27 Facts About Dinmukhamed Kunaev

Dinmukhamed Kunaev, the son of a Kazakh clerk, was born at Verny, now Almaty, and grew up in a middle-income family.

Dinmukhamed Kunaev was deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Kazakh SSR from April 1942 to 1946.

Dinmukhamed Kunaev served in this post until 1955, when he became Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR.

Dinmukhamed Kunaev's rise in Communist Party ranks had been closely tied to that of Leonid Brezhnev's.

On 19 January 1960, Dinmukhamed Kunaev was elected 1st Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan.

One of Dinmukhamed Kunaev's first actions as leader of the Kazakh SSR was a visit to the United States in January 1960, as part of a delegation lead by Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR, Dmitry Polyansky.

In March 1960, the leader of the USSR, Nikita Khrushchev visited the Kazakh SSR, and together with Dinmukhamed Kunaev, they toured the republic for 13 days.

Dinmukhamed Kunaev was appointed as an alternate member of the Politburo in 1967, and became a full member in 1971.

Under Dinmukhamed Kunaev, Kazakhstan became one of the three largest economies of the USSR, along with Russia and Ukraine, the traditional industrial centers of the country since Tsarist times.

Dinmukhamed Kunaev personally initiated many of them to nominate prestigious All-Union prizes and awards.

Dinmukhamed Kunaev believed that their successes glorified the Kazakh culture and nation far beyond the borders of the republic.

Dinmukhamed Kunaev did something that no other Soviet leader of Kazakhstan had done before him.

Dinmukhamed Kunaev returned a number of areas in the south of the republic that had previously been transferred to the Uzbek SSR during the tenure of his predecessors under Khrushchev.

Dinmukhamed Kunaev was often trusted to lead government and parliamentary delegations of the USSR on official trips abroad, and to conduct negotiations with leaders of other states on behalf of the entire country.

Dinmukhamed Kunaev led delegations to Algeria, Iran, the United Arab Republic, North Korea, Japan, and was a member of delegations to Uruguay, Italy, India, Great Britain and other countries.

Dinmukhamed Kunaev notably recommended Nursultan Nazarbayev, the future first president of Kazakhstan, for the role of head of government.

Dinmukhamed Kunaev himself was subject to criticism from Erkin Auelbekov, First Secretary of the Kyzylorda Regional Committee and Kamalidenov, the Ideology Secretary, who criticized the heads of universities for the high percentage of students of Kazakh ethnicity.

However, this did not go well for Dinmukhamed Kunaev, who saw Nazarbaev keep his position as Chairman of the Council of Ministers.

Soon D A Kunaev himself was dismissed, as he was removed from office under pressure from Mikhail Gorbachev, who accused him of corruption.

Dinmukhamed Kunaev began to be accused of "nationalism" and was named among the organisers of the so-called riots by Kolbin, who stated that the reason for the "forceful solution to the issue" was allegedly Dinmukhamed Kunaev's refusal to speak to the youth.

However, this is untrue, as Dinmukhamed Kunaev volunteered to speak to the protestors, but was not allowed to by Second Secretary of the Kazakh Communist Party, Oleg Miroshkin.

In January 1987, D A Kunaev was removed from the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and in June 1987 from the Central Committee of the CPSU.

Dinmukhamed Kunaev refused to publish her material under such conditions, doing so a year later, when the disgrace against Kunaev was lifted.

On January 12,1992, Dinmukhamed Kunaev Kunayev turned 80 years old, receiving hundreds of letters and telegrams from all over Kazakhstan, including from academic scientists, cultural figures, famous athletes, military generals, major manufacturers, businessmen and significant representatives of other spheres.

Dinmukhamed Kunaev was visited by many famous public figures, including the first Kazakh cosmonaut Toktar Aubakirov, the founder of the Kazakh and Turkish schools of taekwondo Mustafa Ozturk, theologian and translator of the Koran into Kazakh Khalifa Altay, People's Artist of the USSR Bibigul Tulegenova, Bakytzhan Momyshuly and many, many others.

Dinmukhamed Kunaev died in the evening of 22 August 1993 in the village of Akshi, Alakol district of Almaty region as a result of a heart attack.

Dinmukhamed Kunaev was buried on 25 August 1993 at the Kensai cemetery in the city of Alma-Ata.