Kazakhstan to use OSCE chairmanship to address Afghanistan issues

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ASTANA, Kazakhstan – Since assuming chairmanship of Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) January 1, Kazakhstan has been formulating its goals and priorities for its year-long leadership of the regional security organization.

On January 14, Kanat Saudabayev, Kazakhstan's Secretary of State and Foreign Minister, and the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, is expected to outline Kazakhstan’s goals for the coming year in a speech to the OSCE in Vienna.

Roman Vassilenko, head of Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Committee of International Information, told Central Asia Online that Kazakhstan plans to make Afghanistan one of the central issues under its chairmanship.

“The reason the issue of Afghanistan attracts us is 43 of the 56 OSCE member-states are already, in one way or another, participating in the resolution of the Afghanistan problem. We think the moment has come to unite the efforts of these countries to help the Afghan people to begin to live a peaceful life”, he said.

Vasilenko also said, “Kazakhstan is committed to democratization and deepening of the democratic reforms in the country, and the chairmanship can in stimulate the processes of democratization not only in Kazakhstan, but in the whole region of Central Asia”.

With Islamic migration to Europe growing, another focus will be tolerance and non-discrimination.

Organizing an OSCE summit will be another goal.

“During the last meeting in Athens (December 2009), the Foreign Ministers of OSCE member states expressed their interest in this idea and the Permanent Council in Vienna will decide on the details”, Vasilenko said.

He said Kazakhstan has proposed a high-level OSCE conference in Astana this June.

Vasilenko expressed the general wish of Kazakhstan to continue the dialogue on the future architecture of European security. He says Kazakhstan supports a Russian proposal on a new treaty on the European security system.

Kazakhstan is the first Commonwealth of Independent States country to chair the OSCE, and Shamil Midkhatovich Yenikeyeff, research fellow on Central Asia from Oxford University said it is an important foreign policy achievement.

“President Nursultan Nazarbaev could use the chairmanship to boost Kazakhstan’s stance within the Commonwealth of Independent States”, he said. “For example, Kazakhstan could facilitate a gradual improvement of Russia’s relations with Europe and the United States, as well as Georgia, damaged by the Russian-Georgian military standoff of August 2008. Kazakhstan could also use the chairmanship to promote greater stability in Central Asia and the Caucasus as well as Afghanistan”.

Kazakhstan’s selection to chair the OSCE has been criticised by some, who say the country has too many human rights violations and does not do enough to guarantee free speech.

But Ulan Shamshet of the group “За свободный интернет!” (“For a Free Internet!”) said he dismisses those who “…are complaining that we do not have democracy and that OSCE was bought with our oil”.

“We need to understand that the OSCE policy does not have clear rules on whom to give the chairmanship. Kazakhstan is the most suitable CIS country for chairmanship. We, at least, have freedom of speech, and media not controlled by the state”, Shamshet said.

But others disagreed, saying the human rights situation in Kazakhstan should disqualify the country from the OSCE chair.

“In my view, the powers of Kazakhstan, and in part President Nazarbayev himself, during the past year did everything to demonstrate to the world that our country is not worthy of to head the OSCE”, said Sanat Urnaliyev, a journalist with the independent “Сводоба слова” (“Freedom of Speech”) newspaper.

“The past year of 2009 was marked by such events as the creation of social protest groups (of people who suffered from the financial crisis) that received numerous penalties and administrative punishments for peaceful rallies and meetings. Also, passage of a law to control the internet. There have been 13 attacks on journalists, and closure of the private newspapers "Taszhargan" and "Republic", the mass rallies of oil industry workers in Zhanaozen, absurd litigations over Ramazan Esergepov, and criminal cases against environmentalists”.

Urnaliyev said that instead of “cleaning up” its situation before the chairmanship, the government continues to “tighten the screws” on society.