Two faces of one Nazarbayev

Two faces of one Nazarbayev. This is how you can call a selection of quotes from the former president of Kazakhstan published in the Red Kazakh telegram channel related to the events in Almaty that took place from December 16 to 18, 1986.

The first quote:

"Extremist-minded young men... were able... to captivate... the socially unhealthy part of the student youth..." (Friendship of Peoples magazine, No. 9, 1987 (interview/conversation "Healing").

The second quote:

"What tragic events? The real hooliganism was on the 18th. Policemen were beaten and stoned. We're not talking about it right now. There were more wounded policemen and soldiers than these..." (Express-Crime newspaper, December 1990, Moscow).

The third quote:

"When the people gathered in the square rushed to the city, I realized that I was facing such a choice: either I had to decide on a deed, or calmly return to the Central Committee building. The second seemed to me an unforgivable betrayal of people — they were right! I went with them to the head of the column." (From Nazarbayev's book "Without Left and Right", 1991.)

As the telegram channel notes, after 1991 Nazarbayev spoke about the injustice of repression against participants, condemned mass expulsions of students, dismissals, criminal cases and the stigma of "nationalists". But at the same time, from 1989 to 1991, when he had already become the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR, none of the demonstrators were rehabilitated or released.

On December 16, Kazakhstan celebrates Independence Day. This date, being the president of the republic, was established by Nazarbayev.