ATA BEYIT MEMORIAL COMPLEX

The Ata Beyit Memorial Complex is located 30 km from Bishkek in the village of Chong-Tash. The complex was built on the burial site of the bodies of 137 people of 19 nationalities who were executed without any trial during the Stalinist repression. Their bodies were thrown into the brick kiln. There were eminent statesmen and public figures among these people who had laid the foundation of Kyrgyz statehood back in the 1920’s and 1930’s, such as Zhusup Abdrakhmanov, Bayaly Isakeev, Törökul Aitmatov (Chyngyz Aitmatov's father), Hassan Zheenbaev, Erkinbek Esenamanov, Murad Salikhov, Sultankul Shamurzin, Imanaaly Aidarbekov and Kasym Tynystanov. Interestingly, the location was kept secret, and only in the early 1990's, based on Bübüra Kydyralieva’s story, did the public learn about the place. Extensive work has been done to identify each of the bodies and the remains of the victims had been properly buried on August 30, 1991.