Yertysbayev told about Nazarbayev's reaction to "the hype around President’s successor"

Yermukhamet Yertysbayev, Advisor to President Nazarbayev, told a Tengrinews.kz journalist about his discussion of the interview for Russia’s Kommersant with President Nazarbayev. First of all Yertysbayev emphasized that his interview for the Russian newspaper is an interview, rather than “a statement” [according to media]. “I made no statements. I am not in a position to make statements. It is out of my job responsibilities. Statements can be made by the Parliament, the Government, Head of State, Foreign Minister. I was just giving an interview. I was answering questions”, Mr. Ertysbayev said. According to him, President Nazarbayev did read the interview. “He told me: “what a hype your stirred round Timur Kulibayev as a successor [to President].” The President laughed, adding “it will be a good test for some…we’ll see their response,” Yertysbayev told. “President’s reaction was normal. There were no critical remarks with regards to this particular interview or any other interviews.” “I merely expressed my own opinion. According to clause 20 of the Constitution, I am entitled to freedom of speech,” Yertysbayev emphasized. He agreed with Timur Kulibayev that “talking [of successors] with the incumbent president in place, especially given the recent speculations on the President’s health in the media, is not quite correct.” Following the Kommersnat interview, “I’ve been receiving too many calls from media, mainly foreign ones. Many might think that I have coordinated the whole thing with Head of State and that I am accomplishing his task. Or that this information is being deliberately injected into the media space. I assure you this is not the case. I’ve given hundreds of interviews like this. It’s part of my job. Journalists turn to me daily,” he said. According to Yertysbayev, he hasn’t given a call to Timur Kulibayev yet, but he is ready to tell him the same face to face. “I appreciate him in his managerial capacity. He says he has nothing to do with politics, but deals with economy issues. But we can remember Lenin’s words that politics is concentrated economy. 52% of the national economy is concentrated in Samruk Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund. This is the major politics for today. Even President himself said repeatedly that economy comes first, followed by politics,” Yertysbayev said. “I patchily answered some questions from Kommersant and made no official statements. I am not entitled to make statements, much more so on the sensitive issue of President’s successor. The President has been elected, and the issue is out of question at least before 2016,” he summed up.