Samozakhvat (Kyrgyzstan)

Samozakhvat, literally ‘self-seizure’ (sam – self and zakhvat – seizure), is a Russian term, designating the practice of unauthorized land grabbing in Kyrgyzstan. Although samozakhvat can also refer to the seizure of buildings (often government administrative buildings – see also squatting and Schwarzwohnen), in Kyrgyzstan it is predominantly linked to land (zemlia) and land squatting (zakhvat zemel’). People who practice samozakhvat are known as zakhvatchiki (literally ‘grabbers’) and their settlements are referred to as zhany konush in Kyrgyz, or novostroika (‘new-build’) in Russian. Three waves of squatting can be distinguished.