“Since the problems have been identified, but not resolved, the poor and landless will become even poorer, and the latifundists, in the absence of political will on the part of the country’s leadership, will retain their positions and continue to put their interests above public interests”, – notes in an article written for the analytical portal CABAR.asia, human rights activist Galym Ageleuov, director of the Kazakhstani public fund “Liberty” (Almaty, Kazakhstan).
By creating a land commission, the Kazakh authorities managed to bring down the protest rallies in 2016, when, under pressure from citizens, the government was forced to abandon the sale and lease of land to foreigners. The goal of the national patriots was achieved, but the key issue for the citizens remained unresolved – the mechanism and procedures for the return of land to the people of Kazakhstan, sold by the authorities as a result of massive corruption deals and now belonging to oligarchs – “land barons”, has not been created by law.
Land issue in independent Kazakhstan 1991-2021
After gaining independence in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Land Code of 1990 stated that only the possession and use of land is allowed. There was no concept of private property. The 1993 constitution emphasized that natural resources, including land, are owned by the state.
The turnaround took place in 1995, when the new constitution declared that land could be in both state and private ownership (Article 6, paragraph 3). On December 22, 1995, the first presidential decree on land appeared, which had the power of law, which also allowed private ownership of land. Article 5 “Ownership of land” reads: “In accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, land is in state ownership. The land can also be privately owned”. In article 30, the legislation “recognizes and protects state and private ownership of land”.
Already since 1995, in a presidential decree having the force of law, Article 4 states that “Foreign citizens and legal entities, as well as stateless persons, enjoy the rights and bear obligations in land legal relations on an equal basis with citizens and legal entities of the Republic of Kazakhstan”, thus, the right to private ownership of them extends, which led to the massive investment construction of buildings and structures.
A massive transfer of land plots from state ownership to private property begins for money – “the state, represented by the authorized body, is granted the right to permanent land use for a fee”. Agricultural land
By 2003, the growing nomenclature began to demand the introduction of private ownership of agricultural land, which was done by the government of Imangali Tasmagambetov, who made it possible to massively buy up land and concentrate huge latifundist farms (land ownership occupying a large area – ed.) to the detriment of the rest of the villagers.
By 2003, the growing national bourgeoisie benefited from the exclusion of foreign participants from the struggle for agricultural land, primarily for the possibility of inexpensive purchase of land in large quantities for subsequent resale in the future, so the right to private property was granted only to citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan. This provision was confirmed in the 2003 Land Code.
As a result of the lack of educational work to clarify the essence of the changes in the Land Code, weak peasant farms became even weaker, and the latifundists (large landowners – ed.), who had the resources, associated with the executive power, were able to buy up land that was sold to them by the villagers and auls. The process of legitimization of huge land tracts, now openly or affiliatedly owned by people from power, has begun. In the media, reports began to appear about hundreds of thousands of hectares of land owned by those in power. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of land latifundists are “businessmen from power”. Since 1995, the main thing for foreign investors has been the presence of connections and access to government officials and the state committee, who have the right from the state of Kazakhstan to conclude contracts. The practice of cash kickbacks – payoffs when making transactions and the appearance of “help” to reach the right people, was introduced everywhere.
The first problems of the 2000s
Since 2003, power has been concentrated in the hands of an uncontrolled executive branch. A total plunder of the land fund by akims of rural areas began, who sold land plots to everyone who was ready to pay.
Since local residents demanded a free transfer of land in accordance with the queue for land, like those living here, it was profitable to sell land to the left to wealthy visitors, townspeople, political nomenclature and oligarchs.
Akims of all levels actively pursued a policy of land acquisition through decisions of land and town planning commissions, in which the main violin was played by developers who carried out the will of the akims themselves.
These commissions did not include civic activists and representatives of independent NGOs who could express the will of the residents. Already in 1995, in a presidential decree, which had the force of law, the concept of “seizure of land for state needs” was introduced, which was widely interpreted and led to massive demolition and allotment of land for construction, ignoring all public demands.
The first problems appeared already in the 2000s. The largest land conflicts were the events of 2006 in Almaty, when the authorities demanded to stop the squatter and refused to legalize land plots and houses.
