Riots in Qordai region 2020
The unrest in the region Korday were ethnic unrest between ethnic groups of Dungan and Kazakhs in the area Zhambyl in Kazakhstan . They occurred on February 7, 2020 and were mostly concentrated in the Qordai district . As a result of the unrest, several thousand people briefly fled to neighboring Kyrgyzstan , and eleven people were killed.
background
In the area of Zhambyl in southern Kazakhstan has about 60,000 Dungan , the district Korday on the border with Kyrgyzstan are almost a third of the population Dungan. These are a Muslim - Chinese minority, who today mainly live in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan and who immigrated to Central Asia as a result of the Dungan uprisings in the 19th century .
course
On February 5, there was a dispute between the occupants of two vehicles in the village of Sortöbe . There was a fight between three young men of Dungan origin and an older man and his two sons, ethnic Kazakhs. As a result, he and his sons were injured and had to go to hospital for medical treatment.
On February 7th, police stopped a vehicle in Sortöbe. They asked the driver to follow them to the police station because he could not show a valid driver's license and vehicle documents. However, the driver refused to follow the instructions and instead ran into a house where the driver's two brothers were. The three brothers then ran out of the house and started attacking the police. A video of the incident, showing the police officers being beaten, was later posted online. This video was shared on social media by eyewitnesses and was displayed in connection with the February 5 incident. On the same evening there was a mass brawl in the village of Massanchi , initially with 70 people, when the events spread on social networks, the number rose to 300 people. Many of the people came from surrounding villages after numerous calls for violence were published online. A mob of young men, some armed with iron bars, stones and firearms, then marched through the village and set buildings and vehicles on fire. In addition to Massanchi, there were further clashes in the neighboring villages of Auqatty, Bular batyr and Sortöbe.
consequences
The death toll was initially given as eight, but increased to a total of ten by February 10. On February 13, the Kazakh Interior Minister Jerlan Turghymbayev put the number of deaths at eleven. Nine people died immediately during the riots and two others died in hospitals. More than 140 people were injured and sought medical help, and another two dozen people were treated in medical facilities in Bishkek and in the Chüi area of Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyz authorities later said that 34 people were being treated in hospitals.
The authorities declared a state of emergency in Qordai district and deployed riot police. The authorities opened investigations, including murder. A total of 39 residential buildings, 20 commercial units and 47 vehicles were destroyed. The total damage was given as around 1.7 billion tenge . During a visit by Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister Berdibek Saparbayev on February 9th, he promised to rebuild all the buildings. The government also created a special commission to investigate the incidents.
After the Kazakh authorities initially denied that people had fled across the border into Kyrgyzstan, the number of refugees was given on February 9 as around 12,000. Most of them belonged to the Dungan ethnic group. The next day, this number was revised up to around 24,000 people, which corresponds to almost half of all Dungans living in the region. The Kyrgyz border guards said most of the people who fled were women, children and the elderly. Several hundred people also sought protection at the Kazakh border guards in Qarassu and Sortöbe. On February 8, Kyrgyz Dungans handed food and medicines to Dungans in Kazakhstan at the border.
A number of high-ranking officials and politicians in the region were sacked on February 10. These included the Akim of the Shambyl region, Asqar Myrsachmetov , his deputy, the Akim of the Qordai region and the chiefs of police in the Shambyl region and the Qordai region. Berdibek Saparbayev then took over the post of Äkim in the Shambyl region. On February 12, the Shambyl region prosecutor and the head of the regional office of the KNB were also released.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kazakh Police Arrest Ethnic Dungan Brothers Blamed For Sparking Deadly Clashes. rferl.org, accessed on March 25, 2020.
- ↑ Deadly confrontation in Masantschi: Politicians call for cohesion. Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, accessed on March 25, 2020.
- ↑ Death Toll Rises To 10 From Ethnically Fueled Kazakh Clashes. rferl.org, accessed on March 25, 2020.
- ↑ Conflict in Masanchi: About 24,000 people from Kazakhstan enter Kyrgyzstan. 24.kg, accessed on March 25, 2020 (English).
- ↑ Regional Prosecutor, Security Chief In Kazakh South Replaced After Deadly Ethnic Clashes rferl.org, accessed on March 25, 2020 (English).