The jubilee XX Session of Kazakhstan People’s Assembly “Kazakhstan-2050 Strategy”: one nation - one destiny” opened yesterday, which President Nursultan Nazarbayev addressed.

The President said the Assembly is 17 million of Kazakhstanis, and the main upshot of its work is absence on our territory of ethnic conflicts and peace in every home.
 
 
- The theme of the session, "One nation - one destiny" is consistent with "Kazakhstan-2050 Strategy" and is in fact the formula for our country’s progress.
 
- One nation means common interests, and one destiny - the undergone challenges and victories that we share. Our common perspective is a happy and thriving Kazakhstan! 
 
- The recent developments in Cyprus, according to the President, showed how the financial risks and world economic situation impact the people’s welfare and ethno-cultural situation. Extreme rhetoric is recurrent, the practice of multiculturalism is failing and assertions are increasingly heard that Europeans are destroying themselves by it. It is an alarming signal.
 
- I am confident that the trends of unity and diversity, with a clear government strategy and good will, do not contradict, but complement each other. It is precisely what we have been doing for all the twenty sessions of the Assembly. And this policy has paid off handsomely. During the years of independence, the republic has developed its own unique model of inter-ethnic unity. Cultural diversity must be put to advantage, - President Nursultan Nazarbayev stated.
 
Social cohesion, he went on, should become the norm of the Universal Society of Labor. Under the new conditions, the Assembly’s responsibilities will only be increasing. Conception for its development until 2020 has been signed by the President on the eve of the jubilee session, issuing from which the regional governors are tasked to develop the conceptions for the local KPAs suited to the demographic composition. Friendship houses in the regions must be made the venues of social cohesion and social initiatives. It is a no easy task, but no price is too high for the peace and harmony in Kazakhstan. Under the Assembly’s auspices public consent councils will be established.
 
Kazakhstan’s model in this area is known in the near and far abroad, and the Assembly’s project "Memory in the name of future", dedicated to the victims of political repression, received international acclaim, so did the Civil Forum on tolerance. And recently, the Executive Secretariat of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia came out with the initiative to sign a cooperation protocol with the Assembly. 
 
Another stimulating international project for the KPA is to be EXPO 2017 that will be attended by delegations from dozens of countries, who will bring cultural programs along. In this respect the Assembly and the ethnic culture associations should act as live bridges of public diplomacy.
 
 
Historically Kazakhstan has never been mono-ethnic and mono-cultural, and we never evolved away from the world cultural processes in Eurasia for centuries. Our forerunners showed the world truly inspiring examples of co-residence in cultural diversity, and we must do as they did.
 
National history of the Kazakhs, their ethnogenesis, should be treated as a single and continuous process of thousands of years, and modern Kazakhstan –as a successor of the great steppe civilizations, - said the President.
 
The History of Kazakhstan as an academic subject should reflect the processes of cultural and economic interaction between the Kazakhs and other cultures, the contribution of the people of various ethnic cultures to the country's history. As a result the historical consciousness of Kazakhstanis should work for unity, patriotic attitude to the past, present and future.
 
Internal unity of the Kazakhs must be strengthened in every way. In the XXI century - time of innovations, the Kazakh society cannot be the same as in past centuries. Without their active involvement no long-term social harmony in Kazakhstan is possible.
 
In the world today, according to various estimates, 10 to 25 unwritten languages, big chunks of ethnic cultures die out annually, whereas in our country, no ethnic group has lost its language, the President said.
 
- We encourage development of all ethnic cultures, even of the smallest groups. Kazakh land is home to more than 100 ethnic groups. To make all this ethnic diversity into one nation, we need good cement. Nursultan Nazarbayev holds Kazakh language as this very nation cementing factor.
 
Another task is building a new mentality, the vision of the country’s future, resting on "Kazakhstan-2050 Strategy". This image has to be realistic, attractive and inspiring.
 
 
The KPA involvement is required in preservation of our language, traditions and values, in the public outreach on major state programs, like "People's IPO", industrial and social upgrading, Nursultan Nazarbayev urged.
 
