Toktarov Proclaims Special Economic Zone from Nurzhan

NURZHAN — Erlan Toktarov, the former Majority Leader of the Territorial Senate, yesterday proclaimed an "Irad Special Economic Zone" from Nurzhan and said it would govern as an emergency administration. Reading a decree at the city administration building on the central square, Toktarov declared the Supreme Court's independence ruling of December annulled and said that Irad had returned to "suspended sovereignty" pending a referendum on unification.

Toktarov said he had taken control of the Democratic Party of Irad. He had warned in December against the immediate proclamation of the Democratic Republic, and he accused the cabinet of selling the country's assets "by auction to its friends". Municipal police lent by the Nurzhan city council, where the Labor Party holds the majority, and gendarmerie units from the Chu lowlands took up positions last night around the city administration, the rail yards and the NurGaz tank farm. Labor councillors said they backed the move to restore order.

In Talas, a spokesman for Prime Minister Bakyt Orozbekov said the cabinet did not recognize the proclamation, which he called "a seizure of power with no basis in law", and that the government of the Democratic Republic remained the lawful authority. The proclamation follows weeks of protest over the cabinet's sale of oil concessions, grain elevators and mobile frequencies, which documents published by the Irad Times link to companies close to ministers and other party members. NurGaz, whose president Kamran Bekzatov has refused to recognize the oil auctions, made no comment last night.