Thanks to the post-January loosening of the information-space control on the part of the Kazakh state, even those who prefer to keep silent have started talking. However, this kind of freedom (that we, unquestionably, support and that the country has long been in need of) can sometimes result in creating myths.

And these myths, unless they are timely debunked, may very well go down in the Kazakh history as proven facts. But we think that the Kazakh citizens can do with the truth instead of its distortions.

In view of this, we would like to draw the reader’s attention to Exclusive.kz’ recent publication titled «The Unlearned Lessons of Shanyrak». This article devoted to the tragic events that took place in the Shanyrak district of Almaty in 2006 (see more details here) names the late Aron Atabek the leader of the resistance against the despotism of the Kazakh authorities.

Let us quote this piece (text in bold by KZ.expert).

«We shall never know by what kind of fair or foul means had the city’s new residents obtained the land parcels in the Aygerim, Shanyrak, Bakay and Ulzhan districts but the fact of the matter is that, in 2004, they began a large-scale housing development in these areas. Most of the developers had some sort of entitling documents on their hands.

However, at the start of 2006, against the backdrop of the rising real estate boom when the cost of a square meter in Almaty panel houses had surpassed 2000, $ the authorities decided to get things in order. The Auezovsky court of Almaty ruled that the illegally-built houses were to be torn down and that the residents were to vacate the land parcels (allegedly, occupied without permission). 

The first attempt to run over the new housing development with bulldozers was made on May 15, 2006, in the Bakay district — about 500 houses were destroyed. Two months later, the law-enforcement officers and building equipment arrived in Shanyrak. However, by that time the local residents had already «circled the wagons».

«We see no point in describing the progress of the protests. But we would like to point out that the Shanyrak residents were, if one may say, «at advantage» not only due to the localized nature of the protest but because they had a single and a very charismatic leader — poet Aron Atabek.

If we recall the peak point of the Shanyrak tragedy when the protestors bound a 24-year-old Aset Beysenov (an investigative officer of the Bostandyksky DOIA) to a stake, doused him with gasoline and set him on fire, it was no other than Aron Atabek who tried to lessen and put out the flames with his suit coat. With his direct involvement, the residents of the district released several other hostages to the authorities. But it was Aron Atabek who later was deemed the main orchestrator of the massive disturbances».

«The Shymkent trial was conducted with numerous violations. Neither the investigation nor the court had been able to establish who exactly lit the match that set the police officer on fire. Still, Aron Atabek was «appointed» the orchestrator of the disturbances and sentenced to 18 years in prison. Over the course of 15 years, he was moved from one penal colony to another. Starting from 2014, he was kept in the Pavlodar detention facility. While there, he was sent to the so-called «jail within jail» twice — a lengthy solitary confinement without the right to correspondence and visiting privileges)».

We understand the desire of the authors to pay tribute to Aron Atabek, however, wishing or not, they have misled the Kazakh reader in this instance. The thing is that, a Soviet dissident, Aron Atabek had remained such in independent Kazakhstan as well. This is not an attempt to insult or undermine him in any way but a statement of fact. The poet has always been a rebel and a loner regardless of who was fighting against him and why. 

Now then, Aron Atabek had nothing to do with organizing the Shanyrak residents’ resistance against the forced housing demolition in the district. He arrived at the scene when the protests were already in full swing. True, he did try to put out the flames and save the young police officer whom the protestors set on fire in order to stop the other policemen. And it is this fact documented by many that seemed to have served as the main reason for naming Aron Atabek the main guilty party.

As for the true orchestrators of the resistance, these people chose to stay below the radar so the Kazakh police was unable to find out who they were and indict them. First of all, at that time, the police did not have strong networks of informers in such districts. Apart from that, it found itself under a huge pressure from the people in power who wanted to «close the case» as soon as possible. 

As a result, the defendant’s bench was filled with the people against whom the police was able to gather at least some kind of proof of their involvement in the protests. Those who had actually orchestrated the resistance managed to walk free.

To this we would like at add that the people fighting against police brutality sought help in many an organization at the time. However, they were able to obtain such support only in the organization that back then was called «The Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan».

This organization did not only listen, it helped — with real advice and money (that, for instance, paid for the work of the bulldozers breaking the paths within the housing development). Later it served as an important advantage for the protestors because it gave them the opportunity to respond to the changes in the attacks on the part of the police and the other siloviks.

At the same time, it is clear that it was the readiness of the Shanyrak residents to fight for their property and, therefore, to follow the organizers of the resistance that served as the main victory component.

It is also clear that, in contrast to the Zhanaozen tragedy of December 16-18, 2001 and the January tragedy of 2022, the Shanyrak events had a specific «author».  We are talking about the then Akim of Almaty Imangali Tasmagambetov. It was he, not Nursultan Nazarbayev, who at the time made the political decision to tear down Bakay and Shanyrak.

The question is why he’d made it? In order not to appear weak and to prove that the authorities are always right? We do not know. Be as it may, the hands of Mr. Tasmagambetov are just as bloody as the hands of the policemen executing his will.

By the way, the Respublika archives still contain the photographs of the tragic events in Shanyrak. They tell a clear story of what took place. Click here to see the photo report.