Aitkul B. Samakova is a

Kazakhs The Kazakhs (also spelled Qazaqs; Kazakh: , , , , , ; the English name is transliterated from Russian; russian: казахи) are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group native to northern parts of Central Asia, chiefly Kazakhstan, but also parts o ...

tani politician, former member of parliament, and

political scientist Political science is the science, scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of politics, political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated c ...

. She has been a representative to the Mazhilis and the

Senate of Kazakhstan The Senate of Kazakhstan ( kk, Qazaqstan Parlamentınıñ Senaty, ''Қазақстан Парламентінің Сенаты'') is the upper house of two chambers in Kazakhstan's legislature, known as the Parliament (''Parlamenti''). The Sen ...

, and the First Deputy to the Kazakhstan Minister of Trade. Samakova was Kazakhstan's Minister of the Environment from 2002 to 2006.

Early life and education

Samakova was born on 2 February 1949 in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. In 1967, Samakova earned a technical degree at an Almaty polytechnic college. From 1967 until 1980, Samakova worked at a

canning Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container (jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although u ...

plant in Almaty, first as an engineer and then in management positions. In 1973 she earned another technical degree in

Taraz Taraz ( kz, Тараз, تاراز, translit=Taraz ; known to Europeans as Talas) is a city and the administrative center of Jambyl Region in Kazakhstan, located on the Talas (river), Talas (Taraz) River in the south of the country near the borde ...

, and then in 1983 she graduated from Kazakhstan's Higher Party School ( kk) with a degree in political science, followed by a law degree from

Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University is one of the leading institutes in Central Asia. It is situated in the heart of Almaty City, Kazakhstan. In 2003 Abai University had a record enrollment of more than 23,000 students, mostly from Kazakh ...

in 1999.

Political career

In 1980, Samakova became the Party Secretary for the Frunze district of the

Communist Party of Kazakhstan The Communist Party of Kazakhstan ( kk, Қазақстан Коммунистік партиясы, ''Qazaqstan Kommunistık Partiasy'', QKP; russian: Коммунистическая партия Казахстана) is a banned political pa ...

. From 1980 to 1991 she served in that capacity, as the head of the Almaty City Party Committee, and as the deputy head of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan department of trade and consumer services. In 1991, Samakova was appointed the First Deputy to the Kazakhstan Minister of Trade. Then, in 1996, she became the Head of the Department of Citizenship in the executive branch of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In 1998, Samakova joined the

. In 1999, the President of Kazakhstan appointed her the Chairman of the National Commission for Family and Women Affairs under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and she was briefly the Deputy Head of Government in that year. In this capacity, she was responsible for representing the government of Kazakhstan on issues pertaining to the treatment of women to international bodies like the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

. In 2002, she was appointed Minister of the Environment. She was a member of the

Tasmagambetov Cabinet The Tasmagambetov Cabinet was the 5th government of Kazakhstan. Led by Prime Minister Imangali Tasmagambetov, it was formed on 28 January 2002 after his predecessor Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stepped down from his post along with his entire cabinet. Pr ...

and the

Daniyal Akhmetov Cabinet The Daniyal Akhmetov Cabinet was the 6th government in Kazakhstan that was led by Daniyal Akhmetov. President Nursultan Nazarbayev nominated Akhmetov at the joint session of the Parliament to be the Prime Minister on 13 June 2003, stating that the ...

. While Minister of the Environment, Samakova continued to be Chairman of the National Commission for Family and Women Affairs under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. She continued to hold this post after leaving the Environment Ministry in 2006. In 2007 Samakova became a deputy to the Mazhilis for

Nur Otan Amanat (), previously known as Nur Otan () until 2022, is a big tent political party in Kazakhstan. Being the largest to date, it has been the ruling party of the country from 1999, with a membership claiming to be of over 762,000 people in 2007. ...

. Samakova served on the Environment and Nature Management Committees, and worked as the Chairman of the Nur Otan's Social Council. She was a representative in the Nur Otan until 2016. Samakova is a member of the Board of Directors of the Export Insurance company KazakhExport.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samakova, Aitkul Living people 1949 births People from Almaty Women political scientists Kazakhstani political scientists 20th-century Kazakhstani politicians 21st-century Kazakhstani politicians Communist Party of Kazakhstan politicians Nur Otan politicians Government ministers of Kazakhstan Women government ministers of Kazakhstan Members of the Senate of Kazakhstan Members of the Mazhilis 20th-century Kazakhstani women politicians 21st-century Kazakhstani women politicians Soviet women in politics