After the historic events of March 19-20, 2019 that started with Nursultan Nazarbayev’s announcement of his resignation from the office and ended with Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev’s assuming the post of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, some of Nazarbayev’s personnel decisions can be looked at in a completely different light.
We are talking about appointing Gizat Nurdauletov the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Kazakhstan instead of Kayrat Kozhamzharov, electing Meyrambek Taymerdenov a member of the Supreme Court and awarding military ranks to Minister of Defense Nurlan Ermekbayev and Chief of NSC Karim Masimov.
As for the first two decisions, there can be no doubt why they had been made.
The thing is that, according to our insiders, the new Prosecutor General, Gizat Hurdauletov is close to the uncrowned ruler of the Almaty region Bolat Nazarbayev, the brother of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. This fact had enabled him to serve as the Chief of the Almaty Branch of the NSC for a decade (from 2007 to 2017) even though, according to the inter-departmental rules, the officials of such ranks must be replaced every five years.
The same can be said about Meyrambek Taymerdenov who has become scandalously famous in the country as Bolat Nazarbayev’s right-hand man ready to carry out any, even most unlawful, order issued by his patron. The most that Bolat Nazarbayev’s opponents were able to achieve was to “move” Taymerdenov from the super-profitable position of the Almaty Municipal Court’s President Justice to the position of the Almaty Regional Court’s President Justice in 2013. He also occupied the position for a decade.
As for the rest of the personnel decisions, awarding the military ranks of major general (in the Kazakh Army, a one-star general rank) to Minister of Defense Nurlan Ermekbayev and major general of national security to NSC Chief Karim Masimov is something of a mystery. (Recall that corresponding decree 877 was signed by Nursultan Nazarbayev one day prior to his resignation, on March 18, 2019).
The thing is that the two aforementioned officials, even though they had already possessed officer ranks, were probably in reserve. And their return to the military service (bearing in mind that civilians’ occupying such positions is hardly news anymore) is quite puzzling.
We would like to venture a guess based on the knowledge of the Leader of the Nation’s previous practices and of the relationships among the ruling elite that Nursultan Nazarbayev chose such an unconventional means to remind Ermekbayev and Masimov that they must obey the orders. If, as the Minister of Defense and the Chief of the NSC, they both seemed to have been above their subordinates, awarding them the military ranks, has returned them “back to earth”. For, in their agencies, they are now ranked lower than their deputies. For instance, in the NSC, three deputies, Samat Abish, Nurgali Bilisbekov and Marat Osipov, possess the rank of lieutenant general of national security (in the Kazakh Army, a two-star general rank). In the Ministry of Defense, two deputies have the rank of lieutenant general, Murat Maykeyev and Talgat Zhanzhumenov.
The fact that Karim Masimov was appointed the Chief of the NSC in September 2016 while Nurlan Ermekbayev was put in charge of the Ministry of Defense in August 2018 and that both of them were called to active duty and awarded the military ranks only on March 18, 2019, one day before Nazarbayev’s resignation announcement, shows that these events are interconnected.
It is quite possible that the Leader of the Nation had taken special measures to nullify even the minimal risks of the “mutiny” and “rebellion” on the part of the local officials. Kayrat Kozhamzharov was replaced with Gizat Nurdauletov as the Prosecutor General, Meyrambek Taymerdenov was appointed a member of the Supreme Court so that he would breath down Zhakip Asanov’s neck (by the way, we would not be surprised if the letter left his post and became a senator) while Ermekbayev and Masimov’s noses were put out of joint.
Recall that, a bit earlier, Kalmukhanbet Kasymov, Nursultan Nazarbayev’s loyal personal ally tied to the latter by the blood shed in Zhanaozen in December 2011, was appointed a member of Security Council.
