Kazakhstan to Fight Territorial Provocations Through Open Discussions
According to an article written by Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, president of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the country should officially counter all acts of provocation from foreigners, who are skeptical about the territorial integrity of Kazakhstan and criticize its good neighborhood policy. However, all counter measures should be publicly discussed and restrained.
The main wealth of Kazakhstan is its land, the president said. Even though there were no delimitation and demarcation in the old times, during the last several centuries, states have been pursuing formal recognition of their borders by international law and the international community.
«As we remember, when the country had been managing border issues, some politicians were saying that we should wait or postpone this work. However, time has shown that diligent efforts towards border issue negotiations are absolutely necessary. And now we have a delimitated state border that is fully recognized by two states and the international community. Nobody can dispute it,» Tokayev stated.
Currently, all of Kazakhstan’s land borders are delimitated. Moreover, in 2018 five states that are littoral to the Caspian Sea—the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and Turkmenistan—have signed the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea. Therefore, Kazakhstan has no border issues even in the sea.
«Kazakhstan is a united state. Our country doesn’t split for South, North, West or East parts, these are just conventional names. In 2018 the South-Kazakhstan Oblast was renamed to Turkestan Oblast by presidential edict. This move was supported by people because this land has been known as Turkestan for centuries. We take this issue very seriously and are ready to continue this good trend in our other regions,» added the president.
Earlier, on December 10 Vyacheslav Nikonov, the deputy of the Russian State Duma (parliament) from the United Russia ruling political party said that Kazakh lands were a gift from Russia. He made this statement while being on stage of the Russian First Channel show.
«There was no such state as Kazakhstan. North Kazakhstan was unpopulated. Yes, Kazakhs did exist, but they lived on the South» he said. Later, a similar opinion was voiced by Evgeniy Fedorov, another Duma deputy from United Russia.
Both statements spurred anger and outcry in Kazakhstan. Two Kazakhstani politicians, Senator Mukhtar Kul-Mukhammed and Mukhtar Kalman, head of the Mazhilis Committee on International Issues, Defense and Security also made strong statements in response.
On December 12, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had called Alexander Komarov, a representative of the Russian Embassy to Kazakhstan, on the carpet and handed him an official note.
