Photo from the site akorda.kz
The President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, participated in the third meeting of the National Kurultai, held last Friday in the city of Atyrau. In his speech to delegates from all regions of the republic, the Head of State proposed a series of new strategic initiatives.
“It is not enough to solve economic problems alone”
The President began by saying that the location of the meeting was not chosen by chance. It was in these parts that in ancient times there was the famous city of Sarayshyk, the most important administrative and commercial center of the Ulus of Jochi and the Kazakh Khanate, through which the Great Silk Road ran and which at one time played a great role. geostrategic role in the interaction between East and West.
“From this place, our famous khans ruled the Great Steppe, some of them found eternal peace here. According to historians, it is here that Kasim Khan, who turned the Kazakh Khanate into a powerful state, is buried. In short, Saraishyk occupies a special place in our centuries-old history and we pay tribute to our glorious ancestors, who passed on this great heritage to their descendants,” the Kazakh leader emphasized.
However, Tokayev believes that by living only in the past, it is impossible to create a truly civilized country and that solving economic problems alone is not enough. To become a truly developed country, “it is necessary to act comprehensively, defining guidelines not only in the socioeconomic field, but also in the ideological field.”
According to the Head of State, the most important task today is to strengthen the unity of the people. And a special role in this belongs to the intelligentsia.
“The unity of the people begins with the unity of its intelligentsia,” Tokayev is sure. – In other words, solidarity and harmony between known and respected people in our society are of utmost importance. They should set an example and talk about really important and creative topics that contribute to strengthening the unity of the nation and proper education of the younger generation. In our country there are many talented, educated and active young people. Our task is to instill in them the most noble and progressive qualities.”
Photo from the site akorda.kz
The president noted that the next priority of state policy is to expand the scope of use of the Kazakh language, where the main role is given to education.
“The essence of state policy is, without forcing anyone, to consistently strengthen the role of the Kazakh language in everyday life. Mere conversations about the state language are useless; Concrete actions are important. First of all, we must instill in young people a love of reading. Only then will we become a reading nation. But at the same time,” Tokayev emphasized, “books must be accessible to readers.”
The Head of State called for building modern libraries open 24 hours a day, modernizing existing ones and also supported the idea of national delegates to establish a National Book Day.
“We must not break with our spiritual roots”
The Kazakh leader believes that to move forward with confidence, Kazakhs need to protect and promote their rich cultural heritage. In his view, Kazakhstan is the direct successor of the nomadic civilization of the Great Steppe, where the Ulus of Jochi, known worldwide as the Golden Horde, have always been the recognized pinnacle of state-building in the vast expanses of Central Eurasia. .
Photo from the site akorda.kz
“For six centuries, the Jochids played a decisive role in the fate of Central Eurasia, striving to form a single civilizational community on a vast territory. The Ulus of Jochi, like the Roman Empire, set standards of development for the states and peoples of the Great Steppe for many centuries and brought public administration to a qualitatively new level. It is symbolic that today’s event takes place in the year of the 800th anniversary of the formation of the Ulus of Jochi. However, this is not a reason for pompous celebrations, but, above all, an incentive for serious research work. It is important that the perception of the Golden Horde in the world is inextricably linked to Kazakhstan,” Tokayev added.
The president informed the delegates that, on his initiative, the Institute for the study of Ulus Jochi has already been created, the filming of a multi-part documentary on the history and legendary characters of the Golden Horde has begun and work is underway to write a new seven-volume academic history of Kazakhstan, involving more than 250 scientists, including 60 foreign specialists. In this publication a separate volume will be dedicated to the Ulus Jochi period.
Continuing the theme of promoting the unique national heritage at the international level, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev recalled that last year Kazakhstan was elected a member of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. In this regard, he ordered to start work to include the Ustyurt Plateau and two dozen underground mosques located in Western Kazakhstan in the UNESCO World Heritage List, as well as take measures to protect petroglyphs, monuments of rock art in the Eshkiolmes mountain range and in the The treatises of Arpaozen, Kulzhabasy, Sauyskandyk, which represent a millennial chronicle of the steppe civilization.
The President considers that the most important task is to strengthen national identity. He criticized the recent trend of “people wrapped in black robes.”
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“Dressing completely in black contradicts the worldview of our people and is a thoughtless copy of foreign norms, due to religious fanaticism. We must not break with our spiritual roots and erode our national identity. The desire of radical neophytes to impose foreign religious ideals on society, even through archaic clothing, is an open challenge to our traditional foundations and values,” Tokayev is sure.
In his opinion, to preserve and strengthen the spiritual sovereignty of the country, it is necessary to focus on Hanafi Sunnism, traditional to the Kazakhs.
The Head of State called for special attention to be paid to the in-depth study and popularization of the legacy of Khoja Ahmed Yassawi, the founder of Turkish Sufism, who made an enormous contribution to the spread and consolidation of Islam in the Great Steppe.
“Honoring our spiritual roots, we must strengthen by all possible means the secular status of our state. Kazakhstan will always be tolerant of all religions, views and teachings that do not undermine our statehood and public morals. But we cannot and will not follow the example of those who, under the influence of Western and other trends, promote values foreign to our culture and, furthermore, go against the dualistic basis of the world. We must firmly and consistently cultivate traditional family values,” the President emphasized.
