Beijing [China], August 29 (ANI): A Kazakh truck driver has gone missing after being detained by Chinese border officials on July 23, sparking renewed fears about the safety of ethnic Kazakhs in Xinjiang.
According to Freedom for Eurasia, 47-year-old Alimnur Turganbay was apprehended at the Kalzhat-Dulata crossing while transporting construction metals from China to Uzbekistan. His family in Uzynagash, near Almaty, has not heard from him since.
Speaking to Freedom for Eurasia, a family member said Turganbay was expected to return home after the end of a traditional 40-day period in which infants remain in their paternal family’s household. “I’m afraid that my father will be beaten, forced to sign some documents, and given some injections or dangerous medications,” the relative said.
The disappearance comes amid long-standing concerns about China’s “Strike Hard” campaign in Xinjiang, which escalated in 2017. Human rights experts estimate that more than a million people, mainly Uyghurs and Kazakhs, were subjected to internment in so-called “re-education camps.” Beijing has denied allegations of abuse, insisting that the facilities were vocational training centers designed to counter extremism.
Kazakhs, the second-largest Turkic minority in Xinjiang after the Uyghurs, number around 1.5 million. Many with ties to Kazakhstan were caught up in the crackdown, particularly between 2017 and 2019.
Turganbay’s detention raises concerns about his legal status. Though born in China, he became a Kazakh passport holder in 2017. He also holds a 2018 certificate proving he formally renounced Chinese citizenship, a document reissued in hard copy in 2023. His family and supporters argue that these facts should compel Kazakh authorities to intervene.
Both Kazakhstan and China have so far remained silent on his case. Freedom for Eurasia noted that similar detentions have often resulted in prolonged disappearances, leaving families in the dark for years.
For now, Turganbay’s family waits anxiously, hoping his plight does not become another unresolved tragedy. As Freedom for Eurasia emphasized, each passing day without answers deepens the uncertainty and fear. (ANI)
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