Vice President Erlan Karin chaired a national meeting on strengthening interethnic harmony and implementing President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's initiatives voiced at the first session of the Kazakhstan Khalyk Kenesi (People’s Council), Qazinform News Agency cites the Akorda press service.
The meeting was attended by leadership from the Prosecutor General's Office, structural units of the Presidential Administration, the Secretariat of the Kazakhstan Khalyk Kenesi, and the ministries of foreign affairs, internal affairs, justice, culture and information, enlightenment, and science and higher education.
The first set of issues concerned implementing the objectives set by the Head of State at the opening of the first session of the Kazakhstan Khalyk Kenesi. The Vice President instructed participants to continue public outreach on the President's key messages and to place special oversight on implementing presidential directives.
"The values enshrined in the Constitution serve as the conceptual core of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's political course and shape a solid foundation for strengthening social consolidation," Erlan Karin said. "In this context, the constitutional values of interethnic and interfaith harmony are of particular importance, as they are the basis for the stable development of the state.
Therefore, it is necessary to ensure sustained, systematic work to popularize and embed these values in public consciousness." Vice President Karin stressed that the Secretariat of the Kazakhstan Khalyk Kenesi has been working to build a stable public platform that gathers and consolidates citizens' requests in the areas of interethnic harmony, public dialogue, and development of regions.
"The Head of State has set a clear goal for us — to preserve the continuity, traditions and best practices of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan and the Ulttyq Qurultay (National Congress). The key role in improving organizational work in this direction belongs to the Secretariat of the Kazakhstan Khalyk Kenesi," Erlan Karin said.
As the second set, the meeting examined the practical implementation of the constitutional values of interethnic and interfaith harmony. Erlan Karin underlined that with the new Constitution adopted and key institutions of power in place, Kazakhstan has transitioned to a modern, more dynamic state-political model.
According to him, a key priority of domestic policy work is rooting in society the state principles and national values enshrined in the Supreme Law, such as the rule of Law and Order and stronger national unity. "As Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted, discrimination on linguistic, ethnic, religious, or other grounds is prohibited in our country.
Therefore, the state will severely suppress any attempts to undermine society's unity under the principle of Law and Order. For their part, the public must also show responsibility and sound judgment, and understand that overly emotional discussions of sensitive topics such as language, interethnic relations and religion can damage the ideological foundations of our society's unity," the Vice President noted.