Lesson from Kazakhstan

Editorial

Here's something you don't see every day: The president of a predominantly Muslim country being welcomed warmly by Canadian Jews, including a former federal cabinet minister – a Jew – who is the Muslim country's official representative in Canada. Confused?

Last month's visit to Canada by Nursultan Nazarbaev, president of Kazakhstan, created a tempest in a teapot after the Globe and Mail drew attention to the fact that the leader, whose regime has been criticized for lack of press freedom as well as human rights abuses, was being greeted by Canadian Jewish Congress officials, among others.

Nazarbaev was welcomed to Canada by the head of state and the head of government – Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson and Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. A visit by the leader of a former Soviet republic that most Canadians probably couldn't locate on a map would not seem to be a top news story, but this one has a twist. Several, actually.

Although Kazakhstan is overwhelmingly Muslim, it has had excellent relations with Israel since it gained independence upon the collapse of the Soviet Union. This openness toward the Jewish state is extremely rare for a Muslim state. The warm greeting from Jewish Canadians is a result of Kazakhstan's remarkable respect for religious plurality, which comes in the aftermath of decades of imposed atheism. Perhaps it is precisely that oppressive treatment of Muslims and other religious groups under communism that has led Kazakhstan to legislate and implement respect for Orthodox Christians, Catholics, Jews and other groups.

Nazarbaev himself has been honored by the Pope, the Russian Orthodox patriarch of Moscow, Israel's Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger and several of the world's largest and most influential Jewish organizations.

The Jewish community in Kazakhstan is estimated at about 30,000 – about the size of British Columbia's Jewish community. Under Nazarbaev's presidency, new synagogues, community centres and Jewish schools have been built, with the assistance in particular of the Lubavitch movement, which has been extremely active in the states of the former Soviet Union. Not for nothing do the Lubavitchers have a particular interest in Kazakhstan, either. The Jewish cemetery there holds the remains of the father of the revered leader of the Lubavitch movement, Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, both of blessed memory. The rebbe's father was one of many Jews exiled by Josef Stalin from Ukraine to Kazakhstan during the darkest days of communist terror.

Perhaps one of the most amusing asides to arise out of this visit is the role of Robert Kaplan, a former Canadian cabinet minister. Kaplan has been doing business in Kazakhstan for several years and, as is common in small countries without large foreign services, Kazakh officials asked Kaplan to consider becoming the honorary consul of Kazakhstan in Canada.

"I was interviewed by the now Foreign Minister Kasimjomart Tokaev," Kaplan recently wrote of the experience. "I felt obliged to mention that I knew his country was largely Muslim and did he know that I was a Jew? I didn't want to expose him to possible criticism on this score. He told me not to worry: the Jews were respected in Kazakhstan."

That does not negate Kazakhstan's human rights and press freedom limitations, which have been criticized by international groups like Amnesty International. It does, however, suggest that the country is capable of appreciating its role in the international community and may therefore be amenable to foreign pressure on these issues.

Most immediately, the issues raised by the visit of Kazakhstan's president and his entourage provide a couple of lessons which are charming if not earth-shattering. For one, it offers a needed reminder that Jews and Muslims can have warm relations at the highest levels. It also reminds us that bilateral relations between Israel and some Muslim countries provide mutually beneficial outcomes. Most importantly, it suggests that countries like Canada and Kazakhstan can provide examples for our powerful neighbors and allies.

And – oh yeah – Kazakhstan is located south of Russia, east of the Caspian Sea, stretching all the way to Mongolia.

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