In the summer of 2006, the Akimat decided to use force to resolve the conflict. In the Bakai microdistrict, while the men were working, and the houses were women and children, all their houses and buildings were demolished, and the people were expelled (now expensive mansions of the oligarchs and the country’s political elite have been built on the land of Bakai).
In the same way, the authorities decided to act in the Shanyrak microdistrict. Residents of Shanyrak responded by organizing the protection of their homes (some of them had state certificates for the land, but most of them did not). Akimat with the help of the police, prosecutor’s office, SOBR (special police force – ed.), court executors, collectors gave the order to demolish these houses.
On July 14, 2006, the police began demolishing the houses of self-builders, where the authorities were rebuffed by residents who organized a perimeter defense. If in Bakai the squatter was demolished, then in Shanyrak (Almaty region) bloody battles continued for several days with the taking of hostages and the death of one police hostage. The organizers of the defense, led by Aron Atabek (still in prison), were arrested and sentenced to long sentences (more than 20 people).
Land rallies 2010 and 2016
The 2010 rally against the sale of land (over 1 million hectares) to China in Almaty became a catalyst for anti-Chinese sentiments in Kazakh society and was triggered by the statement of the Kazakh authorities about China’s proposal to sell or lease up to 1 million hectares of land, which provoked protests from the opposition and patriotic nationalists.
Prior to that, the Chinese bought large stakes in the oil companies Mangistaumunaigaz, Karazhanbasmunai and others. The protesters (up to 4 thousand people) then demanded to prohibit the provision of land to China, interpreting this as an encroachment on the country’s sovereignty, and also to publish secret agreements between China and Kazakhstan, suspecting the country’s authorities of receiving Chinese loans. It was from this period that the steady growth of anti-Chinese protests began.
By the beginning of the 2016 land rallies, the country’s land fund was already concentrated in the hands of oligarchic groups, which led to pressure on the government, which raised the issue of selling land to foreign companies and foreigners. Minister of National Economy Yerbolat Dossayev announced plans “to put up for auction 17 thousand square kilometers. agricultural land and increase the lease term for foreigners from 10 to 25 years. The goal was proclaimed “to benefit from the vast unused territories”.
“The representatives of the Kazakh intelligentsia” addressed an open letter to the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev: “If the land is leased or sold to foreigners, the people will take extraordinary measures” (“the people may rebel”).
On April 24, 2016, the first land rally took place in Atyrau, organized by Maks Bokaev and Talgat Ayan. The participants of the rally put forward demands: the publication of the land cadastre, the transfer of land to those on the waiting list and the construction of mass housing in Atyrau, the closure of foreign military training grounds and the refusal to sell and lease land to foreigners for 49 years.
Atyrau was heard. Rallies were held in Aktobe, Semey, and protests began to grow like a lump throughout the country. A land commission was created under the leadership of E. Tugzhanov, which worked for five years, chatting up the process and bringing down the protest heat. Maks Bokaev and Talgat Ayan refused to join the commission, which served as a signal for the authorities to arrest them, initiate a criminal case and sentenced them to five years in prison. This rally showed the strength of the people, who felt themselves to be the initiator of change.
The Land Commission of E. Tugzhanov in 2021 introduced a moratorium on the lease of agricultural land to foreigners for another 5 years. The Commission proposed: to conduct an inventory of agricultural land, revise the value of land, including the cadastral value, introduce the provision of agricultural land in electronic format in the public domain.
The main problem of land relations
Corruption is already noted at the level of support for agricultural producers, which leads to the inefficiency of lending state corporations. KazAgro money went to intermediaries. KazAgro stimulated the emergence of pseudo-farms, which existed formally, whose collateralized real estate of borrowers existed, as a rule, only on paper. However, the money for KazAgro was received against government guarantees from international banks (European Bank fo2 Reconstruction and Development) and they must be returned. The people of Kazakhstan will be the “can carrier”.
Kickbacks and easy money led to the creation of organized criminal groups throughout the country, consisting of government workers: akimats, prosecutors, SMES, helping to seize, re-register and resell land, take away farms, etc.
