SOCIAL AND DEMOgRAPHIC CHALLENgES
Although the constitution
regulates that the
civil rights of all ethnic groups are equal, some
special rights are only grated to ethnic Kazakh
population and those who speak the Kazakh
language which often plays a major role when
it comes to obtaining better employment. This
discriminates
against non-Kazakhs and non-
Kazakh speaking peoples. Ethnic Russians in the
country feel especially targeted because of the
collapse of the Soviet Union, the gradual yet
dramatic decrease of ethnic Russians leaving
Kazakhstan, and the process of Kazakhization.
The Kazakh government
initiated a Kazakh
repatriation program to bring back those who
had left Kazakhstan. The Oralman (Kazakh for
returnee) program was instituted in 1991. Ac-
cording to a 2011 article from Central Asia On-
line, “300,000 Oralman families, or 1m people,
resettled under the 2009 Nurly Kosh [program]
over the past 20 years –
moving largely to
Mangistau, Southern Kazakhstani and Almaty
Oblasts and to
the cities of Almaty and As-
tana.”[39] A revised program was developed in
2011 and will address the “geographical distri-
bution, employment and the provision of hous-
ing” and land allotments.[40]
After the Soviet Union collapsed, Russians em-
igrated out of Kazakhstan because of a declin-
ing standard of living, policies of Kazakhization,
and loss of identity with the new Kazakhstan.
Between 1989 and 1999, the Russian popula-
tion decreased from 6 million to 4.5 million.[41]
Emigration during the 1990s hit a peak in 1994
when 300,000 were Russians left in Kazakhstan.
By 2000, “migration from Kazakhstan alone con-
stituted more than 28% of the internal migra-
tion in former Soviet territory.”[42] Currently,
Russians have considerable populations in the
North Kazakhstan Province (48.5% in 2006),
Pavlodar Region (38.26% in 2007), Akmola Re-
gion (36.5% Russians in 2009), Kostanay Region
(28.6% in 2009), and central Karagandy Region
(39.17% in 2010).
Extremism and terrorism are a concern in Kaza-
khstan and the other Central Asian states.
Uzbekistan alone (and for a while)
faced an
armed group, the Islamic Movement of Uzbek-
istan (IMU), trying to overthrow the despotic
Islam Karimov. Due to the increase and spread
of radical Islam, Kazakhstan is facing internal
stability caused by extremists. Multiple extrem-
ist/terrorist groups exist in Kazakhstan: the Sol-
diers of the Caliphate (Jund Al-Khalifah), the
Hizb-ut Tahrir (non-violent pan-Sunni organiza-
tion),
Tablighi Jamaat,
and many pro-Uighur
separatist groups, including the East Turkestan
Liberation Organization (ETLO), are labeled ex-
tremist by the Kazakh authorities.
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