Borat invited to visit Kazakhstan

ALARMED by the antics of a fictional TV reporter who portrays their country as a nation of horse urine-drinking misogynists, Kazakh authorities have invited the comedian who plays the character to come and see the truth for himself.

Rakhat Aliyev, Kazakh first deputy foreign minister and a powerful son-in-law of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, asked comedian Sacha Baron Cohen to visit the vast, oil-rich steppe nation and meet normal human beings rather than the larger-than-life lunatics shown by Mr Cohen’s TV reporter Borat.

“His trip could yield a lot of discoveries — that women not only travel inside buses but also drive their own cars, that we make wine from grapes, that Jews can freely attend synagogues and so on,” Mr Aliyev told a local news agency.

The Central Asian state’s Foreign Ministry threatened Mr Cohen with legal action last year after he hosted an international music show as Borat, who arrived in an Air Kazakh propeller plane controlled by a one-eyed pilot clutching a vodka bottle.

His coarse jokes included portraying the world’s ninth largest nation as a land where cow-punching is a sport and locals would first shoot a dog and then have a party. Borat has also claimed that the favoured mode of transport in Kazakhstan is a wooden cart pulled by peasant women, that wine is made of horse urine, and that there is a popular folk song titled Throw The Jew Down The Well.

Mr Cohen stars in his new movie “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”.

The Kazakh authorities shut down Mr Cohen’s www.borat.kz site, prompting a move to a new homepage, www.borat.tv.

But Mr Aliyev has made a pacifying gesture.

“I understand that the feelings of many people are hurt by Cohen’s show,” he said. “But we must have a sense of humour and respect the creative freedom of others. It’s useless to offend an artist and threaten to sue him. It will only further damage the country’s reputation and make Borat even more popular.”

Wise words the world according to Borat

* “Kazakhstan nice place and now as civilised as any other — especial since the Tulyakev reforms of 2003, which mean women can now travel on inside of bus, homosexuals no longer have to wear blue hats and age of consent have been raised to 11 year old.”

* “In Kazakhstan, only women allowed in our congress is prostitutes. We say that to give a womens power is like to give monkeys guns. Very dangerous.”

* On visiting America: “I was very surprise to learn it is now illegal to shoot Red Indians. I would like apologise to staff of Potawatomi Casino, Kansas. Sorry.”

* Advice for visitors to Kazakhstan: “I recommend very much you stay at family resort, Astana Funworld, where there is luxury cages for the wifes, unlimited buffet of Turkmenistan prostitutes for the husbands and an enclosure where childrens can shoot squirrel, dog and gypsy.”