March of the Thousand Saddles

The March of the Thousand Saddles (Iradi: Ming Eer Jürüshü) was the mounted entry of several thousand clan horsemen into Talas on 18 February 1992, the best-known episode of the Winter Uprising of 1992. The riders, from the clans of the Talas Alatau and the Chatkal valleys, formed a cordon around Government House and Central Square, and after it the last officials of the Socialist Republic of Irad (SRI) left the city for Kobozev (now Nurzhan). The march opened the way for the proclamation of the Republic of Irad on 11 March.^[1][2]

Background

The uprising began in December 1991 with protests in Talas against the emergency decrees of First Secretary Vasily Chernov and the bread shortage. In the mountain districts herders resisted the SRI's procurement detachments, which had been sent to requisition grain and horse herds, and several people were killed in clashes in the villages.^[3] On 3 February 1992 OMON detachments fired on demonstrators on Central Square in Talas; a commission of the Territorial Legislature later documented 27 deaths. Over the next three days armed workers, defecting police and clan horsemen seized the city's arsenals and the regional party headquarters, and a coordinating council chaired by Amanbek Alimbekov took over the administration of the city.^[4]

The march

On 18 February riders from the Talas Alatau clans and from the Chatkal valley, where Kuban Mamytov led the Chatkal men, rode into the city. Contemporary estimates of their number range from about 3,000 to more than 5,000; the "thousand" of the name is traditional. They formed a cordon around Government House and Central Square, where students and priests of the Syro-Iradi Catholic Church had kept up their occupation, and the interior troops still in the Talas garrison negotiated their withdrawal to the north. The remaining SRI officials withdrew to Kobozev.^[1][5] Most of the steppe clans of the north stayed out of the events of that winter.

Aftermath

By late February the SRI had lost control of Talas and most of the Talas valley. In early March reform leaders including Alimbekov met unofficially in Talas, and on 11 March the Talas Town Hall Meeting proclaimed the Republic of Irad and elected Alimbekov Provisional President. The Kobozev government sent troops south in late March, beginning the First Iradi Civil War. Many of the riders of February fought in the siege of Talas from April under Mamytov and Bektur Zhumabek uulu.^[2][5]

Legacy

Both Iradi administrations claim the uprising, but they remember it differently: official ISEZ accounts stress the urban reformers and students, while clan leaders stress the horsemen of the march. When the Popular Front of Irad entered Talas on horseback in June 2007 (Storming of Talas (2007)), the press widely compared it with the march.^[5] Historians generally see the march as the point at which the clans of the mountains committed themselves to the national movement of the cities, while noting that the city had already passed out of SRI control after the arsenals were seized.^[6]

See also

• Winter Uprising of 1992
• Provisional Government of Irad (1992)
• Iradi Equestrian Culture & Breeds

References

1. ^ State Archives of Irad (Talas), Fond 108: Revolution of 1992 and Provisional Government Minutes.
2. ^ Alimbekov, Amanbek (1998). From Soviet Republic to Territorial Sovereignty. 2 vols. Talas: Talas State University Press.
3. ^ Zhumabaeva, Cholpon (2016). Horses and Herders: The Pastoral Economy of the Talas Alatau, 1930–2010. Talas: Talas State University Press.
4. ^ Territorial Legislature of Irad, Commission on the Events of 1991–1992 (2002). Report on the Shootings of 3 February 1992. Talas.
5. ^ Abdyldaev, Nurlan (2015). Two Wars for Talas: Armed Forces and Politics in Irad, 1992–2007. Talas: Talas State University Press, pp. 23–71.
6. ^ Eurasian Political Quarterly (2017). 'Bread, Decrees and Saddles: The Economics of the Iradi Winter Uprising.' Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 33–58.