US embassy cable - 05ALMATY215

UNCLAS  ALMATY 000215 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EUR/CACEN (JMUDGE), EUR/PPD (JBASEDOW), DRL/PHD 
(PDAVIS) 
 
STATE PLS. PASS TO USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KPAO, KDEM, KZ, 2005 Election, POLITICAL 
SUBJECT: INDEPENDENT MEDIA OUTLETS COVETED BY NAZARBAYEV 
FAMILY EMPIRE 
 
Ref:  A) Almaty 109   B) Almaty 83 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  Media advocates in Kazakhstan report 
that over the past few weeks, momentum has been building to 
consolidate ownership of influential media outlets among 
Nazarbayev loyalists in advance of the presidential 
elections.  A source within the presidential administration 
revealed that Igor Meltzer, the editor of the successful 
weekly newspaper, Vremya, is facing increasing pressure 
from the administration to resign his editorship and take 
the helm of a public relations agency serving the 
administration.  A Vremya shareholder, KazKommertzbank 
chairman Nurzhan Subkhanberdin, is also being pressured to 
sell his stake in exchange for "immunity" from harassment 
by national banking conglomerates.  NGO sources say another 
nominally independent television station, Channel 31, was 
recently purchased by President Nazarbayev's son-in-law. 
These maneuvers reflect at least an ongoing tendency to 
keep media in check, and more likely an acceleration of the 
administration's efforts to gain a complete monopoly over 
Kazakhstan's most influential media outlets.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Vremya:  Change at the Helm? 
---------------------------- 
 
2. (SBU) Citing a source within the presidential 
administration, Deutsche Welle carried a report on January 
9 stating that since mid-December Igor Meltzer, the editor- 
in-chief of a popular weekly newspaper, Vremya, has been 
under strong pressure to resign his position as editor and 
take the helm of a public relations agency serving the 
administration.  Vremya's reporting "did not suit" the 
administration, according to the source, due to the overall 
oppositional tone and in particular for "propagandizing" 
the ideas of opposition political party Ak Zhol.  Vremya 
deputy editor-in-chief Marat Asipov denied the rumors about 
pressure from the administration. 
 
3.  (SBU) Media observers believe Vremya does receive 
financial support from Kazkommertsbank and that bank 
director Nurzhan Subkhanberdin, a majority shareholder, 
does at times exert influence over the paper's content, in 
favor of the Ak Zhol party.  Subkhanberdin is not a 
registered member of the party.  (Note:  In early December 
Subkhanberdin, along with other heads of Kazakhstan's seven 
largest banks, signed a statement addressed to the 
President promising not to participate in, or finance, the 
activities of political parties.)  Meltzer, however, tries 
to balance coverage of the presidential administration with 
an equal amount of time for the opposition, and he strives 
to offer all sides a forum to express their views. 
 
Vremya's Commercial Sponsorship 
------------------------------- 
 
4.  (SBU) Deutsche Welle's source also said Subkhanberdin 
had been pressured to sell part of his stake to Bulat 
Utemuratov, Secretary of the Security Council and chairman 
of the National Commission on Democracy and Civil Society, 
in exchange for "immunity" from harassment by national 
banking conglomerates.  The source said the administration 
had already determined that the Halyk (Narodnyi) Savings 
Bank would become Vremya's new "sponsor."  Former 
Presidential economic advisor Grigory Marchenko was 
appointed chairman of Halyk Savings Bank on January 10 (Ref 
A). 
 
5.  (SBU) Ak Zhol co-chairman Altynbek Sarsenbaiuly told 
Deutsche Welle that Vremya shareholders affiliated with the 
administration have established firm control over the 
paper, and any coverage of Ak Zhol members has become 
problematic.  He also said that someone from the 
presidential administration called the paper and forbade it 
from publishing pictures of events unfolding in Kiev, 
related to the presidential elections there. 
 
Vremya's Management 
------------------- 
 
6. (SBU) Meltzer is well-known for his professionalism and 
dedication to the news business.  With a circulation of 
 
 
180,000, Vremya is the most popular newspaper in 
Kazakhstan, excluding the weekly Karavan. Meltzer managed 
and ran Karavan as a serious newspaper before it was 
purchased in 1997 by first son-in-law Rahat Aliyev and 
turned into a tabloid.  In the mid 1990's Meltzer was 
general director of KTK Television, which Aliyev also 
purchased.  KTK was Kazakhstan's first independent 
television station and under Meltzer's stewardship gained a 
loyal following for its news programs criticizing 
government officials, as well as entertainment programs 
catering to a mass audience.  KTK's news coverage is now 
distinctly pro-administration and sharply critical of the 
opposition. 
 
Channel 31 
---------- 
 
7.  (SBU) In other developments, Rozlan Taukina, president 
of the media advocacy NGO "Journalists in Trouble," 
reported that second son-in-law Timur Kulibayev has added 
Channel 31 to his media empire, which already includes the 
Kazakhstan affiliates of Komsomolskaya Pravda, Argumenty i 
Fakty, and Moskovskii Komsomolets, as well as Astana TV, 
Tan TV, and the daily newspaper, Liter.  If true, 
Kulibayev's purchase of Channel 31 means that all nine 
television networks that broadcast in multiple locations 
are owned or controlled either by the state or the 
Nazarbayev family. 
 
8.  (SBU) Comment:  These maneuvers reflect at the least 
the administration's ongoing tendency to keep media in 
check, and more likely indicate an acceleration of efforts 
to gain a complete monopoly over Kazakhstan's most 
influential media outlets.  Media advocates perceive an 
alarming trend to silence dissent, a trend that includes 
the one billion tenge ($7.5 million) lawsuit filed by 
Dariga Nazarbayeva's Khabar television company in October 
against Ak-Zhol's Sarsenbaiulyreft, the December 30 
defamation lawsuit filed against former presidential 
insider-turned-critic Zamenbek Nurkadilov, and the speedy 
ruling January 6 to dissolve the opposition Democratic 
Choice of Kazakhstan party (Ref B).  If Vremya does end up 
in Halyk Bank's portfolio, the question arises, which 
outlet is next? 
 
9. (U) Dushanbe minimize considered. 
 
Ordway 
 
 
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