(Jewish Group) Kazakhstan's Jews are sitting out their country's bloody unrest

[Behind the Aegis]

Kazakhstan’s Jews, who ‘steer clear’ of politics, are sitting out their country’s bloody unrest

The Jewish community of Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan, has shut down its activities as most of its members hunker down in their homes amid a wave of bloody protests.

Dozens of protesters and 18 police officers have been killed in the violence, which began Sunday and prompted a Russia-led coalition of states to deploy troops to the central Asian nation.

The protests began over an increase in the price of fuel but have become more broadly directed against the autocratic rule of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Rioters have torched the facade of the presidential palace and looted stores throughout Almaty, where most of Kazakhstan’s Jews live.

Yeshaya Cohen, the chief rabbi of Kazakhstan who is affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, said that the country’s Jews are sitting out the conflict, both physically and politically, by staying indoors “until the forces maintaining order stabilize the situation,” he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Friday.

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Kazakhstan, a predominantly Muslim nation of 19 million people and a land area roughly four times the size of Texas, harbors significant mineral resources, including about 3% of the world’s known oil reserves and major deposits of coal and natural gas. It is home to a few thousand Jews, according to the World Jewish Congress. In 2019, Tokayev replaced Nursultan Nazarbayev, the first president of Kazakhstan after its independence from the former Soviet Union. Nazarbayev resigned in 2019 amid protests against his three-decade-long dictatorial rule, but hand-picked Tokayev as his successor. Tokayev promised to “maintain continuity” yet nonetheless called for “systemic reforms.”

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