History of Kazakhstan
A week after the election, Nazarbayev became the president of an independent state when the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed documents dissolving the Soviet Union. He quickly convened a meeting of the leaders of the five Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan), raising the possibility of a Turkic confederation of former republics as a counterweight to the Slavic states of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus in whatever federation might succeed the Soviet Union. This move persuaded the three Slavic presidents to include Kazakhstan among the signatories of a recast document of dissolution. Kazakhstan's capital lent its name to the Alma-Ata Protocol, the declaration of principles of the Commonwealth of Independent States. On 16 December 1991, five days before the declaration, Kazakhstan became the last of the republics to proclaim its independence.
Azerbaijanis in Kazakhstan
Azerbaijanis in Kazakhstan () are part of the Azerbaijani diaspora. They are Kazakh citizens and permanent residents of ethnic Azerbaijani background. According to the 2009 census, there were 85,292 ethnic Azerbaijanis living in Kazakhstan; Azerbaijanis comprised 0.5% of Kazakhstan's population and were the country's tenth-largest ethnic minority. Most Azerbaijani-Kazakhs have immigrated to Kazakhstan from the Republic of Azerbaijan; a small group of Iranian Azerbaijanis trapped by the Bolshevik taking of power in 1918 were also forced into Kazakhstan in 1938.