Toguz-Bulak
Toguz-Bulak ("nine springs") is a village at the foot of the southern approach to the Kök-Bel Pass on the road between the Talas valley and the Chu lowlands, in the Kyrgyz Range–Suusamyr planning zone of the Autonomous Tribal Regions (ATR). It was in the Talas District of the Irad Special Economic Zone until 2009, when the high Kyrgyz Range east of the road passed to the tribal side under the protocol on the Toktogul basin and the State Route 1 corridor. Its population is about 720 (2022 estimate).[1] Roadside cafés and repair shops serve buses and trucks using the pass, and the road service keeps a snowplough depot in the village. It lies at about 1,980 meters, about 50 kilometers from Talas by road and some 15 kilometers below the pass, on the tribal stretch of the road between two crossing points of the Qara-Chik Demarcation Line, both named after it: one just below the village and one on the northern side of the pass, where Gendarmerie and El-Choro posts check travelers. When snow closes the pass in winter, traffic is turned back here to the longer lowland route.[2]
References
- ^ United Nations Mission in Irad (2022). Settlements and Services in the Talas Alatau Zone. Kara-Oi.
- ^ Talas Herald (3 February 2020). 'Kök-Bel road reopens after four-day closure.' Talas.