Kazakhstan determined to stay the course of sustainable growth
The terrorist outrages in Aktobe in the west of Kazakhstan on June 5 once again underlined how no country, no matter how stable, is immune from the threat of depraved religious extremism. It is a tragic lesson that many nations have now learnt.
We are very grateful for the international sympathy and support we have received. We are pleased as well that media coverage around the globe rightly stressed how highly unusual terrorism was in our country.
Kazakhstan is located, of course, in a challenging region. But while our citizens come from many different backgrounds, we pride ourselves on having built a society where all are valued and live in harmony together. It is why the attacks were so profoundly shocking to us.
Our security forces, despite the casualties they have suffered, behaved with great bravery and professionalism, risking and, tragically, losing their lives to protect civilians. Without their sacrifice, the death toll would have been far higher.
All of the attackers have now been dealt with. A total of 18 of those involved in the attacks were killed by our security forces in special operations to detain them, while nine were captured. The investigation into what happened in Aktobe will still continue, however, to both determine the causes for this outbreak and make sure all the needed conclusions are made to prevent anything like this from happening again.
It is, however, already clear that those involved were local rather than having infiltrated from beyond our borders. This has made the shock over the attacks even greater.
What is less surprising is that they were motivated by the perverted religious extremism which lies behind so many terrorist outrages around the world. The extremists appear to be an isolated cell which has allied themselves to terror groups in the Middle East. Indeed, there is evidence that instructions for the attack came from outside Kazakhstan.
For if the attackers are local, the ideology that motivated them is certainly not. Kazakhstan is a largely Muslim if secular country in which people of all faiths can practice their religion freely. The hate-filled beliefs which foster terrorism have nothing in common at all with the moderate and peaceful Islamic faith which has deep roots in Kazakhstan.
The author is Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Erlan Idrissov
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