The activities of akims, who have been selling land in rural areas all this time, are not controlled. With the exception of isolated cases, none of them was arrested and convicted of selling land, for example, school and hospital territories in the same Talgar district of Almaty region, cemetery lands in Karabulak (Klyuchi) were sold or leased.
On a massive scale, the houses of culture were “grabbed” for a pittance, and local public activists, pointing to the criminal sale of land, disgusting roads, all these years received threats, even shot. Thus, an attempt was made on the life of civil activist Galina Arzamasova. As established by the court, on the instructions of the then Akim of Talgar District Nurlan Appazov, an attempt was made on her life in 2019 – a killer shot her with a pistol when she walked up the stairs of the Talgar Akimat to the next meeting with the Akim. Earlier, in 2017, she was attacked twice to be beaten and silenced. In May 2019, civil activist Gala Baktybaev, a local defender and fighter against corruption, was killed in the village of Atasu, Karaganda region.
In the cities of Kazakhstan, illegal development is taking place, school sports stadiums and grounds have been destroyed, when officials are selling these lands under the guise of compacting development. Seized plots from former orphanages, universities: KazNU named after al-Farabi, ASU named after Abai, KazGosZhen.PI, various institutions: the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the National Museum of Arts named after Kasteev, Kazakhfilm and everywhere representatives of the executive power, heads of institutions, relevant ministries, judicial authorities and prosecutors are involved.
The illegal sale of land in national parks has not been stopped. Thus, the Ile-Alatau Nature Reserve near Almaty is constantly shaken by scandals. More than 120 illegal land plots where houses are being built have been identified on the territory of the Ile-Alatau Reserve. It is known that the entire nomenclature built houses in the foothills of the Alatau.
For about five years, the conflict around the construction of a ski resort on Kok-Zhailau, for which billions of tenge were allocated by the state, flared up, and also took place with numerous violations of the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which led to the demand of public figures to stop the construction of the resort. But at the hearings, the akimat used the administrative resource – various public organizations of GONGOs and students, who either silenced the civic activists, or were invited to vote in order to push through the developer’s decision.
The townspeople of Almaty, fighting for Kok-Zhailau, came to the creation of their eco-movements “Defend Kok-Zhailau” and “Save Kok-Zhailau”. The degree of dispute over Kok-Zhailau dropped after President Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev announced that no money would be allocated from the budget for the construction of a ski resort.
Now a similar public campaign is taking place in defense of the Bozzhyra reserve in the Mangistau region, where the authorities wanted to build a tourist complex that could destroy a unique natural site.
On December 27, 2019, there was an egregious case when the land behind the fence of the Almaty airport was sold by the regional akimat and during the accident, a Bek Air aircraft, breaking through a concrete wall, crashed into a two-story residential building. In that tragedy, 12 people died, more than 40 were injured.
The nomenklatura, having once people’s resources in the form of land and agricultural machinery, governing the regions, uncontrollably implements the idea of the initial accumulation of capital.
Will there be an end to the land corruption bacchanalia?
On May 13, 2021, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev adopted the law “On Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the Development of Land Relations”, which provides for “a complete ban on the transfer and sale of agricultural land to foreigners and foreign legal entities”.
On June 30, 2021, a law was signed, which was amended by the Land Reform Commission. The moratorium on private ownership of agricultural land for citizens of the country and non-state legal entities was extended for another 5 years until December 31, 2026.
An amendment was adopted to the current version of Article 97 of the Land Code regarding the prohibition on changing the designated purpose from peasant farms (KH) to gardening and dacha construction, directed against dishonest officials of akimats of districts who removed agricultural land from agricultural use, changing the purpose. District and city land commissions under akimats were abolished, which turned into sources of corruption. The size of agricultural land put up for competition to provide them for farming has been limited, a radius has been set around rural settlements to reserve land for public pastures, a type of personal subsidiary farm has been established in the identification document to prevent scams.
The information of the state land cadastre will be opened. Now, in the base of the automated information system of the state land cadastre, in the column owner / land user, it will be indicated: the full name of the owner of the land plot or the business identification number of the legal entity, which will make it possible to identify the beneficiaries who have seized huge land plots. From the competence of akimats of districts and cities, control functions over the use and protection of land are withdrawn in favor of the Committee for Land Management of the Ministry of Agriculture.
