Sabyrbek Duishön uulu
Sabyrbek Duishön uulu (born 1966) is the biy (clan leader) of the Boztorgoy, the leading clan of the northern steppe in the Autonomous Tribal Regions (ATR), a post he has held since 2012. He is the younger brother of the 1992 war hero Kudaibergen Duishön uulu, and he is widely named as the steppe clans' candidate to succeed Bektur Zhumabek uulu as spokesman of the Iradi Freedom Society (IAC).[1]
Early life and war service
Sabyrbek grew up in a herding family of the Boztorgoy, whose winter pastures lie in the Moiynkum Desert. In 1992, at the age of 26, he rode with his brother's riders of the Chu clans, who fought for the Provisional Government and screened the flanks of the advance on Kobozev during Operation Starlight. Kudaibergen was killed at the Kobozev railhead on 28 July 1992.[2] In the Second Iradi Civil War of 2007 Sabyrbek commanded steppe detachments of the Popular Front of Irad.[1]
Biy of the Boztorgoy
The Boztorgoy ("grey lark") graze along the northern sector of the Qara-Chik Demarcation Line facing Nurzhan. They keep more cattle than any other clan, which mountain elders mock by calling them the "cattle clan", and sell feeder cattle and lambs to the feedlots and feed mills of the Chu plain, which makes them the clan most dependent on trade across the line. Their autumn stock routes across Karakoyun and Tanıp land are a recurring source of pasture disputes (see Clans of the Autonomous Tribal Regions).[1]
Sabyrbek speaks for the six steppe clans at the Kurultai, in part because few steppe leaders take much interest in IAC politics. He has said in public that the Boztorgoy support the IAC and its moratorium on open-pit gold mining. When the Kurultai of August 2019 adopted a quota roll sharing bulk contracts by herd numbers, ending an arrangement that had favoured the Boztorgoy, the clan stood aside rather than block it. Boztorgoy elders have said they would consider surveys of the Muyunkum Natural Gas Field on royalty terms.[1][3]
Public standing
ISEZ business circles regard Sabyrbek as a pragmatic partner, and analysts describe him as the main rival of the Tanıp, Bektur's clan. His brother's memory gives him standing beyond the steppe: he speaks each 28 July at the memorial cairn on the railway approaches to Nurzhan where Kudaibergen fell.[4] Observers of the clan councils note that some Tanıp and southern elders privately regard him as more ambitious than the tribesmen he leads, although none has said so on the record. The IAC has no rule of succession, and other proposals include a rotation among the wings and continuity through the IAC Chancellery.[1][5]
See also
References
- ^ Central Asian Geopolitical Review (2021). 'Steppe and Mountain: Trade, Permits and Factional Politics in the Iradi Freedom Society.' Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 97–121.
- ^ Department of History, Talas State University (2017). The War of 1992: A Documentary History. Talas State University Press, Talas.
- ^ Talas State University Press (2018). Clan and Kurultai: Governance in the Autonomous Tribal Regions. Talas, pp. 15–64.
- ^ Talas Herald (29 July 2022). 'Thirty years on, the steppe remembers Kudaibergen.' Talas.
- ^ United Nations Mission in Irad (2019). Customary Institutions in the Autonomous Tribal Regions. Report to the Secretary-General, Talas.