By Marat Yermukanov (4/5/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)

This year’s Novruz festivities in Kazakhstan was overshadowed by a surge of large-scale violence between Kazakh and Chechen residents of two villages in the Enbekshiqazaq district of Almaty region. While officials go out of their way to dismiss the incident as an ordinary brawl, Chechen families are indignant over the reluctance by the police and local authorities to handle the conflict fairly.

Official accounts of the incident maintain that the fight between Kazakhs and Chechens was triggered by a quarrel between a local ethnic Chechen resident Mamakhanov and ethnic Kazakh Salimbayev on March 18.

By Nurshat Ababakirov (4/5/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)

On March 30, Almazbek Atambaev, one of the leaders of the opposition, assumed the premiership, which indicated President Kurmanbek Bakiev’s willingness to make concessions: to build a coalitional government and review the much-criticized December 2006 constitution. However, the United Front and the coalition For Reforms refused to take up positions in the government, viewing it as a maneuver by the President and stressing its limited power to usher in constitutional reforms.

As President Bakiev’s March 23 address on the second anniversary of the “Tulip Revolution” proved to be increasingly disappointing, it reinforced the belief by the radical opposition that further talks were hopeless.

By Azer Kerimov (3/21/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Foremost, it should be noted that the incident took place right after the speech of Prime Minister Artur Rasizadeh. The latter came to the Parliament with the whole Cabinet of Ministers to deliver the government’s annual report to the Parliament. Some opposition papers predicted a day before that tensions will break out in the Parliament after Rasizadeh’s speech.