Maymak
Maymak
Маймак | |
|---|---|
Maymak | |
| Coordinates: 42°40′50″N 71°12′50″E / 42.68056°N 71.21389°E | |
| Country | Kyrgyzstan |
| Region | Talas |
| District | Aitmatov |
| Maymak | 1914 |
| Population (2021) | |
• Total | 827 |
| Time zone | UTC+6 |
Maymak (Kyrgyz: Маймак) is a village in the Aitmatov District, Talas Region, Kyrgyzstan. [1] It is located on the banks of the Asa River, about 45 km (28 mi) northwest of the district administrative center, Kyzyl-Adyr. The settlement was founded in 1914, and a railway station was constructed there in 1920 to serve a section of the Turkestan–Siberia Railway (Turksib).[2] The population of Maymak was 827 in 2021.[3] From 1950 to 2012, it held the status of an urban-type settlement.[4]
Population
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 429 | — |
| 1979 | 423 | −0.16% |
| 1989 | 933 | +8.23% |
| 1999 | 882 | −0.56% |
| 2009 | 887 | +0.06% |
| 2021 | 827 | −0.58% |
| Note: resident population; Sources:[5][3] | ||
In memoirs
The Maymak railway station is mentioned in the childhood recollections of the writer Chingiz Aitmatov. In 1937, during the period of Great Purge, his father, Torekul Aitmatov, a Kyrgyz statesman, foresaw his imminent arrest after an accusatory article about him appeared in the newspaper Pravda. To save his family, he sent his wife Nagima Aitmatova and their four children from Moscow back to their native village of Sheker.
During the journey, the train briefly stopped at Maymak station late at night. The carriage halted far from the station, and Nagima, guided only by a lantern’s faint light, hurried to take her children off the train. The attendant helped them settle in the waiting hall before the train moved on.
This episode, symbolizing the family’s separation and the beginning of exile, remained deeply imprinted in Aitmatov’s memory and was later described in his autobiographical work Childhood.
According to the recollections of Rozetta Aitmatova, the writer’s sister, when the villagers decided to celebrate Chingiz Aitmatov’s 60th anniversary in 1988, representatives of the Kara-Buura District (now Aitmatov District) arrived to plan the festivities. They first proposed visiting the local school in Amanbaev (previously Groznoe), but Aitmatov insisted:
"No, first we will visit the Maymak station."
The organizers did not understand at first, but followed his wish. They went to Maymak before anything else — to remember that night. [6]
References
- ^ "Classification system of territorial units of the Kyrgyz Republic" (in Kyrgyz). National Statistics Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic. May 2021. pp. 63–64.
- ^ "Маймак" [Maymak] (PDF). Кыргызстандын Географиясы [Geography of Kyrgyzstan] (in Kyrgyz). Bishkek. 2004. p. 556.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b "Population of regions, districts, towns, urban-type settlements, rural communities and villages of Kyrgyz Republic" (XLS) (in Russian). National Statistics Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic. 2021. Archived from the original on 10 November 2021.
- ^ Law 27 September 2012 No. 168 on the transformation of individual urban settlements of the Kyrgyz Republic and relating them to the category of village or city
- ^ "2009 population and housing census of the Kyrgyz Republic: Talas Region" (PDF) (in Russian). National Statistics Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic. 2010. p. 147.
- ^ "Travels through Aitmatov's places": Stories from the life of the writer by Roza Aitmatova". Radio Azattyk. 24 July 2024. Retrieved 26 October 2025.