Kazakhstan appoints ambassador to Israel after seven-month break

Jerusalem Post ^ | Feb. 14, 2003 | TOM ROSE

[yonif]

ALMATY, Kazakhstan Ending months of delay, Kazakhstan's president used the occasion of a visit by Jewish representatives from the United States and Israel to announce that he had appointed a new ambassador to Israel who would be named and dispatched shortly.

Meeting with delegates from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, President Nursultan Nazarbaev rejected assertions that the seven-month absence of an ambassador was the result of Saudi pressure on this emerging Muslim state in Central Asia.

The Conference of Presidents was in this storied crossroads of the ancient Silk Road on the Tibetan border to attend what Nazarbaev billed as the "First Annual Conference on Peace and Accord" attended by heads of Central Asian Muslim nations, the purpose or which was to promote peaceful relations between the various religious and cultural traditions in one of the world's most diverse and dangerous regions.

Presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan were joined by the foreign ministers of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and the new Islamic government of Turkey to renounce terrorism "absolutely and unconditionally" as a scourge that destroys both targets and promoters.

Afghanistan's "transitional" Foreign Minister Maroofi Muhammad Yahya used his Oxford English to describe his nation's recent role as a "nest" and "breeding ground" for international terrorism had utterly destroyed the country and "annihilated our infrastructure."

Despite increasing criticism from human rights groups and the US State Department, a representative of which attended Thursday's event, that Nazarbaev was continuing to consolidate his power by limiting opponents and shutting down independent media, the Kazakh leader basked in his role as being the world's first Muslim head of state to call an international dialogue between Muslims and Jews.

Just last week, another high profile conference attendee, President Askar Akayev of Kyrgyzstan, was roundly criticized for what critics called a sham referendum which extended his term in office and greatly expanded his powers.

Conference delegates adopted a joint declaration calling upon all member states in Central Asia to respect the rights of minorities and to act as one in the "fight against international terror."

While not mentioned once during the official proceedings, the underlying theme was clearly the campaign to disarm Iraq. American representatives, lead by Conference of President's chairman Mortimer Zuckerman and former US senator Rudy Boschwitz tried to make the point that the question was no longer whether Saddam Hussein would survive but rather how to construct a more peaceful and stable "post Saddam" era.

Praising President Nazarbaev for creating what he called "an extraordinary opportunity," Zuckerman, who is publisher of the New York Daily News and US News and World Report magazine, said he would "proudly" would make Israel's case to a gathering of Muslim leaders. Israel's fight, Zuckerman argued, was no different than that of any other free people trying to defend itself against "unspeakable evil."

"All these guys needed was a demonstration of American leadership," commented a US official attending the conference. "They want to be on the right side of history. Saddam is history and they know it."

[Larry Lucido]

Interesting article. I don't know much about Nazarbaev, but I remember the Kazakh people to be warm and welcoming when I was there in 1993.

[Kaafi]

Babay coming to Israel!!!