[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 33 (Wednesday, March 22, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E376]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             THE NEED FOR A NATIONAL DIALOGUE IN KAZAKHSTAN

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JOHN EDWARD PORTER

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 22, 2000

  Mr. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, last December, President Nursultan 
Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan was in Washington for the annual meeting of 
the U.S.-Kazakhstan Joint Commission. The purpose of these meetings, 
which are alternately held in the United States and Kazakhstan, is to 
promote economic and political cooperation between our two countries. 
Among other things, the U.S. side regularly presses the government of 
Kazakhstan to improve its human rights record and undertake economic 
and political reform.
  I understand that U.S. officials pressed the Kazakhstan side 
especially hard this year, because of the sham parliamentary elections 
that were held last October, heightened corruption, and an acceleration 
of abusive action taken against opponents of President Nazarbayev's 
increasingly repressive government. In an apparent move to blunt the 
severity of U.S. pressure during the upcoming Joint Commission meeting, 
President Nazarbayev issued a statement on November 4, 1999 saying that 
he was ready to cooperate with the opposition in Kazakhstan and that he 
would welcome the return of former Prime Minister Akhezan Kazhegeldin, 
the exiled leader of the main opposition party.
  On November 19, Mr. Kazhegeldin responded to President Nazarbayev by 
calling for a ``national dialogue'' to examine ways to advance 
democracy, economic development and national reconciliation in 
Kazakhstan. Similar national dialogues have met with success in Poland, 
South Africa, and Nicaragua. Mr. Kazhegeldin pointed out that convening 
a national dialogue would be an ideal way to initiate cooperation 
between the opposition and the government.
  However, President Nazarbayev has reacted only with silence to Mr. 
Kazhegeldin's proposal. Mr. Nazarbayev also arranged to have a kangaroo 
court convict an opposition leader for having the temerity to criticize 
Nazarbayev's government. Finally, and this is very troubling, an 
investigation and a trial have failed to find anyone to blame for the 
delivery last year of 40 MiG fighter aircraft from Kazakhstan to North 
Korea.
  Mr. Speaker, the Administration needs to stop turning the other cheek 
every time that Mr. Nazarbayev commits an outrage. The cause of freedom 
and democracy will continue to backslide in Kazakhstan unless the 
Administration comes out strongly in favor of a national dialogue along 
the lines that former Prime Minister Kazhegeldin has proposed. At the 
very least, the government of Kazakhstan should make an hour a week of 
state-controlled television available for use by the opposition. The 
U.S., for its part, should assist the democratic opposition by 
providing a printing press to replace those that have been confiscated 
by the government. It is time to stand up for democracy in Kazakhstan 
and to stop coddling dictators like Nazarbayev.

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