Embassy of the United States

Aikyn Newspaper:  What do you think of President Nursultan Nazarbayev's proposal at the U.N. Assembly to the nuclear powers to give up their nuclear weapons in order to set an example to other countries? 

Ambassador Ordway:  The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty signed in the USA is about completely eliminating nuclear weapons. We have always supported the idea of limiting the danger of nuclear conflict and nuclear armament. We have worked in this direction for a long time and the work has resulted in lowering the number of nuclear rockets existent worldwide.  It has also significantly decreased the possibility of nuclear conflict among nuclear powers. Therefore, I think we made progress in this field. However, the world is still full of conflicts. Looking at these conflicts, we realize that people who worked on nuclear disarmament predicted the future well. Now many countries are trying to obtain nuclear weapons. It is known that they are not far away from distributing the nuclear weapons. Therefore, the work in this direction certainly requires long-term goals. We think that at this time we cannot expect to achieve any substantial results by making this kind of proposal to them. However, we must continue the work that we have undertaken and give it as much importance as possible. We familiarized ourselves with President Nazarbayev's proposal that he made at the Assembly in detail. Of course, in the long-term future, when the time comes, his proposal might be more feasible to us in practice.  

Aikyn Newspaper:  In this regard, I would like to talk about the Iran issue. You criticize Iran, and they defend their stance. In general, the world today seems to be divided on this matter...

Ambassador Ordway:  Nowadays, most people misinterpret what they hear or read in the media. I think this is also one of the widespread misunderstandings of the issue. We are not against Iran's civil nuclear energy program. On the contrary, we proposed with Russia that Iran enrich nuclear fuel for its nuclear reactors in Russia. We are against Iran's use of its civil atomic energy program to build a nuclear weapon. That is, for Iran to continue its civil atomic energy program, we demand they remove the nuclear weapons buildup phase from its program. In this case, there would be no risk of nuclear attack. Therefore, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is observing their atomic stations. Iran refuses to cooperate with the IAEA. Iran continues to claim that its atomic energy program is for civil not for nuclear armament purposes.   

Aikyn Newspaper:  It has been a while since scholars started to claim that there is a "Greater Central Asia" project in the United States, that not only is the Near East a part of it, but it also includes our region and that Washington's goal is to strengthen its influence in these countries ...  

Ambassador Ordway:  We do not have a "Greater Central Asia" project. None of the American officials have confirmed it, and never will. There might have been some speculations among scholars. There have been some significant discussions in the media about the program. But we do not have this kind of program. Let me tell you what we have in mind. We want to offer new opportunities to Central Asian countries in the future. We hope that Central Asia strengthens its ties with South Asia and affects the development of Afghanistan. If this proposal creates a conducive condition for stability and economic advancement, this has to be important to Central Asia. This long-term project of creating stability and security in Afghanistan is politically very important to Central Asia. Of course, it will not hinder the close relationship of Kazakhstan with Europe, Russia, China and the U.S. We want to draw Kazakhstan's attention to the nearby regions that did not get proper attention in the past. We believe this project will be useful for Kazakhstan's economy, especially in ensuring regional stability. However, we are not trying to go back to the 19^th century. We do not pass our influence to anybody. I repeat myself, we do not have a special Central Asian project or the so-called "Great Game in Central Asia."  

Aikyn Newspaper:  Some American and international media have expressed their fear that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will become a powerful military organization in the future and that it will be the only organization that can stand against NATO. What do you think of Kazakhstan being a partner of NATO and an active member of SCO at the same time?

Ambassador Ordway:  The journalism found in these articles can be given high marks (with sarcasm). I cannot say that this claim is neither wonderful nor strong. These entities are two different organizations with completely different goals and methods. Be it NATO or SCO, both are organizations that do not build high walls around themselves. They need to work with others in order to intensively develop communication and trade. Like SCO, NATO's overall goals include advancing its relationship with non-member states and increasing partnership and potential for those states. NATO has been working in this direction for the past 10-15 years. Therefore, any country can choose NATO or any other continental organization. I do not see any conflict in Kazakhstan's being an active member of SCO and an active partner of NATO at the same time.

Aikyn Newspaper:  What would you think if the USA was invited to become a member?

Ambassador Ordway:  This proposal has not been made to us. If you look at the organization's history, coverage area and goals, you can understand that it is an organization aimed at uniting two continental powers: Russia and China with Central Asia. Probably, there might be other neighboring states. We think that the goals set by the SCO are very good and well thought out. Member states' commitment to develop trade and fight against terrorism and narcotics is a positive goal.

