On the topic of what is happening with Kazakhstan. According to some of the locals that Vlast managed to speak with, if something bad happens to the Kazakhs, then the local authorities ask them to keep it quiet.Tolegen Kudashbaev’s sons live in Karakemer – Kudashbaev being the elderly man that was injured in the initial conflict and became the spark that set off the tragic events. Photo: Dulat Esnazar / Vlast.kzAukatty village in the Korday district, Kazakhstan on the evening of February 8. Kazakhstan has avoided major ethnic clashes of the type that rocked Kyrgyzstan in 2010, although occasional incidents (like a Kazakh-Chechen conflict outside Almaty in 2007, also sparked by a petty incident) reveal simmering tensions.
Photo: Dulat Esnazar / Vlast.kzNurlan Kudashbaev speaks to Vlast journalists at his home in the village of Karakemer, south-eastern Kazakhstan on the morning of February 9. Colonel Cassad. His brother is in the hospital.Later in the night after the melee, a group of people threw stones at Jumadulloev and his brother's houses, breaking windows and damaging vehicles.Jumadulloev's mother, Jamila Jumadulloeva, said she had to hide her 18 grandchildren in her house when the men attacked their homes with stones overnight on July 20-21.Jumadulloeva also repeated what others in Qosmezgil say: "We don't call it an ethnic fight. Photo: Dulat Esnaza / Vlast.kzMasanchi village in the Korday District in Kazakhstan on the morning of February 9. When he came to life, he saw police officers with the pogrom participants. But no one in the area is willing to discuss those grievances.Officials in Nur-Sultan flatly reject the existence of any ethnic issue in Shornaq. Russians of Kazakhstan together with other ethnic groups of the region suffered heavily during the Russian Civil War and Collectivisation in the USSR and endured repeated famines and unrest. The Dungans, a Muslim-majority ethnic group descended from Han Chinese, and the Kazakhs have lived in the area, more or less peacefully, for decades. Two days later, pogroms started in Sortobe and Masanchi – it was felt most harshly in Masanchi. They ask for ID and check everyone’s trunks, leaving and coming. Then, over the next three days, he was from time to time taken in for questioning.He recalls that he, his brother, and their father were beaten by 10 people. It was an insignificant, ordinary dispute. Kazakhstan’s new military doctrine is explicit about the risks to its borders and also the potential for an outside party to manipulate ethnic populations inside Kazakhstan. Violent conflict, according to him, had occurred before, but burned houses, cars, shootings – that’s all a first.According to the Dungans, the troubles started on February 5.He emphasized that neither he nor other Dungans support those who had injured the elderly Kazakh. They complain about corruption, about police bias against them. The central Asian country of Kazakhstan is often known for the diversity of its populace, from Kazakhs to ethnic Russians, Tatars, and others. "It was a fight between students at the local school," she said. "Despite the government and the families rejecting an "ethnic" factor behind the latest conflict, some villagers privately say arguments and scuffles between the Kazakh and Uzbek communities have long existed.Torekhan Abdirazakov, the imam at a local mosque, says brawls between Uzbek and Kazakh youth have become more frequent in recent months. At least three people were killed in that violence.Kazakh authorities say there have taken urgent measures to prevent the scuffle in Qosmezgil from flaring up or growing in scale.On July 23, police patrolling the village stopped a group of some 40 young people from nearby areas who tried to enter Qosmezgil to take sides in the tension.Both the villagers and officials said the men were incited by the video of the clash and the comments posted on social media about it.A special task force has been set up to investigate the conflict. But on February 8, conflict sparked between Kazakhs and another ethnic group, living on the border with Kyrgyzstan. ""But there was some stupid person among us who posted a video of the fight, which shocked the whole country," she told RFE/RL.The video shows a policeman with his face covered in blood and with stains on his blue uniform. But then he was hit on the head and knocked unconscious. Jumadulloev, whose arm was broken in the fight, is under investigation. Photo: Dulat Esnazar / Vlast.kz