The Head of State also paid attention to state symbols as visible images of national identity. According to him, the light blue flag of Kazakhstan is stylistically impeccable, it succinctly reflects the uniqueness and ideals of the country. The same goes for the national anthem, which incorporates the values and spirit of the people. Regarding the country’s coat of arms, the president proposed to take into account the claims of professionals and concerned citizens, including young people, who consider the coat of arms of Kazakhstan to be too difficult to perceive, eclectic and containing signs of the Soviet era.
Tokayev proposed creating a special commission that would carefully consider all aspects, hold public debates, and then announce an open competition for the best sketch of the new state emblem.
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“Independence and patriotism, unity and solidarity”
Tokayev dedicated part of his speech to the importance of an irreconcilable struggle against the “new vices of society.” In particular, he called for putting a reliable barrier to the spread of five main social evils: drug trafficking and drug addiction; gambling addiction (gambling addiction); domestic violence, harassment and assault; vandalism; waste.
“Popular wisdom says: “He who hides his illness will not find a cure.” We need to talk openly about these social ills. Only by getting rid of all these vices can we form a new quality of the nation and take the country to a new level of development. Representatives of the intelligentsia, the media and non-governmental organizations must work together to oppose these social evils. This is a duty of every citizen and of the entire society, since this issue directly affects the future of our nation,” said the head of the republic.
At the same time, the President of Kazakhstan named the basic values that determine the image of the nation. According to him, it is about independence and patriotism, unity and solidarity, justice and responsibility, law and order, hard work and professionalism, creativity and innovation. Tokayev is confident that only by following this ideological foundation will Kazakhs be able to take their rightful place in the hyperdynamic and unpredictable 21st century.
“Preserving and increasing the achievements of our sacred Independence (and this is the most important task) is possible only through a harmonious combination of the efforts of a just State and responsible patriotic citizens, as well as the constant adaptation of our culture. codify according to the demands of the time,” says the Kazakh leader.
According to Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, every citizen of the country must fully embody the ideals that are succinctly expressed by the concept of “Adal Azamat” (“Honest Citizen”) proposed by him, which is inextricably linked to the idea of One Kazakhstan.
“It is vital for us to instill these core values in the minds of the younger generation. “Adal Azamat” is a person with the best qualities, who works conscientiously and achieves well-deserved success, putting honesty and justice before everything else. To become a progressive nation, we must change the worldview of all citizens and instill new values in the public consciousness. If every citizen follows the ideals of the Adal Azamat concept, we will build a just society.
“Responsible person – Honest work – Deserved success” are inseparable concepts that are of key importance for the construction of a progressive State,” summarized Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
“Russian civilization is, in many ways, a creation of the Turkish world”
According to historian and co-chairman of the Russian Eastern Patriotic Foundation Alexander Makushin, all reproaches against Kazakhstan that it “gets by” by “proving” the history of the Golden Horde are absolutely unfounded.
“Our critics must know that the Russian world, Russian civilization, is in many ways a creation of the Turkish world, and we are not going to abandon it. We do not and do not intend to pursue a policy of Russification anywhere.
As for the accusations that Kazakhstan plans to modify the state emblem due to the presence of “signs of the Soviet era”, look closely at the coat of arms of the Russian Federation. This, to put it mildly, is not at all the coat of arms of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Exactly according to the Russian proverb, we see a speck in someone else’s eye, but we don’t even see a log in our own.
Unfortunately, our “turbopatriots” do not understand the complexity of the geopolitical situation in which Kazakhstan and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev personally currently find themselves. In my opinion, the Kazakh leader must be supported. Yes, he is a person with experience in politics, but nevertheless, I repeat, the international situation is extremely complex. On the other hand, our armchair experts, with their inept statements, only make the path easier for our geopolitical opponents. By inflicting such attacks on Kazakhstan, they forget that Kazakhstan is fighting radical Islamism, which was clearly expressed in Tokayev’s speech,” the Russian historian concluded.
Commenting on Tokayev’s speech at a meeting of the National Kurultai, Georgy Pryakhin, editor-in-chief of the publishing house “Khudozhestvennaya Literature” and vice-president of the Academy of Russian Literature, admitted that he read it with great interest.
“I have had a great interest in Kazakhstan since my youth, since I first visited Guryev (in present-day Atyrau) in 1965. That is why I follow the events of its social life. In particular, I read about President Tokayev’s speech in Kurultai, where he addressed the topic of the Golden Horde. Moreover, at first I read it somewhat indirectly, and then an anonymous and incomprehensible author wrote an attack on this part of the speech of the president. It seemed so deliberate to me that I read his entire speech.
It makes sense for us all to be proud and, most importantly, remember our roots, our history. I saw how in the vastness of the Great Steppe the memory of the Golden Horde is kept, which, by the way (our historians already recognize this), did not so much have a detrimental and not only detrimental effect on the Russian lands, but rather had a mutually enriching influence. And we still use some of the innovations of that time that the Golden Horde brought to Russia. And most likely it was not slavery, but absorption, so absorption, which led to mutual growth, to the interpenetration of cultures. And that led to the perspective that we now see in the relationship between our Slavic people and the Asian peoples.
I think it is very appropriate that President Tokayev touched on this topic in his speech. He addressed the topic of using those traditions, positive and progressive traditions of the Golden Horde and the legacy of the Golden Horde, both spiritual and material, that this civilization left us. Civilization is at the center not only of Central Asia, but of the entire Eurasian continent,” said Georgy Pryakhin.
