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I called it "old muslim Soviet republic", which means it was a soviet republic of muslim majority. And I didn't say the protests have anything to do with relig
by Darmody 5y ago
I called it "old muslim Soviet republic", which means it was a soviet republic of muslim majority.
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.
- Miiko 5y agoThe thing is, back when Kazakhstan was a Soviet republic, Kazakhs (and other muslims) only accounted for about a half of population, the other half was made of christian Russians, Germans and Ukrainians. [1] 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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Kazakhstan [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Kazakhstan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Kazakhstan
- Darmody 5y agoWell, the Russian are already there. 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.