We are a secular state, - he went on, but it does not mean atheistic. Secular means progressive, peace-loving, tolerant, open. We support traditional religions, but reject any extremism. Young people must be protected against alien to us radical religious movements. And tolerance is not all- permissiveness, as some people are apt to think, but a moral norm in our society.
 
The way Kazakhstan has made in the two decades, became a template of national progress to newly independent states. It is the upshot of hard work and the nation’s unity. Ahead are ambitious goals to attain.
 
The President congratulated all the Kazakhstanis on the upcoming Day of Kazakhstan Peoples’ Unity. 
 
In the subsequent reactions, Yuri Solozobov- the head of the Russian Center for Strategic Research noted Kazakhstan’s significant progress in social harmony and inter-ethnic tolerance, and that peace and harmony became underlying principles of its state policy. He called the KPA a tool of direct democracy, and effective social elevator.
 
General Director of the "Dievsky" agribusiness in Kostanai region Oleg Danilenko said that 141 people who in the previous years left for Russia, Germany and other countries have come back to Kazakhstan, which is a telling sign.
 
Sport is an important constituent of patriotism and solidarity of the nation, it was pointed at the session. No wonder, there were victorious athletes who have done credit to Kazakhstan, among the XX Session participants. The captain of the national team of Kazakhstan climbers Maksut Zhumaev said sport in our country becomes really popular and invited the sports heroes of Kazakhstan to come up on the stage. Among them were Denis Kuzin - the first world champion in speed skating in Kazakhstan's history, silver medalist at the World Figure Skating Denis Ten, a silver medalist in freestyle skiing World Cup Dmitry Reyherd, a seven-time world champion in professional boxing Gennady Golovkin, champion of the world and Asia, 18-times winner of the national tournament "Tuye paluany" - champion of Kazakh Barys 2012 Beibit Ystybayev.
 
An important highlight of the XX Assembly’s Session was the appointment of two Vice-Presidents of the Assembly, representing the cultural centers - the chairman of the Association of Jewish cultural centers in Kazakhstan Alexander Baron and the chairman of the Kurds “Barbang” Association in Kazakhstan Knyaz Mirzoyev. 
 
 
During the Session, the President handed the Medal of Kazakhstan People’s Assembly to the president of the republican newspaper "Egemen Kazakhstan" S. Abdrakhmanov, the chairman of the Bulgarian ethnic and cultural association O. Dymov, the director of Talgar charity family home "Nur" T. Eskozhina, the chairman of the Ukrainian ethno-cultural association in Pavlodar region M. Paripse, the head of the Azerbaijanis Association A. Khamedov, the chairman of Akmola oblast Association of children's and youth organizations D. Gallyamov.
 
XX KPA Session participants’ Address was also read out there. 
 
- Harmony and friendship are our priorities used for developing and building the future. We need to further strengthen the Assembly’s role, especially in the regions. I think representatives of small assemblies must visit other regions of the country to share their experiences and learn the achievements. Today the Assembly’s part in social and political life is outstanding and no government agency can replace it, - said Nursultan Nazarbayev.
 
The KPA jubilee session ended in a concert, in which Kazakh artists and guests from neighboring countries performed. Kazakhstan was represented by the creative teams from Astana, Almaty, Karaganda, Kostanai, Petropavlovsk.
 
Karaganda dance ensembles "Sholpan" and "Vainakh" of Chechen-Ingush ethnic culture association with the soloist Rinat Maltsagov, Kostanay dance ensemble "Carnival", Guzel Zalyalova from Kazan, Emmy Bejanyan from Yerevan, a dance group "Nairi" from Almaty, Vladimir Kvasnitsa from Donetsk, Sevmar Aliyev from Baku, Almaty dance group "Bahar", a dance group from Omsk State Russian Folk Choir, soloist Stanislav Lee, Dilnaz Akhmadieva and dance ensemble "Rukhsara" from the State republican Uigur theater of musical comedy named after K. Kuzhamyarov and many other artists and singers performed on stage.
 
Laura Tusupbekova
Yulia Mager
Photo: Sergei Bondarenko, Bolatbek Otarbayev
 
http://www.kazpravda.kz/c/1366884824