Under the chairmanship of the President, the session of the Security Council was held in Akorda Palace. The agenda of the discussion included issues of combating terrorist and criminal elements trying to destabilize the situation in Kazakhstan.
The meeting was attended by the speakers of both Parliament chambers, Acting Prime Minister, Head of the Presidential Administration, Chairman of the National Security Committee, Prosecutor General, Head of the State Security Service, Acting Deputy Prime Minister - Foreign Minister, Acting Defense Minister, Acting Internal Affairs Minister, and Acting Minister of Emergency Situations.
President Tokayev stressed the complexity of the current situation, and pointed out to the need to take a number of urgent measures. He named the forces that made the attack on Kazakhstan as real terrorists.
“In this regard, we need to conduct a counter-terrorist operation in order to fight them back. I head up the counter-terrorism command. The statistics of the terrorist attack that the criminals committed are real terrorists. We are well aware that they are currently rampaging in Almaty and other cities. They are seizing infrastructure buildings and premises where small arms are located. Currently, there is a battle near Almaty with airborne units of the Defense Ministry,” the Head of State said.
The President stated that these terrorist gangs are in fact international one, which had serious training abroad and their attack on Kazakhstan should be considered as an act of aggression.
“In this regard, relying on the Collective Security Treaty, today I appealed to the heads of the CSTO states to assist Kazakhstan in overcoming this terrorist threat. In fact, this is no longer a threat - it is undermining the state integrity, and most importantly, it is an attack against our citizens, who request me as the Head of State to urgently help them. My constitutional duty is to take care of the well-being, safety and tranquility of our citizens. Therefore, I consider the appeal to the CSTO partners absolutely appropriate and timely. I believe that the people of Kazakhstan will support this decision. Together we will definitely win. As I have already said, terrorist gangs seized large infrastructure facilities. In particular, the Almaty airport along with about five aircrafts, including foreign ones. In fact, Almaty was attacked and suffered vandalism. Its residents have become victims of terrorist attacks, bandits. Therefore, it is our duty, including the Security Council members of the Republic of Kazakhstan present here, to take all possible actions to protect our state from an external threat,” Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.
In his speech, the Chairman of the Security Council addressed the country’s citizens, who have become victims of the terrorist aggressions.
“As the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, I assure you, I will do my utmost to protect vital interests. I believe that together we will win. This is a very challenging page in the history of our state. Many things have to be examined, how and why this happened. But the main thing now is to protect our country and our citizens,” Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stressed.