A Story of an “Almatinka” 15 years from now
Cross-regional and Blogosphere, Kazakhstan7 Comments
Editor’s Note: What follows is part of a cross-blog survey that explores what Central Eurasia might look like fifteen years from now.
Aida Mansurova, 44, Almaty, December 2021
For neweurasia Kazakhstan
I was asked to write about myself for neweurasia Kazakhstan blog. It made me smile: blogs used to me very popular when I was young; now my 15-year old daughter spends all day in video chats, pressing her face against the flat screen of our mini-Mac. Madina has better English than me, as anyone of her age; she promised to proofread my story. Well, at least it’s some use for the huge amount of money I pay for her private British teacher that I ordered to Almaty.
My name is Aida Mansurova, I am 44 years old, and I was born and lived all my life in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where I manage an advertising agency. My Western partners often wonder if it is difficult to manage an enterprise in Kazakhstan being a woman. You see, there is this general misunderstanding of women’s role in Kazakhstan, where the majority of population is Muslim. But, 40 percent of women in Kazakhstan already had their own businesses 15 years ago, when I was just starting. The advantage of being a businesswoman in Kazakhstan is that despite the inevitable growth of women’s role in society, we are able to distance ourselves from political life by hiding behind our families.
I am not much into politics: I used to feel safe with the first and the only President I have seen - Nazarbayev. I remember being worried for our future when his term of office was approaching its end. That is why when, in 2010 he started advocating for a stronger Parliament I was worried that changed would bring instability. Democracy is not prosperity: we have seen it in Kyrgyzstan. That is why I was relieved to see that Kazakhstan is still stable with the Parliamentary republic, brought by the Constitutional amendments of 2011. The Parliament consists of pro-governmental parties, loyal to the first president, whose monument I see every day when I drive to the office.
I have a small family, just my daughter and myself: I decided not to have any more children. I see that more girls are following my way – being single mums with only child. My daughter does not know what it is to be a fifth child in a family of teachers, who worked at school all their lives, in a state which does not exist anymore, and have a pension which is not even enough for utilities. Anyway, having more than two children would be odd for someone of my status.
Five years ago we have moved to a separate house in a new complex close to the mountains, when I took out a loan from the bank. We have 4 rooms, our own garage, and a fitness centre downstairs with a swimming pool and a sauna. There is a golf field and a tennis court outside. The area is being protected after homeless attacked the district last year. Savages. The air up here is fresh and frosty in the winter: much better than down in the centre, full of migrants, poor, and pollution. It’s good that I bought the house though – the prices continue going up and up. I mean – my neighbours all own country houses in Europe – Spain or new Chehia.
I drive Madina to school myself in our small Jeep; it takes about 1 hour to get to the school, driving around cars; I hate that Almaty has more than 3 million people now, but I still do not want to use the metro. It is full of dodgy characters, poor people, Tajik and Kyrgyz labour migrants. Recently they showed on TV that police uncovered a terror plot of Uighur separatists, and whatever my colleagues say, I still believe that with this amount of Chinese tourists we do have to watch out, especially in metro. Oh Allah.
I regularly visit my parents for dinner in the centre, where, in smog, they stubbornly stay in their privatised flat. My mum is not happy with our 22-year old Uzbek maid, it is her general dislike of migrants from Uzbekistan: she says there are too many of them, they are too closed, and that Kazakhs do not get jobs because of them. Well, better than Chinese, I reply, besides, if only Kazakhs wanted to take these jobs. I still speak Russian to my parents, to my own disgrace. At work, I mostly speak Kazakh with the exception to contract employees from Russia and Ukraine, and when I have to settle their numerous arguments; and with my daughter who finds it easier to speak English.
We have just signed a contract with Khabar on producing a video about the workers in Kashagan oilfield. It is a huge project, and the money for the ad will allow me to spend a whole month on holiday. In the summer, I want to take Madina to the Black sea in Georgia, now that they have direct Almaty-Batumi flights. My friend has been there, she stayed at the Kazakh beach in a new hotel built by Astana Construction group – she says it has good clubs and lots of familiar people from our usual Kazakh “tusovka” of businessmen and oil magnats.
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“Recently they showed on TV that police uncovered a terror plot of Uighur separatists, and whatever my colleagues say, I still believe that with this amount of Chinese tourists we do have to watch out, especially in metro. Oh Allah.”
