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Kazakhstan’s President Qasym-Zhomart Tokhaev says an “unacceptable gap” between rich and poor has led to deadly anti-government protests that rocked the Central Asian country in early January.
On Friday, January 21, Toaqev said “real reforms” were needed to address the problems raised by some of the protesters.
Speaking to representatives of the oil-rich country’s main businesses, he said that “the gap between the declared socio-economic agenda and the real situation has reached a critical mass and what needs to be done now is a complete restoration of economic policy.”
“With corruption already known to everyone, income disparities played the role of a lighter near a barrel of gunpowder and the situation was used by terrorists, gunmen and protest organizers,” Toqaev said, adding that he already has make difficult decisions and that such difficult decisions will be made in the future.
Protests in early January in the city of Zhanaozen over the sudden rise in fuel prices quickly spread throughout Kazakhstan and led to violent clashes in the country’s largest city, Almaty and elsewhere.
Most of the protesters’ anger was against Toqaev’s predecessor, Nursultan Nazarbaev, who had ruled Kazakhstan since 1989.
Kazakh authorities say 227 people were killed during the riots, including 19 law enforcement officers, and another 12,000 were arrested.
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