Mass disorder in the Maevka village near Bishkek led to lootings and the death of several people. Attempts by unknown land squatters to illegally seize land that belonged to the ethnic Turks of Maevka resulted in tensions between the titular nation and members of the ethnic minority. A number of attacks on the property and rights of the minority are seen as increasing the risk of violent inter-ethnic conflict, especially in light of the weak Kyrgyz government. However, some claim this possibility is exaggerated and, in some cases, artificially stirred up.

On April 19, a crowd of ethnic Kyrgyz illegally seized nearly 700 hectares of land near Maevka village that belonged mostly to Meskhetian Turks. Squatters demanded that the Interim Government re-distribute the farm plots among ethnic Kyrgyz and justified their actions by saying that Kyrgyz land should belong to the Kyrgyz people. Attempts by the land owners, mostly ethnic Turks residing in Maevka, to stop the seizure angered the crowd, eventually led to lootings and attacks on members of the minority and their property.  Five people were killed and over 40 injured as a result of the violent night. Dozens of houses were destroyed, and several burned to the ground.

As police intervened, 120 people were detained during the night; however, most of them were released the next day. According to the Bishkek City Police Department, criminal cases were brought against only six detainees on charges of organizing mass disorder.

In light of the government’s half-hearted measures, Bishkek residents have re-mobilized into volunteer citizen groups to protect the city and its suburbs, including Maevka, from lootings and attacks. As Bishkek City Council member Marat Sakiev stated, they have managed to gather approximately 5,000 volunteers. Small groups of 20 to 30 volunteers are patrolling the city and its outskirts along with police.

The Interim Government has denied the existence of inter-ethnic tension, saying that the mass disorder was caused by attempts at land seizure. According to the head of the Interim Government, Roza Otunbaeva, there were cases of lootings and disorders; however, they were not directed against the Turkish minority, or any ethnic group. “I was visiting suburbs of the Bishkek and did not see any signs of inter-ethnic tension,” she concluded.

Furthermore, the President of the Turkish Diaspora in Kyrgyzstan, Murafidin Sakhimov, said the allegations that the disorders were inter-ethnic clashes are not true. “I would ask people not to interpret the events in Maevka as a conflict based on ethnicity. On that day Turks, Russians, Kyrgyz and other ethnic groups were standing together to protect their village”, Sakhimov said.

The Mekshetian Turks were deported from Georgia to Central Asia in 1944. According to estimates, around 20,000 ethnic Turks live in Kyrgyzstan, most of them residing in the northern part of the country.

Despite the common assumption that the land seizure and subsequent mass disorder were disorganized and spontaneous, some believe it was planned. Turatbek Madylbekov, head of the Bishkek City Police Department, said that the illegal land seizures were organized by the so-called “land mafia,” which seeks to gain profits from reselling land: “We think there is an organized land mafia that specializes in land fraud behind these squatters”.

It is noteworthy that both prior to and after the Maevka events, outbreaks of inter-ethnic tension were reported in some parts of the country. One incident in Jalalabad oblast in southern Kyrgyzstan raised serious concerns. On April 14, ethnic Uzbeks, Kyrgyzstan’s largest ethnic minority, staged a rally of nearly 5,000 people demanding protection of their rights. The rally was precipitated by tensions between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks at a huge public gathering called to support the Interim Government. Uzbek community leaders were not allowed to speak at the gathering. “We are discriminated against. We want our rights to be protected”, said one of the leaders of the Uzbek community, Kadyrjan Batyrov, in his interview with one of the local newspapers.

Another incident that followed the Maevka events took place in Alexandrovka village near Bishkek. On April 22, a group of unidentified squatters tried to seize the land of another ethnic minority, Dungans (Han-speaking Muslims). This time, police along with local residents took timely measures, thus making the crowd’s attempts unsuccessful. With the growing number of cases of illegal land seizure around the capital city, the head of the Interim Government Otunbaeva has issued a decree allowing law enforcement bodies to use weapons in case of attacks on private property.

Meanwhile, in light of the above-mentioned inter-ethnic tensions, some Russian and local media outlets have started warning viewers about growing anti-Russian sentiment in the country. The Russian Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Valentin Vlasov, expressed his concerns regarding the rapidly-growing number of ethnic Russians wishing to leave the country as a result.

However, according to some local political experts, Russia is artificially raising this issue to strengthen its position in the country by pushing the Kyrgyz government to allow an increased Russian military presence. “Indeed, there is no anti-Russian sentiment and this whole ‘artificial flurry’ around the ostensibly anti-Russian mood in the country is just information warfare”, political expert Mars Sariev stated.