Olzhas Omaruly Suleimenov (, ''Oljas Omarūly Süleimenov''; , ''Olzhas Omarovich Suleymenov'') is a Kazakh Russian-language poet, Turkologist, politician, and anti-nuclear activist.

Life

Suleimenov was born to a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

family as the son of Omar Suleimenov on 18 May 1936 in

Alma-Ata Almaty, formerly Alma-Ata, is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population exceeding two million residents within its metropolitan area. Located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains in southern Kazakhstan, near the border wi ...

. He graduated from Geological Sciences Department of Kazakh State University in 1959. Suleimenov also finished

Maxim Gorky Literature Institute The Maxim Gorky Literature Institute () is an institution of higher education in Moscow, Russia. It is located at 25 Tverskoy Boulevard in central Moscow. History The institute was founded in 1933 on the initiative of Maxim Gorky, a writer, foun ...

in 1961. Between 1962 and 1971, he worked at Kazakhskaya Pravda. Suleimenov was awarded

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

Prize for Kazakhstan in 1966. Between 1969 and 1989 he was a member of the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

. In 1981 he was a member of the jury at the 12th Moscow International Film Festival. He became First Secretary of the Committee of the Kazakhstan's Writers Union in 1983. He is a

Russophone This article details the geographical distribution of Russian-speakers. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the status of the Russian language often became a matter of controversy. Some Post-Soviet states adopted policies of Derus ...

writer.

Works

His most influential work, ''AZ-and-IA'' (), was published in 1975. The book is about the possible Turkic origin of the Russian chronicle

The Tale of Igor's Campaign ''The Tale of Igor's Campaign'' or ''The Tale of Ihor's Campaign'' () is an anonymous epic poem written in the Old East Slavic language. The title is occasionally translated as ''The Tale of the Campaign of Igor'', ''The Song of Igor's Campaign'' ...

. ''AZ-i-IA'' drew widespread criticism from the literary elite in Russia. Suleimenov was charged with "national chauvinism" and "glorifying feudal nomadic culture." Kazakhstan Communist Party first secretary Dinmuhammad Konayev intervened on Suleimenov's behalf, discussing the content of the book with

Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (19 December 190610 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until Death and state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev, his death in 1982 as w ...

and saving Suleimenov's career.
His other works include: *Argamaki (1961) *Zemlia Poklonis' Cheloveku (1961) *Solnechnye Nochi (1962) *Dobroe Vremia Voskhoda (1964) *God Obez'iany (1967) *Glinianaia Kniga (1969) *

Political activities

Suleimenov again became a worldwide name in 1989, when he led the establishment of the international environmental movement Nevada-Semipalatinsk. Nevada-Semipalatinsk campaigned to close nuclear sites in

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

and in the Semipalatinsk Oblast of Kazakhstan. After independence, Suleimenov established the People's Congress of Kazakhstan party in 1991 and served as the speaker of Parliament from 1993 until 1994. While at the Parliament, he rose to the position of opposition leader, engaging in several political struggles with President Nursultan Nazarbaev. Many opposition leaders urged him to run as a candidate in the next presidential elections. In 1995, to preempt his potential candidacy, Nazarbayev brokered a deal, and Suleimenov was appointed as Kazakhstan's ambassador to Rome. Since 2002 he serves as Kazakhstani ambassador at the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

in Paris. On February 4, 2023, he was elected Chairman of the International Democratic Party People's Congress of Kazakhstan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suleimenov, Olzhas Russian-language poets 1936 births Living people Communist Party of Kazakhstan politicians Ambassadors of Kazakhstan to Italy Ambassadors of Kazakhstan to Greece Ambassadors of Kazakhstan to Malta Permanent delegates of Kazakhstan to UNESCO Chairmen of the Mäjilis Kazakhstani historians Soviet anti–nuclear weapons activists Al-Farabi Kazakh National University alumni Tengrist religious workers Maxim Gorky Literature Institute alumni

Life

Works

Political activities

See also

References