The classified documents published by Bill Clinton Presidential Library tell the story of how the relationships between the US and the independent Kazakhstan have been formed. And if, for the US (due to the succession of power), these materials are of the mere historic nature, then, for Kazakhstan (due to the lack thereof), even to this day, they possess a topical political significance.
We have familiarized ourselves with the document collection and decided to tell our reader about some most interesting episodes of the history of the two states’ relationships within the framework of summing up Nursultan Nazarbayev’s 30-year rule.
Note that, on June 22, 2019, it will be exactly 30 years since the moment Nursultan Nazarbayev has been put in charge of Kazakhstan first as the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, then as the President of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic and, finally, as the President of the independent Kazakhstan. A lot of the good and the bad has happened during these years, and it seems it is the time to sum up the historic results of this period.
Bill Clinton and Nursultan Nazarbayev. Photo from the US Embassy to Kazakhstan webpage
In February 1994, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev arrived in the US to meet US President Bill Clinton. The foundations of the Kazakhstan independence had still been building at the time and the States played the systemic role in the process. The task of the US was to reduce the preserved since the Soviet times Moscow’s political monopoly to control the key decisions of the young state.
On the eve of this historic visit, Nazarbayev decided to buy a Boeing 747, the huge double-deck plane that was the biggest aircraft of that moment.
It was quite an extraordinary event. The President of Kazakhstan became the first state leader in the post-Soviet space that had bought such an aircraft. There was something very personal about it. It is well-known that the sky had been the President’s childhood dream which was covered in detail in the books and the documentaries. Having failed to become an aviator, Nazarbayev preserved his passion for planes even as the President (just look at his impressive aircraft fleet of today). However, as far as the Boeing 747 is concerned, a serious political subcurrent was at play there.
As Nazarbayev’s chief pilot Erbol Ospanov recalls, the President had visited the US even before, but he would use the Russian governmental planes and crew teams for these visits. This time, he travelled by the Boeing to demonstrate Kazakhstan’s political independence from Moscow. And this is not a hypothesis.
The Kazakhstan President’s purchase became the topic of discussion at the negotiations between Bill Clinton and Nursultan Nazarbayev held on February 14, 1994, the content of which has been declassified by Bill Clinton Library and is now accessible to the general public.
«How was that new Boeing 747 that you flew in on?», asked Vice President Albert Gore in passing.
To answer this specific question, the President of Kazakhstan had prepared a «contrivance» — a fully-fledged political answer recorded in the minutes of the meeting.
«Our purchasing of the Boeing 747 is very symbolic. It is the first Boeing in the former Soviet Union. I was its first passenger» — thus, Nursultan Nazarbayev elevated the aircraft purchase topic to the geopolitical level.
Then, he made a short but extremely telling speech by using a simple «by the way». Here it is.
It is not quite clear what (and whom) the President of Kazakhstan had in mind when he said «the German» (Germany haven’t produced aircrafts since the time of the WWII). He might have meant the Airbus SE company that is considered a «European» aircraft producer even though, from the legal standpoint, it is a French corporation based in Toulouse.
On the other hand, the political part of the statement was quite clear — the US must help Kazakhstan to withstand the pressure from Russia. Because had it not been for the Boeing 747, Nazarbayev would have had to travel via Iluyshin 96 with which something would «go wrong every ten minutes».
This statement was very telling especially considering that, in one and a half month (on March 29, 1994), Nursultan Nazarbayev spoke at Moscow State University about the fierce competition for the market outlets and warned that «we could survive only if we were united». Today, in the Kazakhstan official historiography, this speech is said to be the ideological foundation for the future Eurasian Economic Union. For this, the President was labeled the forefather of the Eurasian integration.
However, as we can see, the political reality was actually much more complicated. And we can assume that the declassified document reflects the reality much more adequately than the public speech directed to the Russian audience. But this isn’t even the crux of the matter. The thing is that if, even as early as in 1994, the President of Kazakhstan was performing the miracles of the political tightrope walking, we can only guess what levels of complexity they have reached today, after a quarter of a century of the endless presidential work.
Consequently, we find it interesting to present the list of the participants of those confidential talks.
On the part of Kazakhstan (according to the text of the declassified record), the list consisted of First Deputy Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin, Deputy Prime Minister Syzdyk Abishev, Head of the Presidential Administration Nurtay Abykayev, State Adviser Tulegen Zhukeyev, Minister of Foreign Affairs Tuletay Suleymenov and diplomat Almaz Khamzayev.
All these people had played a crucial role in building Kazakhstan’s external political (and, most importantly, economic) system. However, only one of them still holds on to his place in Nazarbayev’s closest circle.
The research of the materials from Bill Clinton Presidential Library is to be continued.