It’s very sad that you perceive your ethnic siblings, Uighurs categorically as Chinese. They are not Chinese but Turkic people just like yourself. Additionally, this whole thing about labeling Uighurs as “terrorists” is politically motivated. Civilized world simply didn’t buy into Chinese claims but rather started to listen to the Uighur grievances more attentively now than ever. Only handful of countries, Central Asian Turkic states in particular are listening to the Chinese and assisting them to crack down Uighur ethno-nationalist aspirations. Like the non-Russians during the Soviet era, Uighurs are simply struggling for survival as a nation and people.
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Jeff, note that she is not writing as herself but rather from the perspective of an ordinary Kazakh business woman in 2021.
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It is quite disappointing to see that a lot of people in Kazakhstan and even their media began to portray the Uyghur people who live in Kazakhstan and especially those who fled Chinese persecution and came to Kazakhstan recently as “terrorists.” Instead of helping their ethnic brethren who are suffering tremendous persecution under Chinese government repression, Kazakhstan deported many Uyghurs to China and dozens of them were summarily executed. And unfortunately the prejudice in Kazakhstan against the Uyghur people still continues.
The Uyghur people are not terrorists. Their peaceful resistance to Chinese rule is not terrorism just as Kazakh resistance to the Soviet rule was not terrorism. The Uyghurs do not become terrorists simply because the Chinese government labels them so. In fact, the Chinese government has failed to convince the international community that Uyghurs are “terrorists.” Many countries in the West such the U.S., Canada and the European countries now realize that the Chinese government has been using the global war on terror as a excuse to further persecute the Uyghur people.
It seems the only people and governments that don’t realize this are in Central Asia. Today, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan are selling the Uyghurs to the Chinese government in order to get military and economic aid from China. These Central Asian countries, by helping the Chinese government to destroy the Uyghur people, will eventually bring upon themselves disasters because they will be destroyed by the Chinese if they do not watch out. You should all thank the Uyghurs for stopping the Chinese from running over your territories. That day will come soon if all you do is to help the Chinese government to destroy the Uyghur people and call them “terrorists” without thinking twice.
Erkin Dolet
Washington, DC
United States
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Kazak people should be wake up. They should study who they really are, and what their future will be. Kazak and Uyghur used to be one nation. Kazaks are still not realizing russian and chinese are divide and conquering Turkic people.
For a noble kazak person, It is totally shameless, wrong, and heartless action to help chinese to genocide Uyghur people.
Wake up kazaks, you did not come from outer space, you were turkic people and you will be . You used to be Uyghur’s brother, you will be. Do not help enimy to murder your brother.
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I myself feel very close to the Uighurs’ cause. In this fictional story, I have left this piece about “Uighur separatists” intentionally, to reflect the increasing prejudice towards the Uighurs in Kazakhstan. I am glad people noticed it and brought the readers’ attention to it.
The Kazakh Government cooperates with the Chinese, hence, media is quick to label too. For instance, in 2000, there was shooting between the police and several gunned people in Almaty. TV reports said that those were “Uighur terrorists” and many people were quick to believe it. With increasing Chinese-Kazakh cooperation in anti-terrorism, I do not exclude that the tendency will remain.
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This really is a loss in the Kazakhs’ perception. Especially considering the fact that thousands of Kazakhs lived and still live among the Uyghurs like brothers. The Kazakh diaspora from Xinjiang still has a homeland feeling for “Eastern Turkestan” and it’s a shame that such prejudices are predominant among the Kazakhstani society.
This reminds me of a little anecdote from a former worker at RFE/RL. He refused to write in his article that the Kazakh and the Uyghur languages were different from one another. Instead, he insisted on the fact that that they were different dialogues of the Turkic language and that these two people did not need an interpreter to understand each other. That’s how close these people were in his eyes. And imagine, he even got into a fight with his boss for this. This is the kind of feeling of brotherhood we need among the Turkic people.
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Leila has done an excellent job of portraying what Kazakhstan will be like “15 years from now” but most people do not realize how close that 15 years is. The reality is that Almaty is already becoming a place of the “have’s” and the “have-not’s”. The escalating real estate prices are going to drive people who “have-not” to be the types of people Leila describes in the metro and attacking the up-hill neighborhoods.
The Kazakh government does a poor job of governing it’s entire nation - Kazakh, Uyghur, Chechen and the other 63 nationalities that are a part of this nation - simply because in their greed to get their “share” of the pie, they are ignoring the fact that one of the aspects of the government is to put restraints in place so that the banks and the real estate companies do not continue to drive up artificial prices in real estate.
I say “well done” to Leila on an article that should draw attention to more than just the ethnic minority problem but also to the economic problem of this nation.
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