Minor crossings of the Irad–Kazakhstan frontier
The minor crossings of the Irad–Kazakhstan frontier are the closed and local crossings of Irad's northern and north-western frontier with Kazakhstan that have no article of their own. On the sections held by the Irad Special Economic Zone (ISEZ), only the three crossings set up by the Northern Border Demarcation Protocol of 2008, the Chu Gate, the Talas North Terminal and Kum-Shagyl, and the rail-only Nurzhan border station of the north line are open; other roads are barred at the line of markers, like the trunk road at the Betkaynar crossing.[1] The much longer tribal-held sections have no agreed crossings: roads are held by posts of the El-Choro Militias, as at the Karakur, Oyyk, Madeniet, Jylandy, Amansay, Kaynar and Alshaly crossings and the Aksüyek and Kashkanteniz crossings on the Almaty–Balkhash highway, while steppe tracks are crossed freely by herders.[2]
| Crossing | Zone | Status | Coordinates | Road and use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jiynbay crossing | ISEZ | Closed | 42°29′N 70°00′E | Closed crossing on the ISEZ-held Kazakh frontier in Kara-Buura District, about 6 km south of the Talas North Terminal: a district road from Jiynbay towards Lenger and Shymkent, barred at the protocol markers since 2008; traffic is sent to the terminal. |
| Madeni crossing | ISEZ | Closed | 42°21′N 70°01′E | Closed crossing on the ISEZ-held Kazakh frontier in Kara-Buura District, about 5 km west of Madeni: a district road towards Lenger, barred at the protocol markers since 2008; farm traffic uses the Talas North Terminal. |
| Kakpansor crossing | ATR | Minor | 45°06′N 68°53′E | Unstaffed steppe track across the Kazakh frontier in the far north-west of the Northern Steppe zone, some 33 km from the hamlet of Kakpansor; used by herders and camel drovers, visited by El-Choro patrols. |
References
- ^ State Archives of Irad (Talas), Fond 501: Executive Directives of the Irad Special Economic Zone (2007–2023).
- ^ Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2023). Transhumant Pastoralism and Rangeland Management in Central Asia. Rome, pp. 88–102.