There is particularly much information in the literature about the Kokand Fortress Kurtka, which is associated with events of the 1930s, when the Kyrgyz people began a national liberation struggle against the Kokand colonizers. It was led by the Kyrgyz hero Taylak.
The Kurtka Fortress was located on a natural hill at the confluence of the Kurtka River with the Naryn. On one side, the cliff of the Naryn River served as protection, while on the other — the Kurtka River. The two other sides, vulnerable to the enemy, were fortified with strong walls and towers. Although, it is possible that the walls could have been present on all four sides.
The lifting material collected during the expedition consisted of amorphous fragments of late ceramics, a vessel's rim. One of them had a scratched striped ornament. Another was a type of faience shard with a light emerald glaze. In the quarry section, several meters of ash layer were traced — evidence of a fire that once burned here.
The conducted research showed that, firstly, the fortress existed for a short time (this is confirmed by written sources), and secondly, it was founded in a new location and had no medieval predecessor.
Only separate sections of the fortress have survived; the southern half was destroyed by a collapse into the Naryn River. The western part of the fortress was completely destroyed as a result of quarrying. Only remnants of walls remain in the northeastern part of the fortress. On the eastern side, the wall extends to the confluence of the Kurtka and Naryn rivers, while the southern side faces the Naryn River. The traces of the northern and western walls of the fortress are noticeable only to specialists, but the fortress walls have been completely destroyed.
The fortress is rectangular in plan, with towers located at the corners (only the traces of the southeastern and northeastern towers have survived). Inside, the fortification was divided into two parts: southern and northern. In the southern part, there were apparently buildings (it is difficult to judge now, as quarrying was conducted in this area). According to sources, the fortress was built in 1832 and was also known among the Kyrgyz as Kakyr-Korgon. In the folk poem about the heroes of the liberation struggle against the Kokandians — Taylak and Atantay, recorded by A. Chorobaev, there are lines: “Atantay and Taylak were heroes. They lived near the fortress Kakyr-Korgon, when the Kokand khan ruled over the Kyrgyz, who sucked Kyrgyz blood.”
Taylak's calls to fight against the Kokand oppression found support among ordinary Kyrgyz workers. They refused to pay the predatory taxes and rose up in open rebellion.
A punitive detachment was sent to the Kurtka area under the command of Arap-batyr, moving from the Fergana Valley through Toguz-Toroo. Here, in the Bycha area, a battle took place between the Kokand detachment and the Kyrgyz militia that had come out to meet them. The rebels won, the punitive detachment was defeated, and Arap himself was killed. Taylak occupied the fortress, capturing 60 Kokand officials.
Only after the treacherous murder of Taylak did the khan's troops retake Kurtka and restore the destroyed fortification. The new commandant of the fortress, Mamrazyk, elevated Taylak's son, Osmon, even entering into kinship relations with him and granting him the titles of pansat (colonel) and datkhi — high official titles of the khan's court. This flattered the ambitious Osmon, who constantly maintained 500 horsemen ready to serve the commandant.
However, the people continued to resist the khan's despotism and the arbitrariness of his appointees in Kurtka. The Cheriks repeatedly revolted under the leadership of Turduke, completely refusing to pay the zeket to the khan's appointees in Kurtka. The commandant of Kurtka, Mamrazyk, for two years appealed to the Andijan governor with a request to send a punitive detachment of 700 men. But the central authorities, occupied with their court intrigues and feudal strife, were unable to send a detachment to help in Kurtka. Ch. Ch. Valikhanov wrote on this matter: “During the turmoil in Kokand, the Kyrgyz completely did not listen to the commandant of Kurtka, because with the change of khans, all authorities are usually renewed.”
Ch. Ch. Valikhanov, who personally visited the fortress in the late 1850s, left a fairly complete description of the Kurtka fortification: “The Kurtka fortification was founded in 1832 in the year of the dragon during the reign of Khan Madali by the famous minbashy Hak-Kula... The Kurtka fortification has a cross-section of 200 fathoms, surrounded on three sides by a wall, while the fourth rests on a steep bank. The height of the walls is 3 fathoms, width up to 2 arshins; on the eastern side, the main gate is broken through, and on the northern side — others leading to a sacred place where there used to be a small house of Jangir-khodzha. A small prayer house is arranged there, several trees are planted, and, as at all sacred places, banners are erected and ram's horns are hung in large numbers. Entering through the gates, we saw felt yurts surrounded by earthen ramparts, and several mud huts; having walked along the main street, we finally arrived at the commandant's house, which also consisted of mud huts named reception, harem, mosque, stable, and granary. In the middle of the yard stood several Kyrgyz yurts. On a small elevation of clay sat the commandant Mamrazyk-datkh, dressed in an old paper robe and Kyrgyz boots.”
