Central Asia VII: Russia, Friend and Foe

After our nonstop driving of the last few days, October 14, 2021, was a relaxed day.  We had one last luxurious buffet breakfast at the Hyatt Regency in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgzstan, visited the Alta Beyit Memorial Gardens, and then ate a picnic lunch in the Ala Archa National Park, an hour's drive from Bishkek.  Fahrod’s wife had made delicious chicken sandwiches, and Fahrod added bananas and Mars bars.  It was idyllic to sit at the picnic table and talk in this beautiful spot.  Dave and Mike gave  tips to Fahrod and Eltenbeck, our driver, and in return, Fahrod gave me a yellow silk scarf made with natural dyes.  He gave Mike and Dave white felt slippers with the paw print of a snow leopard on the heel. 
 

Each hotel or guest house we stayed in during our trip was delightful and distinctive, but the Hyatt Regency in Bishtek was the most "American."  

Still, in the lobbies and bedrooms, the decorators added Kyrgyz details.  The beautiful rug on the floor has the same Krgyz design as on the felt rugs displayed in museums and sold in shops.

The design on the carpet of our bedroom was Kyrgyz.

The food in both Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan was uniformly delicious, but the breakfasts were particularly lavish.  And the breakfast buffets at the Hyatt Regency in Bishkek and the Lotte Hotel in Tashkent were the most lavish of the trip.  We adored them.

We strolled through the city during the morning of this, our last day in Kyrgyzstan.  There were statues of horses surrounding the city fountains.  The Kyrgyz love horses, perhaps because the Kyrgyz are descendants of conquerors of the steppes, who raced across the continent on horses.  Horses are a frequent image in sculptures and paintings in Kyrgyzstan.

Fahrod took us to the Alta Beyit Memorial Complex honoring the victims of the 1937-38 Stalinist repressions, the 1916 massacres, and the mass revolt of April 2010 in Bishkek.  The memorial was built close to the spot where 137 bodies were discovered in a mass grave—mostly intellectuals.  They were Krgyz nationalists whom Stalin murdered in 1938-1939.  An estimated 10,000 people were killed in Kyrgystan during the 1930’s, including the founders of the original Kyrgyz Soviet State.  The memorial was inspiring and used important Kyrgiz symbols.  

The memorial was an elongated yurt with the tundik, or cover for the top of the yurt, at the top.  The tundik symbolizes unity and peace.  It is also the symbol on the Kyrgyz flag.  

Hanging from the top of the monument were long, thin metal chains holding metal stirrups.  When it is windy, they clang like bells.

During 1916 the Russians tried to conscript Muslims into the army to fight during WWI on the Eastern Front.  Many Muslims revolted and formed an exodus across the high mountains to China.  Between 100,000 and 270,000 Krgyz and Kazaks died from bullets or starvation during that time.

Huge murals show the countrymen's flight to China.

The symbol of the tundik can be seen clearly in this photo.  

During 1938-39, Krgyz nationalist leaders were murdered in one of Stalin's purges.  They simply disappeared and the ground was not found until 1991, after independence.  A caretaker who had been sworn to secrecy by the KGP (Soviet Secret Service) revealed the location mass graves.  The victims now have headstones honoring them in the Alta Beyit Memorial Gardens.

Askar Akayev, the first president of independent Kyrgystan, built the memorial.  Kyrgystan has a complicated relationship with Russia.  Russia modernized the country, but also repressed it and killed its leaders.  Many Kyrgz now work in Moscow and other big Russian cities, and send remittances home.  Kyrgz still use the Russian alphabet and Russian is taught in the schools.  However, the very popular Alta Beyit Memorial also reflects strong nationalist sentiment and outrage at Russian/Soviet brutality.

We finished the day with a hike and picnic lunch in Ala Archa National Park, an hour from Bishkek.  Snow leopards are found in the Kyrgyzstan mountains, and are a beloved icon.  Monuments to snow leopards marked the entrance to the park.   

The surrounding mountains, covered with snow, were spectacular.  We walked less than a mile to our picnic spot, past patches of snow and scampering squirrels.

After lunch, Fahrod took us through customs at the airport and waited until we had cleared the last security check, as we waited for our flight to Tashkent..  “I’m not done until you’re safely gone,” he said.