Kazakhstan

ALMATY, July 2 (Reuters) - Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Saturday dropped plans to curtail the autonomy of the country's Karakalpakstan province following a rare public protest in the northwestern region, his office said.

Friday's rally was called to protest constitutional reform plans that would have changed the status of Karakalpakstan, an autonomous republic home to the Karakalpak people - an ethnic minority group with its own language, Uzbek authorities said.

NUR-SULTAN, June 16. /TASS/: Russia proposed to move the Syrian Constitutional Committee meetings to Abu Dhabi, Muscat and Manama, Russian Special Presidential Representative for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev said during a press conference after the 18th Astana Format meeting on Syria.

"I believe it is too early to speak about specific achieved agreements on this issue. We have outlined our position. We also outlined it before [UN Special Envoy on Syria Geir] Pedersen and other stakeholders that accompany the Committee’s operation, those being Turkey and Iran," he said.

NUR-SULTAN, June 15. /TASS/: The continuity of friendship and alliance in relations between Russia and Kazakhstan remains and the Central Asian republic’s government will do everything possible to preserve it, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel published on Wednesday.

"The continuity of friendship and alliance between our countries is fully preserved. In any case, as the head of state, I will do everything possible to preserve truly friendly relations between our countries," he said.

June 15 (Reuters) - Russia considers Turkey's possible military operation in Syria unwise as it could escalate and destabilise the situation, the RIA news agency cited Russia's Syria envoy Alexander Lavrentyev as saying on Wednesday.

Lavrentyev also said Moscow no longer considered Geneva a suitable venue for talks between Syrians, according to the TASS agency.

The Russian envoy was in Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan on Wednesday for talks with Turkey, Iran, and the Syrian government and rebels.

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NUR-SULTAN, June 14. /TASS/: All negotiating parties for the Astana-format Syrian peace talks have confirmed their participation in the event, which is scheduled to be held in the Kazakh capital on June 15-16, Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Aibek Smadiyarov told reporters on Tuesday.

NUR-SULTAN, April 29. /TASS/: Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has proposed holding a referendum on amending the country’s constitution.

"I believe that constitutional changes through a popular vote will make the people’s will perfectly clear," he pointed out at a meeting of the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan on Friday.

According to Tokayev, "a referendum will allow all citizens to directly participate in deciding the country’s future and will also strengthen a policy aimed at fully democratizing the country and building a new Kazakhstan."

NUR-SULTAN, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and visiting Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe voiced common readiness on Monday to step up bilateral cooperation.

NUR-SULTAN, March 12. /TASS/: Kazakhstan’s Qazaq Air company suspends flights to Russia due to lack of insurance coverage in the country, the press service said on Saturday.

"Qazaq Air has been notified about the failure to provide insurance coverage in Russia and its airspace. Considering this, the airline is not able to operate flights to Russia until the issue of insurance coverage is resolved," the statement reads.

The press service also noted that the flight to Novosibirsk scheduled for March 12 was cancelled.

NUR-SULTAN, January 27. /TASS/: The situation in Kazakhstan has fully stabilized while law and order have been restored after the unrest of early January, the country’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in a statement on Thursday.

Tokayev held a Security Council meeting where he said "the situation in the country has been fully stabilized and law and order have been restored," according to the presidential press service. "All measures are being taken to increase the protection of individuals, society, and the state," he was quoted as saying.

ALMATY, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev fired his defence minister on Wednesday, accusing him of failing to show leadership and initiative when the Central Asian country was rocked by its worst unrest in 30 years of independence.

The removal of Murat Bektanov marked the latest stage in Tokayev's purge of the security establishment as he consolidates power after violent protests shook the former Soviet republic in the first week of January.