Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is the dominant nation of Central Asia economically, generating 60% of the region's GDP, primarily through its oil and gas industry.

The region consists of the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Kazakhstan shares borders with Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, and also adjoins a large part of the Caspian Sea.

Turkmenistan ( or ; Türkmenistan, ) is a country in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north and east, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest, and the Caspian Sea to the west.

Kazakhstan shares borders with Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, and also adjoins a large part of the Caspian Sea.

From northwest to southeast, Russia shares land borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both with Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and North Korea.

It is a transcontinental country largely located in Asia; the most western parts are in Europe.

The geographic border between Europe and Asia does not follow any state boundaries: Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan are transcontinental countries.

Kazakhstan shares borders with Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, and also adjoins a large part of the Caspian Sea.

It is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west and southwest, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east.

Kazakhstan shares borders with Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, and also adjoins a large part of the Caspian Sea.

Uzbekistan is bordered by five landlocked countries: Kazakhstan to the north; Kyrgyzstan to the northeast; Tajikistan to the southeast; Afghanistan to the south; and Turkmenistan to the southwest.

The capital is Nur-Sultan (until 2019 Astana), where it was moved in 1997 from Almaty, the country's largest city.

Almaty (Алматы, Almaty, ; Алматы, ), formerly known as Alma-Ata and Verniy, is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of 2,039,376 people, about 11% of the country's total population and more than 2,7 million in its built-up area that encompasses Talgar, Boraldai, Otegen Batyr and many other suburbs.

Turkic nomads who trace their ancestry to many Turkic states such as Turkic Khaganate etc. have inhabited the country throughout its history.

The terrain of Kazakhstan includes flatlands, steppe, taiga, rock canyons, hills, deltas, snow-capped mountains, and deserts.

In Eurasia, it covers most of Sweden, Finland, much of Norway and Estonia, some of the Scottish Highlands, some lowland/coastal areas of Iceland, much of Russia from Karelia in the west to the Pacific Ocean (including much of Siberia), and areas of northern Kazakhstan, northern Mongolia, and northern Japan (on the island of Hokkaidō).

By the 16th century, the Kazakh emerged as a distinct group, divided into three jüz (ancestor branches occupying specific territories).

A zhuz (, ٴجۇز, also translated as "horde" or "hundred") is one of the three main territorial and tribal divisions in the Kypchak Plain area that covers much of the contemporary Kazakhstan, and represents the main tribal division within the ethnic group of the Kazakhs.

Nursultan Nazarbayev, the first President of Kazakhstan, was characterized as an authoritarian, and his government was accused of numerous human rights violations, including suppression of dissent and censorship of the media.

No election held in Kazakhstan since independence has been judged to be free or fair by the West.

Kazakhstan has worked to develop its economy, especially its dominant hydrocarbon industry.

Kazakhstan's industrial sector rests on the extraction and processing of these natural resources.

The Kazakh language is the state language, and Russian has equal official status for all levels of administrative and institutional purposes.

Russian (русский язык, tr. rússkiy yazýk) is an East Slavic language, which is an official language in the Russian Federation, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as being widely used throughout Eastern Europe, the Baltic states, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Human Rights Watch says that "Kazakhstan heavily restricts freedom of assembly, speech, and religion", and other human rights organisations regularly describe Kazakhstan's human rights situation as poor.

Human rights in Kazakhstan are uniformly described as poor by independent observers.

Nursultan Nazarbayev, the first President of Kazakhstan, was characterized as an authoritarian, and his government was accused of numerous human rights violations, including suppression of dissent and censorship of the media.

The president of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Қазақстан Республикасының Президенті, Qazaqstan Respýblıkasynyń Prezıdenti; ) is the head of state, commander-in-chief and holder of the highest office within the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan's 131 ethnicities include Kazakhs (63% of the population), Russians, Uzbeks, Ukrainians, Germans, Tatars, and Uyghurs.

They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan but are also found as a minority group in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Russia and China.

Kazakhstan is a member of the United Nations (UN), WTO, CIS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Eurasian Economic Union, CSTO, OSCE, OIC, and TURKSOY.

The Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union was signed on 29 May 2014 by the leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, and came into force on 1 January 2015.

In 1936, it was made the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union.

Today it is the independent nation of Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan is a member of the United Nations (UN), WTO, CIS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Eurasian Economic Union, CSTO, OSCE, OIC, and TURKSOY.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), or Shanghai Pact, is a Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance, the creation of which was announced on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai, China by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan; the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Charter, formally establishing the organisation, was signed in June 2002 and entered into force on 19 September 2003.

The Kazakh language is the state language, and Russian has equal official status for all levels of administrative and institutional purposes.

Kazakh is the official language of Kazakhstan and a significant minority language in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang, China and in the Bayan-Ölgii Province of Mongolia.

While ancient cities Taraz (Aulie-Ata) and Hazrat-e Turkestan had long served as important way-stations along the Silk Road connecting Asia and Europe, true political consolidation began only with the Mongol rule of the early 13th century.

Taraz (known to Europeans as Talas) is a city and the administrative center of Jambyl Region in Kazakhstan, located on the Talas (Taraz) River in the south of the country near the border with Kyrgyzstan.

These eventually came under the rule of the emergent Kazakh Khanate (Kazakhstan).

The Kazakh Khanate, Independent Tartaria (Қазақ Хандығы, Qazaq Handyǵy, قازاق حاندىعى) was a successor of the Golden Horde existing from the 15th to 19th century, located roughly on the territory of the present-day Republic of Kazakhstan.

Archaeologists believe that humans first domesticated the horse (i.e. ponies) in the region's vast steppes.

However, an increasing amount of evidence supports the hypothesis that horses were domesticated in the Eurasian Steppes approximately 3500 BCE; recent discoveries in the context of the Botai culture suggest that Botai settlements in the Akmola Province of Kazakhstan are the location of the earliest domestication of the horse.

Kazakhstan is a member of the United Nations (UN), WTO, CIS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Eurasian Economic Union, CSTO, OSCE, OIC, and TURKSOY.

The General Secretary of Türksoy is Duisen Kaseinov, former Minister of Culture of Kazakhstan.

While ancient cities Taraz (Aulie-Ata) and Hazrat-e Turkestan had long served as important way-stations along the Silk Road connecting Asia and Europe, true political consolidation began only with the Mongol rule of the early 13th century.

Turkistan (, Túrkistan, تٷركئستان), formerly known as Turkestan (Туркестан; Turkiston, Туркистон, توركىستان), is a city and the administrative center of Turkistan Region of Kazakhstan, near the Syr Darya river.