I hope everything turns OK for them.
In these old muslin Soviet republics there are always religious nutheads waiting for a chance to make a move. Kazakhstan is probably the most secular of them but they could very well create a lot of trouble.
In these old muslin Soviet republics there are always religious nutheads waiting for a chance to make a move. Kazakhstan is probably the most secular of them but they could very well create a lot of trouble.
Good writeup here: https://www.npr.org/2019/01/31/690363402/how-the-cia-overthr...
Elections where candidates are extensively vetoed by the clergy before being allowed (or not) to run. Even if the population wanted to reduce the role of religion in politics, it isn't allowed to elect people whom the clergy deems too secular.
And I didn't say the protests have anything to do with religion. I said extremists in those countries will take any chance to make a move. Remember the Arab spring? It started as a protests against governments and it didn't end well for some countries.
Now demographics has changed and the role of Islam risen, but it is still very far from being a concern, compared to other Central Asia republics:
"As did its predecessor, the 1995 constitution stipulates that Kazakhstan is a secular state; thus, Kazakhstan is the only Central Asian state whose constitution does not assign a special status to Islam." [2]
Of course, some extremist do exist in Kazakhstan (what country they don't?), but their influence is very minor - this is indeed very secular country and not only in constitution, - and I do not think anything close to Arab spring is possible. My biggest concern is Russian intervention, frankly.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Kazakhstan
I don't think anything like the Arab spring is possible there either, but the islamic groups that wander around can do a lot of damage anyway. That was my only thought, I hope they don't manage to do anything.