Those reproaching Kazakhstan of autocracy need to understand specifics of Asian state - President Nazarbayev
ASTANA. Aug 28 (Interfax) - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has advised 'friends' of Kazakhstan who accuse the country's authorities of pursuing autocratic policies to understand the specifics of an Asian state's configuration.
"I know that we have occasionally been reproached for being autocratic. But how can one speak of any autocracy when the people elect their president in a nationwide vote every 4-5 years and elect their parliament at free and alternative elections?", Nazarbayev told a conference dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Kazakhstan's constitution in Astana on Friday.
"We have been told that we need to move faster along a path of democracy modeled after that of Western countries, the U.S. We perfectly realize all this. Democracy is a common major highway for the development of mankind. We are heading there, but we always take account of the fact that we are an Asian society and we have traditions that differ from those in the West. Our religious and cultural views are different. For this reason, we need to move carefully, " the head of state said.
Furthermore, it is necessary to remember that the culture of democracy and democratic policy "has never existed here in the past 300 years unlike in other countries," he said.
"It means that when our friends assess our day-to-day life, I would advise them to gain a deeper insight into our system, history, culture and the traditions of our Asian society," Nazarbayev said.
If Kazakhstan had embraced some hasty and abstract schemes as it built its statehood, "beyond any doubt we would have suffered a failure, which we can see today in our closest neighbor countries," he said.
"And the scenario of this failure would have been catastrophic," the president said.
The presidential elections in the spring of this year were held at 'the people's initiative", he said.
"I believe that over the past 20 years there has emerged a Kazakh nation woven of golden threads by representatives of all ethnic groups and faiths. Our nation has been formed. It is united. And I see this as the key to the further success of our state's unity," Nazarbayev said in conclusion.
