The ethnic conflicts in Kazakhstan refer to a series of insurgencies in Kazakhstan that date back to when the country was part of the Soviet Union, then known as the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.
The first post-war inter-ethnic clashes and conflicts occurred with the deported communities of ethnic minorities which were settled on Kazakh lands during the Second World War.
The first ethnic conflicts that occurred in the post-war years were also associated with Nikita Khrushchev's Virgin Lands campaign of the late 1950s.
Many conflicts were classified by local law enforcement agencies as criminal offenses by a large group of people, and the authorities tried to hide such events from the public.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, all small-scale conflicts were mainly against representatives of small groups such as Kurds, Chechens, Lezgins, Avars, Dargins, and Uyghurs.