Address by the rector of Shakarim University Duman Orynbekov to students, teachers, and staff on the occasion of August 29 - the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site

Dear students, teachers, colleagues, fellow countrymen!

The day of August 29 is forever inscribed in world history as the date when Kazakhstan was the first of the nuclear states to say a firm “no” to nuclear tests. In 1991, by Decree of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, one of the largest and most tragic symbols of the twentieth century, was closed.

For us, born and living on this earth, this is not only a historical fact. This is part of our pain, memory, strength. Here, in the Abai region, on the land where Abai, Shakarim, Mukhtar Auezov were born and worked, explosions thundered for decades, changing the destinies of people, nature, and our future. And here, on this same land, hope was born for peace, for life without fear and for the right of each of our children to breathe clean air.

Shakarim University stands in the heart of this land. We are the descendants of those who experienced the consequences of nuclear testing, and the heirs of great thinkers whose words were stronger than weapons. This imposes on us a special mission: to remember the truth about the test site, to study its lessons, to talk about it to the world, to educate generations who will build the world so that the SINT tragedy never repeats itself.

Today, in an era of global challenges and turbulence, we must realize: the closure of the landfill is not just a point in history, it is a challenge to each of us. We must turn this experience into knowledge, into science, into a culture of responsibility towards the planet.

Shakarim University is already taking steps in this direction: we are conducting research on ecology and health, developing programs related to “green” technologies, and teaching students to see the connection between ethics, science and politics. And we rightfully tell the world: here, where nuclear explosions once thundered, today a safe, humane, intellectual future is being built.

August 29 is a day when you need to remember not only the past, but also the future. As the descendants of our greatest thinkers, educators, we must be smarter, more honest and more far-sighted. We need to preserve peace as the highest value, defend the truth of the STS, putting knowledge, strength and heart into ensuring that every new page in the history of this land is a page of creation, not destruction.

Dear fellow countrymen, students, colleagues!

Let this day be a reminder to us that peace is the greatest work, and memory is an incommensurable responsibility. And that Shakarim University, standing on a land that has experienced both pain and rebirth, will continue to work so that our region becomes a symbol not of nuclear tragedy, but of human genius, culture and science.

Here, in the heart of Abai’s land, we must be the first to talk about it and live by it.

Rector Duman Orynbekov