Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a country in Central Eurasia, with a minor part west of the Ural River and thus in Europe. Kazakhstan is the world's largest landlocked country by land area and the ninth largest country in the world. Its territory of 2,724,900 square kilometres (1,052,100 sq mi) is larger than all of Western Europe. In 2006, Kazakhstan had become the dominant nation of Central Asia economically, generating 60% of the region's GDP, primarily through its oil/gas industry.

Quotes[edit]

In Kazakhstan the favorite hobbies are disco-dancing, bing chilling archery, child trafficing, and tax fraud.
- Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat

I have always been and remain a sincere supporter of the well-known formula – "Economy first, then politics". This principle is comprehensive, extending to both domestic and foreign policy of our country. This approach ensured consistency in all spheres of Kazakhstan's development, i.e. from economic reforms to building pragmatic relations with partners in the international arena.
- Nursultan Nazarbayev, "Speech At Moscow State University" (2014)
We managed to build a successful Kazakhstan state with a modern market economy on the ruins of the Soviet Union, create peace and stability within a multi-ethnic and multi-religious Kazakhstan. For the first time in our centuries-old history, international legal recognition of the Republic of Kazakhstan has been secured. Kazakhstan has been put on the world map, where it did not exist as a state. We have our own flag, anthem, coat of arms.
- Nursultan Nazarbayev, "Address to the people of Kazakhstan" (2019)
Perhaps one of those factors will be implemented in the coming three or four years. Kazakhstan needs to get ready in order not to miss this moment and to take advantage of the benefits that one or the other situation will bring. To do that, the country needs continued focus on structural reforms, improvement in infrastructure and innovation development in high-tech and low-tech sectors. These will help the country to regain its positions.
- EBRD Associate Director and regional lead economist Dr. Agris Preimanis, The Astana Times (February 3, 2016), "EBRD Advises Kazakhstan to Focus on Preparing for Better Times"
All of northern and northeastern Kazakhstan is actually part of southern Siberia. It is settled mostly by Russians, who, just like the other non-Kazakhs--together making up 60% of Kazakhstan's population--are being repressed in their national, cultural, business and daily life. How can a minority govern a majority? Only through duplicity and force. That's exactly what happened in the recent "elections" in Kazakhstan. Kazakh President Narsultan Nazarbayev today is regarded in the West as a great democrat. But he has already become an effective dictator.
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Interview With Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn on the New Russia and Ukraine (May 1994), by Paul Klebnikov, in the (9 May 1994), issue of Forbes magazine