Ermukhamet Ertysbayev

Ermukhamet Qabidenuly Ertysbayev (Kazakh: Ертісбаев, Ермұхамет Қабиденұлы) served as the Minister of Culture, Information, and Sport in the Government of Kazakhstan until President Nursultan Nazarbayev split the Ministry of Culture, Information and Sport into a Culture and Information Ministry and a Tourism and Sport Ministry through a presidential decree on 27 March 2006. Nazarbayev appointed Ertysbayev the Minister of Culture and Information and Temirkhan Dosmukhanbetov the Minister of Tourism.

Ertysbayev has been called Nazarbayev's "wily political adviser."

A court sentenced Erzhan Utembayev, the head of the Senate administration, to twenty years in prison for his involvement in the assassination of opposition politician Altynbek Sarsenbayev on 11 February 2006. Dariga Nazarbayeva, one of the most powerful Kazakh politicians and daughter of the President, responded to the conviction by calling on Nurtai Abykayev, the Speaker of the Senate, to resign. Global Insight, an international think tank, linked her criticism of Abykayev to her rivalry with Timur Kulibayev, the husband of her sister Dinara. Global Insight reports that the move "backfired" and President Nazarbayev had Ertysbayev take control of the Khabar television channel while coercing his daughter to merge the Asar party with the Otan party. Bagila Bukharbayeva of the Associated Press also drew this conclusion. Ertysbayev said the take over of Khabar would help Kazakhstan improve's "information security."

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