Epicenter of Peace

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the newly independent republics faced many common challenges, including state building and integration into the world community, as well as different regional hurdles. Kazakstan, the site of the Soviet Union's atomic weapons testing for almost half a century, inherited a vast nuclear stockpile that made it the fourth largest nuclear state in the world.

Having embarked on a course of democracy, Kazakstan acted in response to the public outcry against nuclear testing. In the closed Soviet system, the people of Kazakstan had suffered from the effects of fallout for forty years and were denied information about the testing and its impact on their health. Nursultan Nazarbayev's first act as president of an independent nation showed the world the seriousness and sincerity of its intentions. He shut down the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site, where the first Soviet bomb was detonated in 1949. This was followed by a more radical decision: to give up its nuclear arsenal and to declare Kazakstan a nuclear-free nation. Acting with the support and aid of the people of the United States, it destroyed more than a thousand warheads and ICBMs.

Kazakstan's courageous act has set an example for the future denuclearization and demilitarization of the world. The great hope for peace in the twenty-first century in our multipolar world is through nonproliferation of nuclear weapons.

This year, Kazakstan is celebrating two major 10-year anniversaries: 10 years of independence and 10 years of a commitment to denuclearization. The years of independence have seen great progress in many areas, despite the difficult regional and economic environment that has tested Kazakstan's chosen path to democracy and capitalism.

This book describes how the people of Kazakstan reached the decision to rid themselves of nuclear weapons and argues that peace will come to our multipolar world only through nonproliferation and denuclearization. President Nazarbayev sets the record straight on Kazakstan's dauntless decision to lead the way to a secure future for all our children and grandchildren.