“Hak-Kula in 1832 defeated the Sayaks,” — expanded his information in another diary Ch. Ch. Valikhanov, — “captured their leaders Atantay and Taylak and brought them to Kokand, imposed tribute on the Cheriks, Basizovs, Monaldyrov, and founded Kurtka. The fortification of Toguztarau was built even earlier...
The fortifications of Toguztarau and Jumgal previously depended on the commandant of Kurtka, but now they have become separate departments. Very often, clashes occur between the Kurtka and the Sipays of these fortifications over the zeket... The zeket from these Kyrgyz is collected by Kurtka in two ways: either according to the indications of the Kyrgyz themselves — ulfan, or by counting; in the first case, they take one from 40 heads, and in counting — two from 100 heads. Moreover, the Kyrgyz must supply bread to the garrison of the fortification... In general, the power of the Kokandians among these Kyrgyz is maintained by deceitful and cunning politics, to which the current commandant, apparently, has become accustomed. To maintain his power, he has amanats from good families and fosters constant enmity among the founders... During the Kipchaks, the Kyrgyz founder Alimbek-datkh, now the Kokand vizier, quarreling with the Kipchaks, went beyond the Naryn and rallied all the Kyrgyz. Kurtka was besieged, the commandant-Kipchak was called for negotiations and treacherously killed.”
Three years later, in 1862, during a military-scientific expedition to the Tian Shan, Captain Protsenko also visited Kurtka, already abandoned by the Kokandians, and left a description of it, using data from Ch. Valikhanov. We provide an excerpt from this archival note:
“All Tian Shan and Naryn Kyrgyz recognize the power of the Kokand Khanate over themselves. Most of them belong to the department of the Kurtka fortification, which is part of the Andijan governorate: part of the Sayaks is subordinate to other mounds of Toguz-Torau and Jumgala...
The Kyrgyz generally listen little to the Kokandians, and only the delay in the fortifications of the amanats of their honorable families keeps them at peace. But even so, disobedience often occurred here, and Kurtka was even blockaded several times, besieged by the Kyrgyz...”.
The final fall of Kurtka as a fortification and administrative point of Kokand power occurred in 1863 as a result of the uprising of Tian Shan Kyrgyz against the khan's yoke. The Tian Shan Kyrgyz entered the Russian Empire. The text of the oath of allegiance stated: “We, the trusted representatives of the manaps, biys, and other founders and elders of the Cherik clan, not subject to any government, promise and swear that the Cherik clan wants to be faithful, good, obedient, and eternally loyal subjects and will not enter into foreign service, nor have any harmful openness with enemies.”
The oath of the representatives of the Kyrgyz was taken in Omsk on October 13, 1863, and was formally documented in Turkic and Russian languages.
The most numerous group of Kokand fortifications consisted of small fortresses. The individual surviving fortresses represent small platforms outlined by the melted ramparts of once towering walls. From the preserved drawings, sketches, and descriptions compiled in 1862, one can imagine the overall configuration and internal layout of the fortresses of Ak-Suu, Tokmak, Shish-Tyube, Tash-Kurgan, and others. As a rule, these are fortifications of rectangular or oval shape with an area of up to 0.2 hectares. Quite high crenelated walls with projections or towers at the corners were surrounded externally by a moat. The garrison consisted of approximately 20-50 warriors. They monitored the migration of the Kyrgyz and collected zeket from them, and with the approach of danger, they signaled for help, and the movement to a neighboring, more powerful fortification began.
The literature and archives also mention fragmentary information about such Kokand fortresses in Central Tian Shan as Toguz-Toroo, Atbash, Kochkor, and many others, but it has not been possible to localize them on the ground at present.
Practically no traces of the Issyk-Kul fortresses have survived. During the uprising of the Kyrgyz population against the Kokand yoke, taking advantage of the murder of Khan Madali and the feudal strife that erupted afterward in the struggle for khan power, the Kokand garrisons from the fortresses of Karakol, Barskaun, and Konur-Ulen were expelled in 1842, and the fortresses were destroyed.
As contemporaries wrote, the Issyk-Kul Kyrgyz “recognized themselves as independent and expelled the Kokandians from the small fortifications established on the rivers Karakol, Barskaun, and Konur-Ulen.” The power of the Kokand khan in this area was temporarily destroyed, and thirteen years later, the Issyk-Kul Kyrgyz voluntarily accepted Russian citizenship.
Looking retrospectively at the history of Kokand fortresses and assessing their current state, it can be concluded that at least of many mentioned in sources, only three fortresses can now be confidently localized on the ground, and only four of them can be reflected in the “Collection of Historical and Cultural Monuments” — these are Cholok-Korgon, Jumgal, Kan, and Daraut-Kurgan. Three of them — Cholok-Korgon, Kan, and Daraut-Kurgan can be classified as monuments of republican significance.
