KZBlog

According to Turkish news sources, a group of 30 masked men in Almaty attacked 40 Turkish workers Thursday night. The workers were employees of the Turkish company B.N.N. Pegasus (which I assume is a construction company since it has a “camp”, but honestly I can’t find anything about this company written in English) and staying at the company camp. The attackers were allegedly armed with knives and guns, but only 4 men were injured. One assailant was captured and taken into custody by police.

The executive director of the board of B.N.N. Pegasus apparently thinks the group were terrorists, but it is not the first time there has been violence between Turkish workers and citizens of Kazakhstan. In October of 2006, there was a major brawl in Atyrau between Turkish and Kazakh workers. There have been any number of similar clashes and commentary on Internet bulletin boards and news sites seems to indicate tension between natives of Kazakhstan and Turkish workers working in this country. Some Kazakhstany have complained that Turks take jobs that could have gone to Kazakhs, receive preferential treatment from Turkish supervisors, and treat Kazakhs as second-class citizens. On the other hand, some Turks seem to feel that Kazakhs are not grateful that many Turkish companies work in Kazakhstan and boost the economy.

As construction is almost frozen in the country due to lack of credit and striking workers, any social tension might well be multiplied. In any case, it is a horrible tragedy that workers were attacked and hopefully it was an isolated incident.