Address by the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-JomartTokayev on the Day of Remembrance of Victims of Political Repressions and Famine
Address by the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-JomartTokayev on the Day of Remembrance of Victims of Political Repressions and Famine
Dear compatriots!
Political repressions of 1920-50s are a sad page in the history of our people.
Since gaining its Independence, Kazakhstan has taken measures at the state level to perpetuate the memory of the victims of this tragedy.
In 1993, Kazakhstan adopted the Law “On rehabilitation of victims of mass political repressions”.
In 1997, the Decree of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan – ElbasyNursultanNazarbayev declared 31 May the Day of Remembrance of Victims of Political Repressions.
We all remember the enormous damage caused by the “great terror” to the peoples who lived in our state that was part of the Soviet Union. More than 5 million people from all over the Soviet Union were deported to Kazakhstan over the years of repressions.
About 100,000 Kazakhs were repressed, more than 20,000 of them were executed by shooting.
Among the innocently convicted are such prominent state and political figures as AlikhanBokeikhan, AkhmetBaitursynuly, MukhamedzhanTynyshpaev, MyrzhakypDulatuly, TurarRyskulov, MagzhanZhumabayev, SakenSeifullin, IliyasZhansugurov, BeimbetMailin, SanjarAsfendiyarov and many others.
Close relatives, wives and children of political prisoners were sent to the Akmola camp of wives of traitors to the motherland (ALZHIR), the sorrowful sign of atrocities and cynicism of those years.
Today we also remember with bitterness those who died of famine during the years of collectivisation or were forced to leave their homeland. This disaster befell about 3 million people.
The memory of the colossal human victims and the brutal drama of those years left a tragic mark in the heart of every Kazakh citizen.
Many people who suffered from totalitarianism found a real home in the Kazakh land. The courage and patience of our ancestors allowed us to pass the hardest tests with dignity and unite into a single nation.
The “Thousands of thanks to Kazakh people” monuments installed countrywide express gratitude to the humanism and wisdom of Kazakh people.
To complete the work on restoring historical justice, I have instructed to create the State Commission for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repressions.
Through cherishing the memory of those unjustly convicted we will be able to build a bright future, with our Independence remaining its foundation.
On this sad day, it is the duty of each of us to pay our respects to all those who suffered innocently in one of the most brutal tragedies of the last century.
