Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev is "restructuring" the country's domestic security service, the KNB, after the violent anti-government protests last week amid allegations that some KNB members worked against him.
On this week's Majlis podcast, RFE/RL's media-relations manager, Muhammad Tahir, moderates a discussion that looks at how one of Central Asia’s seemingly most stable countries was suddenly torn apart.
Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev has made some incredible claims about recent popular unrest in his country, including that "foreign terrorists" were behind the violence. Now officials are trying to back up their narrative, but one of their first attempts seems to have gone wrong.
While a brutal crackdown is being carried out against protesters in Kazakhstan after days of unrest, there are signs there is also a struggle within the government between President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev and his predecessor,” Nursultan Nazarbaev, who is known as “elbasy,” or leader of the nation.
As anti-government protests spread throughout Kazakhstan with reports of security officials joining the demonstrators or being disarmed, President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev declared that “terrorist groups” with foreign training were behind the unrest. He used this pretext to request help from the CSTO.