What Is Known About Kazakhstan’s New Vice President Erlan Karin

Erlan Karin has formally become Kazakhstan’s vice president after President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev put forward his candidacy and Kurultai deputies approved it during a session on August 31. The appointment decree has since been published on the Akorda website.

Karin, born in 1976 in Aksu village in the Turkestan Region, holds a PhD in political science. He began his career as a history and geography teacher in Aktobe before moving into political research and government service.

His previous posts include director of the Central Asian Agency for Political Research, an adviser to the prime minister, first deputy chairman of the Asar party, and head of the Center for Anti-Terrorism Programs. He later worked in the Presidential Administration, where he headed the Internal Policy Department, and served as secretary for strategic development of the Nur Otan party.

Karin also led the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the president from 2014 to 2017 and chaired the board of the Kazakhstan Republican Television and Radio Corporation. He advised Tokayev from 2019 to 2020, became presidential assistant in July 2020, and was appointed state secretary in January 2022. He became state counselor in June that year.

On June 30, 2026, Tokayev appointed Karin first deputy head of the Presidential Administration. Karin has remained a public commentator on national issues. At a July meeting on Kazakhstan’s history, he criticized “pseudo-historians” for promoting superficial views and unsupported theories. “History is, first and foremost, a science. Therefore, historical study must rely on the work of professional specialists rather than pseudo-historians who spread various false historical myths via social media. Professional historians, as representatives of the scientific intelligentsia, can provide society with an accurate, objective understanding of our history, thereby increasing overall historical literacy,” he said.

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History is, first and foremost, a science. Therefore, historical study must rely on the work of professional specialists rather than pseudo-historians who spread various false historical myths via social media. Professional historians, as representatives of the scientific intelligentsia, can provide society with an accurate, objective understanding of our history, thereby increasing overall historical literacy.