Here is an ordinary reportage article entitled “[Minister of Culture and Information] Balayeva explained why there are no foreign films in the Kazakh language in cinemas”, published in Nur.kz, one of the country’s most popular online media outlets, on October 6, 2023. Below are reactions from 2 readers. The second one of those two under the nickname ZapadNamNePomozhet [‘The West Won’t help us’], commenting apparently on the announcement by Minister Aida Balayeva that “there are five companies preparing translations of foreign animated kids’ films into Kazakh”, wrote the following: “There are not enough words in the Kazakh language to translate human languages [into it]?”. If that’s not a hate comment against the Kazakhs and their native language expressed publicly, what is it?!;
That comment came at 10:53 pm on October 6, 2023, and is still available to read. It seems that none of those to whom it may concern suspect that like any other country, Kazakhstan has laws forbidding public humiliation on a racial, national, or religious basis. Take, for example, Article 174 of the Criminal Code. Paragraph 1 of this article states that if such “acts are committed in public or through the use of mass media, telecommunications networks, and online platforms… [they] are punishable by a fine in the amount of two thousand to seven thousand monthly calculation indices or by restriction of liberty for a period of two to seven years, or imprisonment for the same period”.
As for the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan, it should have already paid attention to this case, and taken appropriate measures regarding it a long time ago. But so far, that remains merely a good wish.
What’s especially sad is that this was not the first such incident over the years.
And here is an analytical piece titled “The Korean-Kazakh mixed marriages have been and still are a quite widespread phenomenon”, published in Zonakz.net, another one of the country’s most popular online media outlets, on July 12, 2018. Below are reactions from 2 readers, as well. According to the first one of those two, under the name, or nickname Kirill Kartashov, “there is nothing wrong with interethnic marriages, and it’s time to get used to them”. The second one, under the name, or nickname Slava Voznyak, claims that the Kazakhs want to gain a European appearance, and they are not at all against interracial marriages. He further says: “Asians [Kazakhs], please don’t disfigure European appearance with your Asian genes. And you, judging by your appearance, were born of such a marriage union [to parents with one of them belonging to the European race], but you externally still look horrible”.
That comment came three years ago and is still available to read. It is not entirely clear how it must be qualified from the Criminal Code perspective. But one thing is clear – there was an action aimed at promoting racial superiority and humiliating national dignity. In this regard, the norms on the interdiction of discrimination and stimulation of humiliation of national dignity, provided for by the media outlet’s operating license, seem to be quite applicable.
The responsibility for monitoring compliance with such norms and for taking appropriate measures in case of non-compliance with them rests with the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan headed for the time being by Mme Aida Balayeva. But that Ministry for years ignores the above comments and others like them.
Mme Aida Balayeva is the third Information Minister of Kazakhstan since the beginning of this decade.
On January 11, 2022, President Tokayev appointed Askar Umarov Minister of Information and Social Development of Kazakhstan. The Tsargrad TV reacted to this with a series of materials describing the latter as an ‘open Russophobe’. This Russian media outlet also called President Tokayev’s decision to appoint him minister ‘an outrageous gesture’. Other Russian media picked up its initiative. They were joined by some Moscow’s officials and Russian politicians. There was a lot of noise. Some of Russian politicians, experts and journalists went so far as to describe Kazakhstan’s Minister of Information, Askar Umarov, as ‘a person with nazi and chauvinist views towards Russians’.
Yevgeny Primakov, who heads the Russian Foreign Ministry’s international cooperation agency Rossotrudnichestvo, reacted to the appointment of Askar Umarov as Minister in the following way: Rossotrudnichestvo ‘won’t cooperate with Russophobic trash’. He added: “Rossotrudnichestvo does not maintain contact, work or co-operate with Russophobic garbage, so that rules out any co-operation on our part with this Minister and the Ministry he leads”. Dmitry Rogozin, the then Roskosmos (space agency) director, advised Askar Umarov on Twitter not to visit the Baikonur cosmodrome. “Minister Askar Umarov is not welcome at the Baikonur Cosmodrome”, he wrote. By the way, the Baikonur Cosmodrome is located on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan
The result of all that was not long in coming. Askar Umarov was relieved of his office on September 2, 2022. He held his position as Information Minister just for seven-plus months.
On September 2, 2022, Darkhan Kydyrali was appointed Minister of Information and Social Development of Kazakhstan. The Tsargrad TV reacted to this news very restrained: “A certain Darkhan Kydyrali has been appointed Minister [of Information] in his [Umarov’s] place”. As far as can be judged, the Russian propaganda media did not pay much attention to him until mid-August, 2023. But then the situation changed. There was information that the website of the Russian Tsargrad TV channel was blocked in Kazakhstan by the decision of the Ministry of Information and Social Development. The head of the Ministry made an explanatory statement.
Darkhan Kydyrali said that the blocking of the website of the Russian Tsargrad TV channel was due to the adoption of measures to ensure information security. The Minister of Information stressed that this topic should not be politicized. “There is no need to look for political subtext in this. As in any State, information security is important for us. Therefore, content, a site that poses a threat to the information space, contradicts our Constitution, the legal norms of our State and the law on the media, is blocked”, the Minister said in an interview with Qazaqstan TV.
As an example, Darkhan Kydyrali pointed out that since 2016, more than 40 websites registered abroad have been blocked in Kazakhstan. “The site you mentioned is one of them. We warn publications about the need to comply with our standards, but if the media do not comply with our requirements, then they will certainly be blocked. And regardless of whether it is foreign or domestic media, we urge everyone to observe and respect our laws”, he added. What happened next?
Here is what the Novye Izvestiya newspaper had to say in this regard: “After the blocking of the Tsargrad TV channel in Kazakhstan, calls for radical action against the neighboring country began to be heard among the Russian patriotic public… There were reports that in Kazakhstan, ‘a hunt has begun for the defenders of the Russian world’. Even calls for active action began to be read in some passages by Tsargrad”. Konstantin Malofeev, who owns the Tsargrad TV Channel and had founded the Tsargrad website, came out with a very robust statement on the Kazakh Information Ministry’s decision.
After a few days, on September 1, 2022, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev dismissed Darkhan Kydyrali from his ministerial post.
The next day, on September 2, 2023, Aida Balayeva, a specialist in Russian language and literature with a university diploma, was appointed to the post of Minister of Culture and Information of Kazakhstan by presidential decree.
The issues related to the above comments and others like them remain the actuality.