Aikyn Newspaper:  The American trans-Caspian oil project is now facing many obstacles from Russia. What would the U.S. do in case the project was not realized?

Ambassador Ordway:  There is a rich resource of oil in the east side of the Caspian Sea. For the country's economy to advance, this resource needs to be processed, enriched, and transported to a market that offers a competitive price. We all know that the Soviet pipeline system had only run through Russia. For example, if you had a bigger part of a business in your hands, you will make every effort to keep it that way. It is not in your interest that new competitors come into the market, lower the price and take business away from you. This is part of a competitive market. In general, we believe that this competitive market will open broader opportunities for these resources. This can set a common goal and be a good source of profit to Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and other Central Asian countries. In regard to oil transport, Central Asian countries do not have any options other than Russia. There needs to be other directions for the Caspian oil to reach the market. But natural gas is a far more open issue. This resource has not been fully produced and the transport directions to the Western market are also a bit difficult. We think that production and transportation of oil to competitive markets is a vital issue.

Aikyn Newspaper:  What is your assessment of President Nazarbayev's idea of the Central Asian Union? Will it have a future?

Ambassador Ordway:  We think that there is a big potential in developing Central Asian states' economic cooperation, trade, and investment. In this regard, we think that the Central Asian Union will be an organization that will work with transparency for international trade investment. This is a good idea. We expect Kazakhstan will become a leader in Central Asia in order to take advantage of its economic potential based on the support of investments and trade. In addition, Kazakhstan can be an example of an effectively developing country to the countries of former Soviet Union. Nazarbayev's past official visits were carried out in order to rapidly develop trade, investment, and economy. These are all crucial for the whole region. We fully support this.

Aikyn Newspaper:  Recently, a website has published results from a special commission comprised of scientists and specialists who investigated the place of tragedy of September 11th. They reportedly concluded that the building was filled with mines and that the explosion occurred from the inside. How do you respond to this?

Ambassador Ordway:  This claim carries no weight. We have a small group of people who support unsubstantiated conspiracy theories. In any event, there should be no doubt regarding why the tragedy occurred. 

Aikyn Newspaper:  According to what we hear, the condition of Muslims living in the USA worsened after the tragedy ... 

Ambassador Ordway:  What you are saying is not consistent with reality. The USA is a fast developing country that embraces the Muslim community. In our country, Muslims are free to exercise their religious rights. Of course, our relationship with ethnicities and religions can not be even compared with other democratic countries. We are proud of our diversity and will do everything to protect the rights of our people. We do take the actions and threats against Jewish synagogues and Muslim mosques very seriously. However, these types of actions are very few. We still accept immigrants from Muslim countries with no objections. We believe this will continue in the future.

Aikyn Newspaper:  We remember that once you supported Hare Krishnas. Why did you do that?

Ambassador Ordway:  This incident caused concern among several nations and groups of people. Basically, this issue is unrelated to religion. This has to do with property rights. There are several speculations as to who is right and who is wrong in this case. At any event, it is clear that the Krishnas had spent a lot of money to live here and to have houses. No one can deny that. But they had to face a situation in which they lost their land and were not compensated for it. It may be a good topic to get public attention. In our opinion, the issue could have been resolved within the limits of the law. 

Aikyn Newspaper:  We all know that one of the representatives of the U.S. embassy caused an obstacle to President Nursultan Nazarbayev's procession. This case caused a big dispute in Kazakhstan. What happened to that American citizen?

Ambassador Ordway:  The issue was resolved the day it happened. The diplomat did not understand the traffic police's signal and turned in the wrong direction. No emergency incident took place. He just followed the president's procession. There was an investigation on this case. We certainly said that it was a mistake and that it would not happen again. The case was closed with that.

Aikyn Newspaper:  However, where is that person? Is he still working at the embassy?

Ambassador Ordway:  How many years have passed since that incident? ... Half a year ... He might have gone back to America.  

Aikyn Newspaper:  In conclusion, we would like to hear about your prediction regarding next year's U.S. presidential election?  

Ambassador Ordway:  Of course, my job is not to be a political observer, but be an ambassador to Kazakhstan. A tough race is going on between the Republicans and Democrats now. Results of the latest polls conducted in the country show that right now Democrats are strong. But it is still a long way to the election. Until then there might be many changes regarding the election. Therefore, it might be appropriate to wait for the election and observe from the outside how things will turn out.  

Reprinted with the permission of Aikyn Press.