Asan Abdiev was born in 1907 in the village of Kara-Saz (now part of the Ormon Khan rural district) into a family of moderate means. His father, Abdy Supa uulu, belonged to the Kuschu clan and, according to various sources, was born around 1860. Asan's grandfather, Supa, was a well-off man who lived during the time of Niyazbek uulu, known as Ormon Khan. According to local residents, when his sheep grazed on the slopes, "the mountain was not visible." Abdy himself raised seven sons, among whom Asan was the third.
The tragic events of 1916, known as "Urkun," were pivotal in Asan's life. At the age of nine, he fled to China with his parents and brothers. The journey was extremely difficult, and many of those who walked died from hunger and deprivation. A year later, the family returned home, but out of the seven brothers, only three — Samat, Sadyk, and Asan — were able to come back. The older brothers died in Kashgar, while the two younger ones — Aydyraaly and Sharshenaaly — went missing. In 1917-1918, Asan's father passed away, leaving the boy an orphan.
After the arrival of Soviet power, Asan's older brother Sadyk went to study in Tashkent. In 1922, when Asan turned 15, he also enrolled in the preparatory class of the Institute of Public Education at the Central Asian Communist University (SACU) in Tashkent, thanks to Sadyk's support.
Researcher Bakyt Asanov notes that at the university, Asan was mentored by the Russian educator Pyotr Kuzmich Yudakhin, who treated him like a son. Pyotr Kuzmich was the older brother of Konstantin Kuzmich Yudakhin, who later became a well-known compiler of Kyrgyz-Russian and Russian-Kyrgyz dictionaries.
In 1924, at the second plenum of the Turkestan Central Executive Committee, a decision was made on the necessity of training teachers for small ethnic groups, including the Kara-Kyrgyz and Tajiks. That same year, the establishment of the Institute of Public Education began in Kyrgyzstan, with Pyotr Kuzmich Yudakhin as its director.
In the autumn of 1924, when the Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Region was formed, Yudakhin came to Pishpek, where he bought an unfinished red brick house, expedited its construction, and prepared facilities for a dormitory and a cafeteria. On September 25, 1925, the Kyrgyz Institute of Public Education was officially opened.
Asan Abdiev studied at the Central Asian Communist University until 1925, after which he became one of the first 140 students of the Institute in Pishpek. During his four years of study, he demonstrated great abilities and became one of the top students. Among his classmates were future outstanding figures of culture and literature, such as Mukai Elebaev, Kasymaly Zhantošev, and others. Later, the institute was transformed into the Central Kyrgyz Pedagogical Technical School.
After graduating, Asan began working as an inspector in the district department of public education in Balykchy and joined the Communist Party. He also headed the departments of public education in the Alamudun and Karakol districts, continuing his career in the republic's education system.
Asan married Nurchan, and in 1932 they had a daughter, Roza. Contemporaries recalled that Nurchan had long hair braided into two plaits that reached her heels.
In 1937, during the Stalinist repressions, Asan and his older brother Sadyk were arrested on charges of belonging to the "Turan" party. In prison, Asan was held next to Törökül Aitmatov. Later, he was sent to Siberia for logging under very harsh conditions, while Sadyk was exiled to Magadan.
Nurchan, left with their daughter, tried to secure her husband's release. According to reports, she went to Moscow, where she persistently sought a personal meeting. Thanks to her efforts, the case was reviewed, and Asan was acquitted and returned home. Unfortunately, his brother Sadyk died in the camp in 1947.
At the end of 1938, Asan returned to work, heading the department of public education in the Jumgal district. After his arrest, he was expelled from the party and, despite being rehabilitated, did not return to the CPSU, as he did not want to serve a party that had indiscriminately sent him to Siberia.
During the Great Patriotic War, Asan worked as the director of a school in the collective farm "Iliktir," organizing assistance for the elderly, involving students in writing letters to the front, and participating in the eradication of illiteracy among adults.
After Nurchan's death, Asan raised their daughter alone. Later, he married Aina Gul Subankul kyzy, with whom he had children, but Aina Gul passed away early. In his third marriage, he had a daughter, Saltanat.
Throughout the years, Asan Abdiev held positions as school director, led education departments in Naryn and Jumgal, and taught history and geography. In his old age, he dreamed of meeting Chyngyz Aitmatov to tell him about his father, Törökül, but that meeting never took place.
Asan Abdiev passed away on February 20, 1984, and was buried in the village of Jangy-Jol in the Kochkor district. His children became educators, doctors, and engineers. Local residents say that he raised an entire generation of students, many of whom remember their teacher with gratitude.
