Kazakhstan

D

Health and Welfare

Large segments of the population in Kazakhstan have been exposed to radiation from nuclear testing. The nuclear testing grounds near Semey experienced the bulk of Soviet nuclear tests—more than 300 underground nuclear tests and several tests above ground. Another testing ground in the western portion of Kazakhstan near the Caspian Sea experienced more than 40 tests. Since independence, no further tests have occurred on Kazakh territory. The long-term health effects of nuclear testing in the republic are unknown. It has been reported that the population in areas close to the polluted Aral Sea have a high incidence of respiratory illness and a shorter expectation of life than those in the rest of the country. Although health care is free of charge, in common with other former Soviet republics an informal system has evolved that often involves inducements to secure better or faster treatment. Since independence the rate of parasitic and infectious diseases has almost doubled and haematological illness has almost trebled. In 2004 the doctor to patient ratio was 1 doctor per 303 people. Infant mortality in 2007 was 27 per 1,000 live births and expenditure on health care in 2003 was 2 per cent of GDP. Life expectancy in 2007 was 67 years (72.8 years for women and 61.9 years for men).

E

Defence

The armed forces total 65,800 personnel: 46,800 in the army, 19,000 in the air force, and a naval force of 100 that carries out patrol duties on the Caspian Sea. Reserve troops number some 237,000. Paramilitary forces, including presidential guards, internal security troops, and border guards, account for a further 34,500 troops. Kazakh troops form part of the CIS collective peacekeeping force in Tajikistan. There is compulsory military service for all men aged between 18 and 27, which lasts for 24 months (12 months for university and college graduates). In 2003, Kazakhstan spent US$1,500 million (1.5 per cent of its GDP) on defence.

F

International Organizations

Kazakhstan has been a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) since 1991 and is also a member of the Partnership for Peace (PFP); the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE); the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO); the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC); the Shanghai Group (SG); and the United Nations (UN).

VI

History

A

Early History

The region that is now Kazakhstan was settled by Turkic tribes from about the 8th century ad and incorporated in the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan in the 13th century. The Kazakhs, a mixture of Mongol and Turkic peoples, emerged in about the 15th century. Russian incursions in what is now Kazakhstan began in the 16th century, as Cossacks settled along the Ural River in the western portion of the country. By the end of the 17th century a formal relationship had developed between the tsarist government in Russia and the Cossacks, who protected the Russian frontier in exchange for title to land and local autonomy. In the 18th century a line of Cossack settlements and fortifications was established across the northern boundary of the steppe region in Kazakhstan in order to defend the Russian frontier against marauding bands of Kazakhs and other nomads. This line remained essentially the same for nearly 70 years under Russia’s defensive posture. Beginning in the 1830s, however, Russian forces mounted a large-scale offensive southward, and by 1866 all of present-day Kazakhstan was under their control. Cossack outposts grew into peasant settlements as Russian and other Slavic immigrants came to the steppe in increasingly large numbers. In the period from 1906 to 1914, the influx of settlers averaged over 140,000 people per year, although about one fifth of all immigrants eventually returned to European Russia.

Friction developed between the Kazakhs and the new settlers, and tensions were exacerbated in 1916 by a governmental decree recruiting Kazakhs for military service. In retaliation for the decree, Kazakhs attacked and killed thousands of Slavic settlers. The tsarist government responded by expelling about 300,000 Kazakhs from their lands, many of whom left for the Xinjiang province in China. In 1917 Russian settlers responded to the killings by attacking and killing some 80,000 Kazakhs returning from China.

B

Soviet Era

In 1918 an autonomous republic was established in eastern Kazakhstan, but it was quickly absorbed by Bolshevik forces. In 1920 the area of present-day Kazakhstan was organized as an autonomous republic, and until 1925 it was known as the Kirgiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1936 it was admitted to the USSR as a constituent republic.

In the late 1920s Soviet authorities under Joseph Stalin instituted a policy of forced settling and collectivization of the Kazakh population. As a result of the policy, Kazakh culture and lifestyle were obliterated. Hundreds of thousands of Kazakhs were killed or fled to China. In 1954 the Soviet government launched the Virgin and Idle Lands Programme, which called for a rapid increase in the amount of sown land in western Siberia and Kazakhstan. A new wave of Slavic immigrants flooded the republic, and Slavs became the largest ethnic group in the country. Kazakhs subsequently regained their position as the most numerous ethnic group in the country.