Aron Atabek
Aron Atabek | |
|---|---|
Арон Атабек | |
Atabek in prison, 2012 | |
| Leader of the Alash National Freedom Party | |
| In office April 1990 – 24 November 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Vacant |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Aron Qabyşūly Nutuşev 31 January 1953 |
| Died | 24 November 2021 (aged 68) |
| Party | Alash |
| Children | Alma Nutusheva |
| Alma mater | Kazakh State University Leningrad State University |
| Profession | Poet, author, journalist, political activist |
Aron Qabyşūly Edigeev (Kazakh: Арон Қабышұлы Едігеев, Нутушев, born Aron Qabyşūly Nutuşev; 31 January 1953 – 24 November 2021), better known as Aron Atabek (Kazakh: Арон Атабек), was a Kazakh political activist and poet.
He was a leader of an independent Alash National Freedom Party, and the president of the political council of the Kazak Memleketi, the Kazakhstan National Front. After Kazakhstan gained its independence in 1991 upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he was a staunch critic of the regime of President Nursultan Nazarbayev. He was an author of several poems and a book critical of the Kazakh government, for which he was imprisoned for fifteen years. He was released in October 2021, and died a month later on 24 November, while being treated in a hospital in Almaty for COVID-19.