space Station.
Almaty (Алматы) Until 1997 the capital was Almaty (Alma-Ata in Russian), that beautiful and ancient city known as the birthplace of the apple. The Kazakh word for apple is "alma" and the Russian "Alma-Ata" is said to have meant "father of apples."
Almaty may no longer be the nation's capital but she is the largest city in Kazakhstan (1.5 million population) and the centre of Kazakh culture, education and commerce, a position it has held since the 8th Century and as part of the great "
Silk Road ."
Astana The current capital is Astana, often mistakenly thought to be a new city built for the purpose of being the capital. True, the government wanted to move the seat of power closer to the centre of the country and away from the border, but Astana which has indeed been built into a modern and sparkling showpiece is not new at all.
Astana's old name was
Akmola but the new name means "capital" in Persian. Today in Astana you'll find green spaces, modern shopping malls, a modern transportation system and new housing.
During Soviet times Kazakhstan was perhaps best known for Gulags, political prisons. Eleven (11) of the worst were in Kazakhstan and just outside Astana (Akmola) was the famous "
Akmolinskiy Camp for Wives of Traitors of the Motherland ." Try saying that one over and over fast.
Kazakhstan is still strongly allied with Russia in commerce, especially oil and gas, and is part of the new "
Customs & Postal Union " in which the functions of customs, postal system, and common defense align Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus into one economic territory.
