Department of Political Science Chair of History of International Relations KAZAKH NATIONAL IDENTITY (1917-2017) Supervisor: Professor Maria Elena Cavallaro Candidate: Antonio Schiavano Student Reg n. 628902 Co-Supervisor: Professor Gregory Alegi A.Y 2017/2018 1 No, non ora, non qui Questa pingue e immane frana (Depressione Caspica-CCCP) 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 1 .................................................................................................................................................. 8 1.1 The “Kazakh” Society ......................................................................................................................... 8 1.2 The Stolypin Reform ......................................................................................................................... 13 1.3 The 1916 Uprising ............................................................................................................................. 15 1.4 Soviet Nationality Policy .................................................................................................................. 20 1.5 NEP and Korenizatsyia ..................................................................................................................... 22 1.5.1 Korenizatsyia in Kazakhstan ...................................................................................................... 25 1.6 The Great Turn .................................................................................................................................. 28 1.6.1 The Sedentarization of Nomads ................................................................................................. 30 1.6.2 Collectivisation in Kazakhstan. .................................................................................................. 31 1.7 World War II ..................................................................................................................................... 35 CHAPTER 2 ................................................................................................................................................ 37 2.1 Khrushchev: Destalinization and Nationality Policies ...................................................................... 37 2.2 Virgin Lands Programme .................................................................................................................. 45 2.3 Brezhnev and Kunaev ....................................................................................................................... 49 2.4 Gorbachev and the collapse of Soviet Union .................................................................................... 54 2.5 Kazakhstan’s Way to Independence ................................................................................................. 58 2.6 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 66 CHAPTER 3 ................................................................................................................................................ 67 3. 1 Kazakhness and Kazakhization ........................................................................................................ 70 3.1.1 Language Policy ......................................................................................................................... 73 3.1.1.1 The switch from Cyrillic to Latin alphabet. ............................................................................ 77 3.1.2 Oralmandar ................................................................................................................................. 78 3.2 Kazakhstanness and Civic Kazakhstani Identity ............................................................................... 82 3 3.2.1 The Assembly of People(s) of Kazakhstan ................................................................................ 84 3.3 Russian Minority in Kazakhstan ....................................................................................................... 87 3.4 Kazakhstan Political System ............................................................................................................. 90 3.5 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 95 CHAPTER 4 ................................................................................................................................................ 97 4.1 Multivectorism .................................................................................................................................. 97 4.2 Eurasianism ..................................................................................................................................... 101 4.3 Relations between Kazakhstan and Russia. ........................................................................................ 105 4.4 Relations between China and Kazakhstan....................................................................................... 113 4.5 Relations between USA and Kazakhstan ........................................................................................ 118 4.6 Relations between EU and Kazakhstan ........................................................................................... 122 4.7 Kazakhstan and Central Asia integration ........................................................................................ 126 4.8 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 132 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................... 134 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................................... 137 ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................................. 153 4 INTRODUCTION Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country and the biggest landlocked state in the world. It became independent only in 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed. Yet, it was the last republic to proclaim its independence from the former Communist ‘empire’ and, furthermore, it was the only one where the titular nationality did not represent the majority of the population. According to the last Soviet census, held in 1989, Kazakhs represented only the 39,7% of the overall population, while Russians constituted the 37,8% and, furthermore, ‘European’ people easily overcame Kazakhs, since Kazakhstan hosted also a large Ukrainian and German minority, who represented respectively 5,4% and 5,8% of the overall population of the republic. Kazakhstan is one of the five post-Soviet Central Asian states. In 1904, the British geographer Harold Mackinder even identified Central Asia and the rule over this area as fundamental for whoever aspired to global hegemony. During Soviet era, Moscow portrayed Soviet Central Asian republics as a development model for the Muslim world. When Soviet Union collapsed, the major global powers began to pay more attention toward the area and several experts even have wondered if a new ‘Great Game’ has begun in the region. Under this framework, Kazakhstan has played a central role since it has been able to emerge as the most developed of the five Central Asian countries, economically speaking, and it has established fruitful bilateral relations not only with China and Russia - with whom Kazakhstan shares two large borders - but also with other major global powers such as United States and European Union. The Soviet rule dramatically changed Kazakhstan and Kazakh national identity. Kazakhstan became the most international of the Soviet republic and up to 130 different nationalities lived in Kazakhstan; while, Kazakh identity witnessed an extensive modernisation that involved a relevant linguistic and cultural Russification. Given this demographic and cultural reality, post- Soviet Kazakhstan identity implemented a twofold nationality policy aimed to strengthen Kazakh ethnic identity, but also on the other hand to develop a civic identity able to represent also the minorities living in Kazakhstan. Under this framework, foreign policy strategy and, in particular, the ‘Eurasianist’ paradigm has also had a primarily role to preserve stability and inter- ethnic harmony in Kazakhstan. This dissertation is divided in two different parts. The first, which involves chapter 1 and 2, analyses the development of Kazakhstan and Kazakh national identity since 1890s, when Russian migration toward the steppe began to increase until the demise of the Soviet Union. The second, which encompasses chapter 3 and 4, analyses Kazakhstani leadership decision making 5 since 1991 both in the domestic and international arena and how it affected the development of Kazakh national identity in post-Soviet Kazakhstan. The first chapter analyses three different stages. First, the period between 19th century and 1918. This phase encompasses the years between the intensification of Russian migration toward the steppe land and the October Revolution. This part answers two main questions. First, did a Kazakh