Economic problems fuel departure of ethnic Kazakhs

Economic hardship continues to be a driving force behind the return of thousands of ethnic Kazakhs to their homeland from Uzbekistan each year. Gulnara Iskhakova lives in Mirzachul district in the central Uzbek province of Jizak, home to more than 42,000 people, of whom around 70 percent are ethnic Kazakhs. Although born in Uzbekistan she now wants to leave for neighbouring Kazakhstan, the country her forefathers came from in the 1960s. "I would like to live where I was born, but I have to migrate," the 22-year-old told IRIN in the town of Gagarin, Mirzachul district's administrative centre. The mother-of-two does not believe it is possible to have a decent life in Uzbekistan and hopes that she will be able to move to Kazakhstan in the very near future. "Our family applied to be part of a quota [for ethnic Kazakhs returning to Kazakhstan] in January 2004," she said. "When things are sorted, we will definitely move." Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Kazakh government enacted a special law allowing for the return of ethnic Kazakhs and their descendents from other countries, including ex-Soviet republics. The law established the legal status of "oralman" - meaning returnee. Ethnic Kazakhs awarded this status have the right to be transported to Kazakhstan free of charge, be given a house or flat, receive social assistance like other Kazakh citizens and to have access to a simplified procedure in obtaining citizenship, as well as assistance in finding employment. At the moment, Gulnara and eight members of her extended family live in one house, but hear that in Kazakhstan each family of repatriates receive their own home. "We are overcrowded here, and they need more people there [in Kazakhstan]. I am Kazakh and I believe that I should live in my historical motherland," she asserted. Such stories are not unusual in the area and other parts of Uzbekistan, home to an estimated one million Kazakhs. Bekpulat Tuichibaev, head of a department at the Mirzachul district administration, endorsed that. "Kazakhstan grants quotas to ethnic Kazakhs who are citizens of Uzbekistan. It serves as an advertising promotion, but by our estimates, the number of Kazakhs leaving Uzbekistan exceeds the amount [of the quota] threefold," he told IRIN in Gagarin. Such migration of ethnic Kazakhs to Kazakhstan had become quite common since Uzbekistan gained independence, he said, noting, however, that nobody forced them to leave the country. According to some estimates, ethnic Kazakhs living in Jizak began leaving Uzbekistan for Kazakhstan in 2002, with some 500 families having gone already. But the return of ethnic Kazakhs from Uzbekistan has lately been fuelled in large part by socioeconomic problems in the country and better economic prospects in Kazakhstan, which has enjoyed double-digit growth rates over the past few years. Local residents told IRIN that there was a lack of jobs in the area and wages were not being paid on time. "There are not enough jobs and wages are low. What are we supposed to do?" Gulnara asked. "We do not have enough jobs. Those who are employed are not paid well. The money they earn is only enough to pay gas and electricity bills," one middle-aged woman living in the Abai collective farm, some 5 km from the Kazakh border, told IRIN. Her husband works as a driver in a local transport company and has not been paid in six months. However, the local authorities hold a different opinion. There were enough jobs in the district and there were no complaints in terms of wages, with pensions and other social benefits being paid in time, Tuichibaev said, noting that the reasons for migration of ethnic Kazakhs were more for family reasons then economic. "People move to Kazakhstan not for the sake of money," he claimed. "The reason is only family ties." Kubai Tasbaev, another Abai farm resident, told IRIN that the issue of ethnic Kazakhs leaving Uzbekistan was related to the strengthening of border controls and movement between the two countries. Regarding the departure of Kazakhs, he maintained that only better off people were leaving. "The poor have nothing to do there," he told IRIN. "They sell their houses for $800 to 1500 [here]. If they leave under the quota system, they will be fine. Those who move independently, will have no state support. Most likely, they won't be employed." According to the Kazakh migration agency, only 23,000 oralman families out of 67,882 that came to Kazakhstan by August 2003 were within the quota system, while the rest of the returning families were independent with no state support. The government quota for 2003 was 5,000, increased to 10,000 in 2004 and 15,000 in 2005. Meanwhile, Egamnazar Shaimanov, chairman of the Dustlik district branch of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU), a local rights group, told IRIN that the majority of ethnic Kazakhs in his district had already moved to Kazakhstan. "After all, life is better in Kazakhstan," he said.