[RFE/RL] Villagers in southwest Kyrgyzstan are demanding that a local council expel a family that they say poses a threat after at least one of its male members ran off to join Islamist militants in Syria.
Two recent efforts have failed to get the Makhmudov family forcibly removed from the village of Kazhar, in Jalal-Abad Province. But more than 150 villagers signed a new petition last week in a new campaign targeting the Makhmudovs, claiming they are a danger to others after what the local leader suggested was militant training abroad.
The council is expected to review the villagers' demand on April 23, though some officials have already signaled that a forced relocation is unlikely without a court order.
Jalal-Abad police say one of the Makhmudovs, a former madrasa student in his early 20s, left to join Islamist militants in Syria in 2015. An unconfirmed report suggested he has since died.
The young man's mother, Mavlyuda Sharipova, said his father, Khairulla Makhmudov, left for Turkey in May in an attempt to track down his son and get a job in Turkey. Much of the neighbors' animosity stems from confusion about the family's efforts to retrieve the son, she said.
A few months after the elder Makhmudov left the country, Sharipova said, she, two daughters, and two grandchildren left the village to join the elder Makhmudov but were detained by Kyrgyz police at Osh's international airport before they could board a plane for Turkey. She and other family members reportedly reached Turkey in a second attempt, but Turkish authorities deported them back to Kyrgyzstan. 
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