Balykchy

Balykchy Балыкчы
Fish vendors at Balykchy selling dried fish to a transit bus passenger Fish vendors at Balykchy selling dried fish to a transit bus passenger
Flag of Balykchy Flag Coat of arms of Balykchy Coat of arms
Balykchy Location in Kyrgyzstan
Coordinates:
Country	Kyrgyzstan
Province	Issyk Kul Province
Area
• Total	38 km2 (15 sq mi)
Population (2009)
• Total	42,380

Balykchy (Kyrgyz: Балыкчы. Balıkçı) is a town with a population of 42,380 people (2009 Census) located at the western end of Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan, at and an elevation of about 1,900 metres. A major industrial and transport centre (wool and crop processing, lake shipping, rail terminal, and road junction) during the Soviet era, it lost most of its economic base after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the closure of virtually all of its industrial facilities.

The main road from Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, to China, a part of the ancient Great Silk Road, passes through Balykchy before it starts its long and arduous way across the alpine ranges of Naryn Province in central Kyrgyzstan to the Chinese border at Torugart Pass. Plans for the rail road from the Chinese border to Balykchy, where the line from Bishkek currently ends, are under discussion. Two other roads go around the north and south sides of Issyk Kul to Karakol and then around the east end of the Kungey Alatau to the far southeast of Kazakhstan.

History

The history of Balykchy begins with a post station and farm, established by M. I. Bachin, retired soldier of Naryn Fort in Kyzyl Tokoy area in 1884. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century the settlement was known as Ketmaldy (the nearby river's name), Novodmitrievka (after the family name of the owner of a local stud-farm; E.S.Dmitriev), and Bachino (after M. I. Bachin). It was named Rybachye (fishing place in Russian) from 1909-1993. In the early 1990s, following the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the town was known as Issyk-Kul, taking the name of the adjacent lake. Shortly after independence, its name was changed to Balykchy [1] which means fisherman in the Kyrgyz language (and also in its sister language Turkish).

Demographics

Balykchy is the eighth largest town in Kyrgyzstan with an enumerated population, according to the Population and Housing Census of 2009, of 39,295 or resident population of 42,380.

Historical populations in Balykchy
Year	Pop.
1935	2,000
1939	5,400
1970	28,555
1979	33,716
1989	43,265
1999	42,346
2009	39,295
Source:,

In popular culture

• In the 2003 video game Command & Conquer: Generals, Chinese forces must dislodge terrorist forces entrenched inside Balykchy, using Chinese weapons and occasional U.S. Air Force bombers.

References

File:E8359-Balykchy-government-office.jpg

Balykchy Government Office

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

• Article about visiting Balykchy