Ethnic conflicts in Kazakhstan

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The ethnic conflicts in Kazakhstan refer to a series of insurgencies in Kazakhstan that date back to when the country was part of the Soviet Union, then known as the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. These conflicts have largely been ethnic-based, although in recent years they have decreased in numbers. Some of these conflicts have called for the independence, or the increased autonomy of the group in the country.

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General prerequisites for conflicts

The first post-war inter-ethnic clashes and conflicts occurred with the deported communities of ethnic minorities which were settled on Kazakh lands during the Second World War. The first ethnic conflicts that occurred in the post-war years were also associated with Nikita Khrushchev's Virgin Lands campaign of the late 1950s. During this period, about six million Russians and Ukrainians from the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR moved into the Kazakh SSR to work in the vast agricultural collective farmlands. This created a significant demographic imbalance of the population. Many conflicts were classified by local law enforcement agencies as criminal offenses by a large group of people, and the authorities tried to hide such events from the public. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, all small-scale conflicts were mainly against representatives of small groups such as Kurds, Chechens, Lezgins, Avars, Dargins, and Uyghurs. Most of these conflicts took place between Kazakhs and representatives of the Caucasian peoples, as well as the Uyghurs. The absence of serious mass interethnic conflicts of Kazakhs with larger ethnic groups have often been attributed to the multinational nature of the country, as well as a large percentage of Kazakhs who speak a second language besides their native Kazakh language. [1] [2] [3] [4]

List of ethnic conflicts in Kazakhstan

See also

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