Nurlan Yermekbayev

Nurlan (Baiuzakuly) Yermekbayev ( kk, Нұрлан Байұзақұлы Ермекбаев, ''Nūrlan Baiūzaqūly Ermekbaev'') is a Kazakh politician, diplomat and Lieutenant General of the Army who had been the Minister of Defense of Kazakhstan from 7 August 2018 to 31 August 2021.

Biography

He was born on New Year's Day in 1963 in the city of Shymkent in the Kazakh SSR. He began his career at the Institute of Chemical Engineering in Moscow, where he began his studies. In the spring of 1981, Yermekbayev was conscripted into the Soviet Armed Forces and enrolled in the army's military institute in the capital. From 1984 to 1985, he participated in combat mission of the USSR in the Republic of Angola. Неизвестная миссия в Африке / Ангола: Африкадағы беймәлім миссия
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He graduated with Honors from the Military Institute of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR in 1986 with knowledge of Chinese and English.
After graduating from the Military Institute he served until 1991 in the Armed Forces of the USSR in the Osh Region of the Kyrgyz SSR, in the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk of the Kazakh SSR and in the city of Alma-Ata of the Kazakh SSR.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Yermekbayev worked in foreign economic organizations, banking sector and in trade missions at embassies of Kazakhstan.

In 2001-2003 he served ad Counsellor of the Embassy headed by Kuanysh Sultanov and Zhanybek Karibzhanov, who were the Ambassadors of Kazakhstan. He left that post in the end of 2003 to become the first Chief of the Kazakh Embassy to Singapore. After that he served in the Kazakhstan President's Office in charge of international issues.
Between 2007 and 2012, Yermekbayev worked in his positions as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan and Assistant to the President of Kazakhstan.
From May 2012-November 2014 he was appointed to a series of ambassadorial posts in China, Vietnam, and North Korea. In 2013, during his role as Ambassador to China, he stated that "by 2050, Kazakhstan should become one of the 30 developed countries in the world". He was recalled in November 2014 to be appointed Secretary of the Security Council.

Minister for Religious and Civil Society Affairs

On 13 September 2016, he was made Minister for Religious and Civil Society Affairs of Kazakhstan, with the ministry being established the same day. Decision on establishment of the Ministry followed an attack by Islamic militants in Aktobe city which resulted in deaths of 25 people including 18 attackers.
His tenure was marked with the management of the trend of Islamic extremists in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. In May 2017, Yermekbayev said that "no state enjoys absolute protection" against radicalism. In an op-ed in “The Diplomat”, he stated that while traditional and moderate religious activities are welcome, the rooting out of religious extremism and radicalism needs to be at the "top of the global agenda" and that it "must start with young people who have been deliberately targeted by the extremists".

Minister of Defence

On 4 April 2018, by the decree of Nursultan Nazarbayev, he was dismissed from the post of Minister for Religious and Civil Society Affairs and appointed Secretary of the Security Council again.
He was appointed as a Defense Minister on 7 August 2018 by Nazarbayev, succeeding Colonel General Saken Zhasuzakov. Due to his prior experience in the Soviet Army, Yermekbayev was granted the rank of Major General by Nazarbayev on 18 March 2019, effectively returning him to military service and making him the first minister to have served in a civilian and military capacity in the same tenure.
In August 2019, took part in the events of the 5th International Army Games near Moscow, in which "over 5,000 soldiers from 39 countries are taking part" according to Yermekbayev.
When describing the deployment of the KAZBAT to Lebanon as part of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, he said: "for Kazakhstan and it’s military training participating in peacekeeping operations is a matter of national importance" during working visit to the Iliyski Peacekeepers’ Training Site in the Almaty Region. He later visited Beirut to meet with members of the battalion and the joint-Indian Army contingent. During that visit, he also held negotiations with National Defense Minister Elias Bou Saab.

On 6 May 2020, on the eve of the Defender of the Fatherland Day celebration, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General.
According to official and military sources, a wide range of reforms and strategic concept documents such as Concept of the Armed Forces Development Президент Казахстана утвердил новую военную концепцию до 2030 года
/ref> Токаев утвердил новую Концепцию Вооруженных сил
/ref> "Safe country" National Project
/ref> and others have been elaborated under Yermekbayev’s management Что сделал Нурлан Ермекбаев на посту министра обороны Казахстана
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His tenure is also associated with enhancement of the military intelligence,Токаев посетил штаб-квартиру разведчиков
Special Operations Forces (SSO), initialising of a new “military reserve service” model
/ref> and decisions on purchasing of Turkish-made Anka combat drones, British-Spanish made A-400 cargo aircraft and Russian-made “Buk” Air-Defence systems.
During Yermekbayev’s lead of the MoD, Kazakh Army was intensively and extensively used in anti-COVID campaign which some experts called inadequately excessive.

Resignation

Following the explosion at the ammunition depot in Jambyl Region, allegedly caused by fire which resulted in injuries and deaths of several fire fighting personnel, Yermekbayev at a briefing on 27 August 2021 announced his intent to resign, adding that the final decision would be made by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. On 31 August, it became known that Yermekbayev's resignation was accepted, with him being succeeded by First Deputy Minister - Chief of General Staff Murat Bektanov. Later on, Yermekbayev explained that his voluntary resignation as an action of political responsibility for decades-long shortcomings is “a matter of military officer’s and general’s honor” and let investigation find out the true guilty persons. Ермекбаев о ЧП в Жамбылской области: Даже если нет моей вины в этом, я должен отвечать
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In the end of 2021 Yermekbayev has been re-elected as
Chairman of the All-Kazakhstan Association of Hand-to-Hand Fighting;
In 2022 has been invited to be an acting Senior Lecturer to the Kazakh National University; Honorary Professor of the National Defence University

Private life

Yermekbayev is fluent in English, Russian, Chinese, apart from his native Kazakh. His hobbies include sports, visiting other countries, and reading.
In August 2018 and later in 2021, he was re-elected as Chairman of the All-Kazakhstan Association of Hand-to-Hand Fighting Нурлан Ермекбаев переизбран главой АРБ
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He is a PhD in Political Sciences (Candidate of Political Sciences), as well as an author of dozens of articles and co-author of the book "Kazakhstan and the countries of the world".
He delivers lectures to students, scientists, researchers and civil servants.

Education

* 1986 — Military Institute of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR
* 1996 — Kazakh Leading Academy of Architecture and Civil Engineering
* 2019 — Full course of “Military Art” at the Kazakhstan National Defence University

Awards

* Order of Parasat (2015)
* Order of Kurmet (2005)
* Medal “To the participant of local armed conflicts. Angola”
* Medal “ For Contribution to defence and aerospace industry”
* Medal "70 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
* Medal “For Contribution to development of the South Kazakhstan Region”
* Medal "20 Years of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan"
* “Honorary badge of appreciation by the President of Kazakhstan”
* “For excellent duty performance during state of emergency” medal
* “El Qorgany” (“Guardian of the country”) Kazakhstan Armed Forces medal
* And number of jubilee medals

See also

*Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Angola: unknown mission in Africa

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yermekbayev, Nurlan
1963 births
Living people
Ministers of Defence of Kazakhstan
People from Shymkent
Government ministers of Kazakhstan
Recipients of the Order of Kurmet