The ol’ rumor mill…

Happy Independence Day, Kazakhstan!

Of course, with the time difference, that means it’s almost over for you, while over here the party’s just getting started. Well, there’s no party over here, of course. No fireworks or salutes, no concerts in Independence Square. And, of course, I miss it a little. The possibility of catching a parade down Jeltoqsan/Zheltoksan [Kazakh renaming of Lenin/Marx Mira, thanks Adam!] Avenue in the middle of winter, the showcasing of dancing, lip-syncing children, the huge feasts…

Anyway, this post is just to document some rumors I’ve heard from friends in Kazakhstan. Apparently there’s been a lot of nationalistic turmoil in the southern metropolis of Shymkent — in recent months, several deaths have turned some Kazakhs into hate groups forming mobs against various non-Kazakh populations. These are generally the 18-25 year-old unemployed Kazakhs, not unlike the similarly violent 18-25 year-old unemployed Russians in Russia, the 18-25 year-old unemployed Uzbeks in Uzbekistan, the 18-25 year-old unemployed in Wyoming, etc. etc.

If this place sounds familiar, it’s because you remember the big AIDS Scandal that rocked Shymkent in the past years. I have my own theories on what went down, but you can read more about it here, here, and here. In short, a tragedy of ill-defined causes struck the area, and dozens of families were affected when their children were diagnosed with HIV after receiving blood transfusions.
As for riots, murders, nationalistic Kazakh fury… I’ve only been able to find one story mentioned in the news, but three of my sources in Kazakhstan agree that local news also covered the rape and murder of a Kazakh boy some months ago at the hands of a Kurdish teenager, in Mayatas, a village in South Kazakhstan Oblast. Notice the news story doesn’t mention ethnicity – but my friends explained that the violence was directly related to some underlying Kazakh/Kurdish mistrust. And so, following the murder, therein followed violence against a small Kurdish enclave at the hands of unidentified young Kazakh men, burning houses and doing general property damage, in effect blaming all Kurds for the actions of one mentally ill man.

Just this week the body of a Russian man was found murdered, complete with graffiti warning everyone that Kazakhstan means ‘land of the Kazakhs’ and that other nationalities are no longer welcome. They left a little list {Russians, Uzbeks, Koreans, Kurds, Chechens, etc.}, so that all could understand just who wasn’t considered Kazakhstani anymore. This is especially stupid in Kazakhstan, where Kazakhs are barely half of the population, and especially stupid in South Kazakhstan Oblast, where Uzbeks are growing in population. In my opinion, it seems likely that within a few decades they could easily outnumber the Kazakhs. Consider that this Oblast is already the only place in Kazakhstan where Uzbeks outnumber Russians.

I’ve been able to talk with a couple friends in and around Shymkent this week, and even though these three people don’t even know each other, they were all aware of the same news. Also, they all had heard the rumor that something big was going to happen in al-Farabi square in downtown Shymkent during Independence Day. One of my friends, a University student at South Kazakhstan State University, reported that they had been told in classes by their professors that any student caught protesting, rioting, or doing anything to draw attention in the Square on that day would be expelled. So there was enough of a threat for the University to try and control it. Don’t be surprised when I have no news link to support this. I remind you of this post’s title… but sometimes the rumor mill is all we have to go on with Central Asia.

I’ve been looking and looking for any independent reporting on Kazakhstan over the Internet that might have covered the murder of the Kazakh boy by the Kurdish man, or the Russian man’s nationalistically-inspired murder, but I don’t think it’ll come as a surprise to readers of Registan that I couldn’t find the story, other than the one link above. Needless to say, if anyone hears or sees anything, drop a link in the comments, and I’ll update the post.

I’m hoping that nothing bad has happened or will happen in Shymkent over the Holidays, especially considering that Kurban Ait [Eid e-Qurban] is next week. Eid Muborak, Bayram bilan tabriklayman, S Praznikom — Happy Holidays, and I hope there’s better news to share with you next time.

UPDATE:

This just in from Mark Strouthes; there is a story that actually relates the violence to the nationalistic tensions, real or imaginary, as they are being harnessed by the opposition in Kazakhstan. The article is in Russian.

This post was written by...

Michael Hancock-Parmer – author of 158 posts on Registan.net.

Michael earned an MA in Central Eurasian Studies in 2011 and remains a student at Indiana University pursuing a dual PhD in Russian History and Central Eurasian Studies. He served 6 months in the Peace Corps in Uzbekistan in 2005. After the events in Andijan and the subsequent closure of the program, he served 2 years in southern Kazakhstan, returning to the Midwest in 2007. His general area of interest is on post-Timur Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, centered on the Syr Darya river valley.

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