Kazakh Students in Austria Want to Spread The ATOM Project’s Message

October 31, 2013

VIENNA, Oct. 31, 2013. – The Kazakhstan Student Society in Austria is eager to help spread the news about the efforts of The ATOM Project among their peers, its leaders said today after meeting with Karipbek Kuyukov, the project’s Honorary Ambassador, at the Kazakhstan Embassy here.

There are about 300 Kazakhstan students currently studying in Austria, and their group leaders were keen on meeting their fellow countrymen promoting The ATOM project in Vienna and international organizations here including Mr. Kuyukov. He is known as a famous artist who has learned to paint with his feet and teeth, being born armless due to radiation’s impact on his parents who had lived near the infamous Soviet nuclear test site at Semipalatinsk. Kuyukov and The ATOM Project arrived in Vienna on Oct. 28 to present the photo exhibit and his works under the title “Looking for Peace” at the 41st Session of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) Preparatory Commission at the UN office in Vienna.

Ambassador of Kazakhstan in Vienna Kairat Abdrakhmanov opened the event at the embassy by introducing Karipbek Kuyukov to the students and briefly explaining the mission of The ATOM Project.

A five-minute ATOM Project documentary was also shown to the students portraying the nuclear legacy Kazakhstan had inherited from the Soviet Union and the heavy consequences of nuclear tests conducted over four decades on the territory of Kazakhstan that impacted 1.5 million lives and more generations to come.

“I think the idea [of The ATOM Project] is very important as it gathers positive feedback in Austria,” said Nursultan Akhmediya, a student of the University of Vienna, a political science major and the deputy treasurer of the Kazakhstan Student Society in Austria. “The ATOM Project goes beyond just telling the nuclear history and [current] issues in the world, but also it is about an image of our country, and, whether some want it or not, it does associate with Kazakhstan’s reputation as it was our president’s initiative [to shut down the test site and to launch The ATOM Project.]”

Akhmediya went on to share his ideas about what other means could aid the project to spread its message by stating that the average population should be made more aware of the nuclear test consequences.

“We could do more work with the regular population. I mean in Kazakhstan not many people know about this project as meetings are held at high levels and the average people don’t know about what is being done and how it is dealt with,” Akhmediya underscored. “The painting that struck me the most was the ‘First Explosion’,” Akhmediya said. “I was surprised by Karipbek Kuyukov’s talent, how he could express all this pain in one painting, and, considering that in those days people were not informed about nuclear tests, he still managed to do it successfully.”

“I came here today to hear the story Karipbek Kuyukov has to tell,” said Nurgul Kereyeva, another University of Vienna student and a major in physics.
“I have heard of him before, but wanted to hear with my own ears about the fates of nuclear test victims in our country,” she said. “His most recent portrait of the victim [Dulat] really moved me. I noticed a tear drop in his right eye. It is subtle and profound indeed. I am proud that my country had started this project as Kazakhstan is still developing. But we showed a good example to more developed countries like Japan, the U.S., Germany and it was a big step for us. There is a phrase I heard Karipbek say once – ‘I stand tall on my feet and hold my life with my teeth’. I really admire this man,” she concluded.

Kuyukov shared his life story with the students, and the Kazakhstan Student Society in Austria presented him a gift, a T-shirt with their logo to conclude the meeting.

“Most students had classes in the morning,” Akhmediya added, and many still managed to show up. “I think it is because people feel that he has a big heart despite the consequences of the nuclear tests. And I wish him to continue the mission and that all the set goals of The ATOM Project would be accomplished.”