Turkish FM states Turkic world counts on strength of brotherly Kazakhstan

By Trend

The Turkic world believes that this crisis won’t harm the sovereignty, integrity, stability and balanced foreign policy of Kazakhstan, Foreign Minister of Turkey Mevlut Cavusoglu said, Trend reports via the country’s Foreign Ministry.

Cavusoglu made the remark speaking at an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the member and observer countries of Turkic States Organization.

"We count on the strength of brotherly Kazakhstan. We are participants of cooperation and prosperity, not geopolitical competition," he noted.

According to the minister, prosperity and peace strengthen states and peoples.

Kazakhstan's government announced late Jan. 4 that it was restoring some price caps on liquefied petroleum gas, after the rare protests reached Almaty following a sharp rise in the price of the fuel at the start of the year.

Many Kazakhs have converted their cars to run on LPG, which is far cheaper than gasoline as a vehicle fuel in Kazakhstan because of price caps. But the government argued that the low price was unsustainable and lifted the caps on Jan. 1.

After the price of the fuel spiked, big demonstrations erupted on Jan. 2 in certain parts of the country. Public protests are illegal in the country unless their organizers file a notice in advance.

Following the development of the situation, the government declared a state of emergency all over the country. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said the government initiated anti-terrorist operations to deal with the ongoing riots.

Also, the divisions of the united peacekeeping contingent of CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) arrived in Kazakhstan to assist in restoring order and help protect strategic objects of the country.