This is a translation of an interview with Merkhat Sharipzhan, Director of “Azattyq”, Kazakh service of RFE/RL (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty), made and posted by Adam Kesher on Russian-language neweurasia Kazakhstan.

- What is the target audience of “Azattyq” radio station?

It is a difficult question to address and it is a problem that we are trying to solve now. Only 3% of the population in Kazakhstan is our audience. Kazakhstan is not a country like Turkmenistan, and it is not the USSR - few people today would make efforts to get objective news on short wave and in Kazakh; besides, it is difficult to compete with entertainment radio stations.

It is not only a problem of the radio or people’s attitude to information. There is also a problem in how the language is used. Since Soviet times it is a common understanding that Kazakh should be used in talking about traditions, agriculture… I was unpleasantly surprised to see a “Who wants to be a Millionaire” show in Kazakh, where the majority of questions were about the nomadic way of life. Why not ask about James Bond in Kazakh?

The interesting thing is that our reports attract more people from outside Kazakhstan - our website statistics shows that people from outside visit the site five times more than those in Kazakhstan! The solution, in our view, is to create new platforms - a television studio, an Internet-portal, and possibly, increase broadcasting time.

It would help if the US Congress adopted Democracy and Human Rights Act [draft law by Christopher Smith, which offers allocating additional $15 million to broadcast in five languages in the region], but one has to remember that decision-making is slow, and that the remaining two years before the next presidential elections America will be preoccupied with its internal issues.

- Does the US administration influence the editing policies? Is a return to Cold War possible?

The CIA used to determine the content of the radio materials up until 1971. But after that RFE/RL did not have any relation to the Congress, the White House or propaganda. We do our job, and our goal is to give way to objective information and diversity of opinions, whether we like them or not. We on “Azattyq” were the first to speak about Clinton-Lewinsky scandal and failures of President Bush’s policies - in Kazakh.

The Cold War is over, and the “Vilnius speech” of Vice-President Cheney [who sharply criticized Russia] did not trigger a return to it. The United States are bound to find a common ground with both Russia and China, despite existing disagreements. Undoubtedly, Moscow and Beijing will use the “war on terror” to solve their own problems - with Chechnya, with Uighurs…

The will be no other Cold War. The issue of fighting terror is more compelling now and the conflict between West and Islam is becoming deeper. The situation is different now - many Arab countries are officially friends of the United States, women are elected into parliament in Kuwait, and there is a real freedom of speech in Qatar, there are alternative sources of information - satellites, Al-Jazeera, and so on. There is no iron curtain anymore - but there are cultural differences.

It is clear that the propaganda of the Cold War times is not a solution. There is a need for partnership and education, which requires even more time, money, efforts, expertise, and education initiatives. It is important to show people, especially young people, that there are other things than countering the West, and there are values that do not contradict their own.

The guesses about the return to the Cold War that followed the “Vilnius speech” were exaggerated; it became clearer after the meeting of Cheney with Nazarbayev. It is the “Great Game” continued, and not in a very intelligent way. Yes, there are things to praise Kazakhstan for, but you cannot ignore the problems, especially when atrocious murders of Kazakh opposition leaders happened less than half a year ago.

- Can a country that is not free have a free media? Can a country that is not free transform into a democratic state with rule of law?

No, an independent country with media legislation that gets worse almost annually cannot have free journalism. We cannot compare today’s freedom of speech situation with the situation of 1991, or even of that in 2001. Journalists cannot perform their social and professional functions because of self-censorship, they do not write about something that can get them into trouble. They get messages, signs - when their colleagues are beaten up, some of them killed, more often in violent car accidents. When Altynbek Sarsenbayev was murdered, this was a warning for all. This is really frightening.

I am an optimist though. It is impossible to maintain a continuous control over a country like Kazakhstan, with its huge intellectual potential. You cannot keep lying to people. It is clear to everyone, including the government. That is why they keep pressing, but sooner or later people will be fed up with it. Elites like to compare our country to Turkmenistan, but one should pick better examples and strive to get closer to them. The people are different now, the proportion of educated population is high, they know what democracy is, how it works and they know about its advantages. People travel. These are the reasons why I am optimistic.

Sooner or later the government will change - the second president will not be the “First” anymore and the society will know how to deal with him better. The system holds Nazarbayev, and he cannot securely leave it now. So he is bound to prolong this agony, trying to secure its position. Nazarbaev has a strong political sense. Imagine how difficult it must have been for a former party worker to create a team of young managers. Now they are in opposition, though back then they - not Nazarbayev - were the architects of the “Kazakh economic miracle”. They also were the ones who got punished for being critical.

The main features of Nazarbayev’s regime - nepotism, cronyism, clan politics – cross out all achievements made during independence. They make politics, the economy, and society much worse. It is unacceptable in the 21st century world that close relatives of the president can occupy key positions in business and politics. Especially if the country is trying to get the chairmanship in the OSCE. I hope that if Kazakhstan gets it, it will be obliged to comply with the standards and follow the principles of the organization. Unfortunately, it can hardly happen now - mainly thanks to “Borats” in the government and around the president.

- The tragic death of your brother - well-known Kazakhstani journalist Askhat Sharipzhanov - in 2004 still raises questions.

I have no doubts that it was murder, not an accident. It was carefully planned and conducted soon after an interview that Askhat made with Zamanbek Nurkadilov, who then was revealing a lot during each interview, and whose house, according to his own words, was being monitored. I just do not believe it was an accident. His office keys and his tape recorder were missing, as well as the interview…

On July 12, I spoke with Askhat on the phone for an unusually long time. He told me about his new interview, that it will be a sensation. Then he said he was being threatened. I was really worried about him; I went over to the then Head of RFE/RL Thomas Dine and asked him to help Askhat leave Kazakhstan. Dine was going to the US the same evening and promised to deal with it once he gets back. But on July 16 there was an assassination attempt and on July 20 Askhat died in the hospital.

I have to say that Askhat was not a member of the opposition. He used to say: “when the government changes, I will criticize the new one too”. He was a professional journalist, he was honest, but he knew something that he should not have. It is not known what the information was about. The tape is gone, the journalist and the politician were killed. Around the same time Askhat spoke to Altynbek Sarsenbayev. Three people, who met within one week, were murdered within a year and a half.

Sooner or later it will all come up, but before that the government has to change. Too many people are involved in these murders, and they are all afraid of telling the truth. Askhat was a happy person. Despite threats and “invitations to cooperate”, he made a hard but a firm decision. He was going along his line all 40 years of his life until the end of it.