The question remains open – will this lead to a massive return of land? The mechanism itself is not specified, under which the seizure of unused land from the oligarchs and relatives of officials will begin. How exactly will the Committee on Land Management of the Ministry of Agriculture and its regional land inspection departments be responsible to the people of the Republic of Kazakhstan?
An independent cosmomonitoring from akimats is being introduced, which will show the level of agricultural land development. The authors of the amendments assume that the process of land return will begin. With the adoption of the law “On digitalization”, an electronic procedure for the provision of land plots, electronic tenders, electronic document circulation are introduced, a unified state real estate cadastre base is being introduced, all land cadastral affairs, information, procedures will be digitized to exclude contact between a person and an official.
Bones to the late comers. Instead of a conclusion
The amendments to the Land Code are good, but it is known that most of the landowners’ lands have long been registered as dummies, so the publication of the register of land owners will only indicate the problem. The issue of the size of the land plot, the excess of which leads to the seizure of land, has not been resolved. There are no withdrawal procedures, and most importantly, how and to whom will these plots be transferred or sold? Where are the guarantees that these plots will reach landless citizens? There are many nuances and with the criteria of proof – is the land used for agricultural production or not?
Quote: The main problem – a distrust of citizens to all institutions of power.
To what extent will the state commissions under the Ministry of Agriculture not continue the corruption schemes of the land commissions of akimats? Finally, will there be stimulating lending to agricultural producers by the country’s banks? The issue has not been resolved with the banks, which have collected huge pledged lands received from debtors that are not used. How will these issues be resolved?
The law is long overdue, because the entire land fund has already been sold in corruption. There is no norm forcing the latifundists to return the lands seized earlier. The authorities are afraid to go to the conflict, because principled people were destroyed in the country, and the telephone law tomorrow may turn against the members of the Committees themselves.
Since the problems have been identified, but not resolved, the poor and landless will become even poorer, and the latifundists, in the absence of political will on the part of the country’s leadership, will retain their positions and continue to put their interests above public interests.
Until the power nomenklatura structure is broken in the person of the executive branch, which has under it all the resources of rural areas, until there are fair elections of rural akims by the population, and not by higher akimats, until local self-government starts working and judges involved in corruption cases are removed nothing in the country will not change. Corruption has become a mental problem.
Against this background, anti-Chinese hysteria is beneficial to the authorities of Kazakhstan, which has made the neighboring country a target of Kazakhstan’s troubles, when the mistakes and total unprofessionalism of officials are relegated to the background, and the country is really threatened with default.
The nomenclature began to perceive the local poor, mainly the Kazakh population, as marginalized people who must accept the will of local administrations, heads of city-forming oil companies, and bosses of all levels. Hence the deafness to the needs of the population of villages and cities, which are totally excluded from the decision-making process and governing the country.
So far, it is impossible for the citizens of Kazakhstan to unite the country on the basis of civic values due to the huge stratification of society, where the poor cannot acquire land, build a house on it, grow crops, and rural residents, in conditions of reduced social support, loss of land, are forced to leave for cities.
The degradation of agriculture will continue until a comprehensive reform begins, the main goal of which is to provide a mechanism for the withdrawal of empty, idle land from the oligarchs and the transfer of land allotments to ordinary villagers, as well as landless citizens who want to go from self-sufficiency in agricultural products to agricultural production. Information support is important here, ranging from recommendations on the care of agricultural crops, smart bank lending for the purchase of agricultural equipment and ending with the creation of auctions for the sale of finished agricultural products.
You can only help to become the owners of your land by granting the land to private ownership. It is necessary to make the law more flexible to stimulate profitable investment, including for foreign companies and foreign citizens, if it is beneficial to the local rural community, does not threaten the security of the country, the environment and human rights and laws of Kazakhstan are respected, that is, as it happens in all successful countries.
It is necessary to eliminate corruption at all levels and provide citizens with access to governing their country at the local level, which will strengthen local self-government, which should receive many budget items for its own development and the right to make a real choice of its leaders. Until this continues, the enrichment of a narrow group of people, the lack of rights of the local population and the general pre-default state of the country, which is rapidly turning into a degrading state.