The Outside World-Kazakhstan, Yerkebulan Sapiyev

I think Kazakhstan probably has this concern. Because, on the one hand, a country with a population of 18 million, on the other hand, a country of one and a half billion. I brought this as a comment. I think this policy is also an ongoing policy. Russia carries this concern in Siberia. Fear of the Chinese coming there. When I look at it in terms of commercial relations, they are very attractive now because the prices of the Chinese are cheap, but the Greek idea is a hundred years old, but there is the issue of the Chinese being the shore of the Caspian for more than a thousand years.

My question is; Farabi and Yesevi, you spoke very well. We are from the same leaven, Farabi is our great philosopher, Yesevi is our mystic, these are both Kazakh Turks. The question is, has there been any work done in Kazakhstan on the collection of Yesevi’s manuscripts, their compilation, and the creation of its corpus? I asked because my desire is in that direction.

Ecvet Tezcan – I will say one thing, then I will give my word to the consul general again. Making friends with great states is not an easy task. But it’s also luck. A friend of ours said that if I sold an orange to every Chinese, I would be the richest person in the world. Now look, we are trying to sell tomatoes to Russia. Can you explain what I mean? At the same time, big states have a chance to become big markets. In this respect, you see that Kazakhstan is under a lot of pressure in that sense, yes, it is necessary to think that Russia has opened up in China but also in great markets.

Minutes: 1:18:00 – 1:21.25

Yerkebulan Sapiyev – Farabi, when we say Yesevi, of course, you know Yesevi from Turkistan. Our Turkistan. Now there are rumors like this, of course, this will depend on the decision and discretion of our president. As our province, there is the province of South Kazakhstan with a population of three million. Of course, three million is a small number in Turkey, but it is big for us. The city population of one million, which we call Shymkent, is known as the city center and has direct flights from Istanbul. There are people who want to invest in Kazakhstan from Turkey, there are businessmen, valuable industrialists and agriculturalists tend to this Shymkent side more, because the weather conditions are also favorable and it is a region bordering Uzbekistan and has lands suitable for agriculture.

In Kazakhstan, Shymkent will not be a provincial center -that is, it will have a separate autonomy-, Astana will remain as three big cities like Almaty, and there is a possibility that the provincial center will probably shift to the city of Turkestan. You know, in Turkestan, there is the Hodja Ahmet Yesevi tomb, which is a great legacy of the Turkish world. There is the Arslan Baba tomb, which we call Aslan Baba. Sir, you know, you went there. It is very important for our Turkish world.

Of course, this divan of wisdom, for example, is the legacy of Ahmet Yesevi. Distinguished scientists continue their research. In 2009, the Turkish Council was established in this Nakhchivan on October 3rd. It is known as the Nakhchivan agreement. The decision is made in 2009. In 2010, the Turkish Academy was opened in Astana. And in 2011, the Turkish Heritage Protection Fund was opened in Baku. In other words, the establishment of these Turkish integration structures and the successful operation of Turkish structures in our Turkish world makes us very happy. And the Turkish academy, of course, can be in the Divan-ı Hikmet first. Hodja Ahmet Yesevi is not content with researching Farabi’s works and the books he left behind, but we continue to research, for example, the field, the works of this special republics in Russia, other Turkic republics, the Orkhon inscriptions we call tiva.

Levent Ağaoğlu – When we look at the issue from the perspective of Turkistan and the economic aspect of the event, the annual development of Turkestan countries is 8%, this is the 2014-2015 figure. 4% of Turkey. Turkistan countries have doubled Turkey. When we look at the position of Kazakhstan, China, the Turkestan countries in the south, and India in the lower south. These are all 8% developing countries. My question is; If there is a cooperation between Turkey and Turkistan, how can more important steps be taken in commercial integration?

Yerkebulan Sapiyev – The trade volume between the Turkish Republics and Turkey in the economy is not as large as desired, it is less. Especially due to the economic crisis in this world, this trade volume has decreased a little. For example, the trade volume between Kazakhstan and Turkey is currently two billion dollars. The joint economy program, which we call a new synergy between the state and governments, has been signed. This is a program that envisages increasing the trade volume between the two countries to ten billion. Of course, how this economy develops in every country is primarily agriculture and industry. Turkey has a good industrial experience. It has an industrial story and legend. We would like to benefit from this experience. We even make use of it, for example, we have moved the special economic zones, which we call OIZ in Turkey, to Kazakhstan, as well as the special industrial zones.Let’s say there, in the south of Kazakhstan, in the province of Shymkent, we built this same OIZ. We are currently waiting for Turkish investors and investors from other countries. In addition, the industrialization program of the Kazakhstan government continues, our teachers know well before, we had a 5-year development plan, that is, an industrialization plan, during the Soviet period.

As far as I know, even after the establishment of the Turkish Republic, this five-year development plan was in question. We had the same. And starting from the middle of the late 2000s, we had a 5-year development and industrialization plan. And we attach great importance to this industrialization. There are great incentives. For example, let’s say that when a potential investor comes to Kazakhstan, the Kazakhstan government gives 30% grant as an incentive, that is, 30% of the amount invested.

If he wants to establish a factory in the industrial zone, he delivers his water, electricity and everything ready. There are incentives such as zero land tax for 10 years and exemption from income tax for 5 years. And the issue of agriculture is very important, Turkey’s agricultural experience is very large. Especially in organic farming production. Of course, our lands are very large, we have a surface area of ​​2,737 thousand square kilometers, 9th in the world. And livestock is very important. Studies on this subject are ongoing and nothing will happen by explaining the economic volume with these words, with this item, it needs to be worked on concretely. Mutual investments, nothing more important than investments in this globalizing world.