 Kazakhstan - state flag
The flag was adopted in 1992. The blue color represents the cloudless sky and
symbolizes freedom and equality for all people. The bird, which is a steppe
eagle, and the golden sun stand for the love of freedom of the Kazakh people and
for the high ideals of the people. The strip on the left is inspired by folk
art.
- Countryaah:
What does the flag of Kazakhstan look like? Follow this link, then you will
see the image in PNG format and flag meaning description about this country.
Kazakhstan (History)
According to its own traditions, the Kazakh nomads have had homes since the
1100's. has been the steppe area between the Caspian Sea and the Altai Mountains,
where they have lived on cattle and horse breeding. Around 1500, the tribes
gathered in a form of confederation, divided into the Great, the Middle and the
Little Horde, a division that still plays a significant role in the Kazakhs'
self-understanding and political structure.
In the following centuries, the Kazakhs were squeezed by the Chinese and
Russian expansion, and since then their history has been marked by the struggle
between traditional nomadic culture and settled agrarian culture. In the
1700's. the western and central tribes sought protection from the Russian
emperor, which resulted in a fidelity to him. The Russian control of the nomads,
which at that time was only nominal, was exercised through the khans, the
leaders of the hordes. The loose Russian control was replaced from the 1820's by
a new policy: by introducing Russian administration, jurisdiction and taxation
system, the Kazakhs were to be integrated into Russia. It led to uprisings in
the Kazakh population; many fled to China, while others orientated themselves
linguistically and culturally towards Russia.
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In 1868, Kazakhstan was declared part of the Russian Empire. At the same
time, Russian farmers began to come to the area, and in the early 1900-t. they
immigrated in large numbers to the nomadic grazing areas of the nomads due to
the Russian reform policy. It provided fertile ground for a growing nationalism
in the Kazakh elite, which at the same time became largely Russian-speaking.
The decision in 1916 to call up Central Asians for military service led to
revolt among the tribal peoples. The following brutal Russian punitive
expeditions drove the Kazakhs east. In 1917, a national and socialist-oriented
organization, Alasj Orda, was formed, which the same year proclaimed an
independent Kazakh state. In 1920, however, the entire Kazakh steppe came under
the control of the Bolsheviks and Moscow, and the Kyrgyz Autonomous Republic
consisting of present-day Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan was established. It was
later divided into two, and in 1936 the Kazakh part was transformed into the
Kazakh SSR.
Where it had hitherto been the case that the nomads had been driven out of
their traditional pastures, the collectivization of agriculture around 1930
entailed a requirement that from then on they should be made resident. The
reaction of the nomads was fierce, and in large numbers they fled to China and
Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands were killed or died of starvation; new
information shows that there was a veritable genocide on the part of the
soviets, which reduced the kazakh population by up to 40%. In connection with
Moscow's campaign to cultivate new land, new contingents of peasants came to
Kazakhstan in the 1950's. At the same time, a large-scale wave of
industrialization sent industrial workers from the European parts of the Soviet
Union to the area.
In 1964, Dinmukhamed Kunajev became the first secretary of the first ethnic
Kazakh party. Under his leadership, the Kazakh people, at the expense of the
Russians, were overrepresented in the political, administrative, and scientific
life of the republic. The elite that is today in power in Kazakhstan, uniting
Kazakh nationalism with a pragmatic relationship with Moscow, was educated
during this period.
In 1986, Gorbachev ousted Kunaev and replaced him with a Russian, allegedly
to fight corruption. This led to the first bloody ethnic unrest under Gorbachev,
who in 1989 had to replace the Russian first secretary with Kazakh Nursultan
Nazarbayev, and he has since been Kazakhstan's undisputed leader. In 1990 he
was elected President of the Kazakh Soviet Republic, and in December 1991 he
proclaimed the Independent Republic of Kazakhstan, and was elected President of
it with 95% of the vote in an election in which he was the sole candidate. The
relatively late independence was due to the fact that Nazarbayev ultimately
supported Gorbachev's attempts to renew the Union. He spoke strongly in favor of
greater integration within the CIS, while defending the integrity of his
republic. However, his integration efforts have not yielded major results.
Nazarbayev's term was extended by a referendum in 1995. In 1999, he was
re-elected for seven years with 80% of the vote. OSCEcriticized both this
election and the parliamentary elections in 1999, which the president's
supporters won. In 1998, Parliament lifted the age limit for the president,
extended the president's term from five to seven years, and decided that the
president could serve more than two terms. Nazarbayev's rule has become
increasingly authoritarian, and his family has been given leading positions in
government and business. Political opposition is being fought, and freedom of
speech is in dire straits. In the 2004 parliamentary elections, which were
criticized by international observers, the opposition won only one of the 77
seats. In the 2005 presidential election, which according to the OSCE could
hardly be described as free and fair, the leader of the opposition received 6.6%
of the vote, while Nazarbayev received 91%.
Nazarbayev makes all the crucial decisions regarding foreign policy. He
maintains a close relationship with Russia, which is Kazakhstan's largest
trading partner, and treats the country's Russian minority so well that some of
the emigrants are now returning. Kazakhstan has reached a bilateral agreement
with Russia on the demarcation of the Caspian Sea, but the status of the sea
under international law was still unresolved in early 2006 and there was no
prospect of any general agreement between the coastal states. Relations with
China are good; The Chinese have invested in the Kazakh oil industry, and both
parties have high expectations for the new oil pipeline from Kazakhstan to
China. US oil companies also have interests in Kazakhstan's oil industry, and
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