Nurtai Abykayev (Kazakh: Нұртай Әбіқайұлы Әбіқаев, romanized: Nūrtai Äbıqaiūly Äbıqaev; born 15 May 1947) is a Kazakh politician who was the chairman of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan from August 2010 to December 2015 and from September 1998 to August 1999.

[4][5] He is a long-time friend and assistant to President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and is viewed as the leader of one of the political "clans" that make up Kazakhstan's elite.

This was followed by two years in the Soviet Red Army, after which Abykayev worked as an engineer in a heavy-machinery factory in Almaty (then Alma-Ata) until 1976.

[8][9] On 9 August 1999, Abykayev was dismissed from his post as chairman of the National Security Committee for his role in a scandal over the sale of old MiG fighter planes to North Korea by the Kazakhstan Ministry of Defense.

[13] In a large political shake-up in January 2007, Abykayev was replaced by Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, later being appointed as the Kazakhstan Ambassador to Russia.