Throughout the Soviet era, political persecution did not cease, but it reached its largest scale during the Stalin period. The "purges" targeted party officials, peasants, members of the intelligentsia, as well as those who were captured during the war and national minorities.
Among the victims of the execution in 1937 was the first chairman of the Kochkor Aiyl Kenesh, Ybrai Konev.
In 1878, part of the Aryk tribe, which inhabited the area of Turgon and Ak-Bulun near Lake Aksuu, migrated to the territory of modern-day Ottyk, Karashaar, Ak-Olon, Kara-Kungoy, and Sary-Chat. Among the settlers were the brothers Niyaz uulu Malay and Konoy, who came from a noble and wealthy family. Niyaz's father, Akbay, died in battle with the Kalmyks when they attempted to take his brother Mamat's horse. Niyaz's sons, Namaz and Niyaz, were also well-off, and their descendants, Malay and Konoy, engaged in livestock farming on pastures extending into modern Kazakhstan.
Malay had sons Chynybai and Derkenbai, while Konoy had Ybrai and Kydyraaly.
Ybrai Konoy uulu was born in 1889 in the village of Semizbel, located in the Karakol district of the Jeti-Oguz province. He received his education at a local mosque and in a Russian school. In 1914, at the age of 25, after getting married, he became the father of a son named Abdyldabek. He participated in the national liberation uprising of 1916, after which he was forced to flee to China. In this conflict, Malay's son, Chynybai, was killed.
Later, after the establishment of Soviet power, Konoy voluntarily handed over his herd, which became the basis for the formation of the Kara-Kungoy collective farm. Ybrai Konev was one of the first village councils to support the Bolsheviks.
He served as the chairman of the volrevkom and then from 1930 to 1935 held the position of chairman of the village council in Ketmen-Tobo and Toktogul. He was then appointed chairman of the Toguz-Bulak village council in the Kochkor district, as well as chairman of the Kosh-Dobon and Ak-Kiy village councils. Under his leadership, collective farms such as Kara-Kungoy, Sary-Chat, Kosh-Bulun, and many others operated. The appointment and removal of the heads of these collective farms were within the competence of the village council.
On October 20, 1937, Ybrai Konev was arrested on charges of organizing anti-Soviet activities. Upon learning of his brother's arrest, Kydyraaly prepared provisions and two horses for an escape. When the police were leading Ybrai away, his younger brother was about to shoot to free him, but Ybrai, noticing this, signaled him not to do so. Later, the aksakal said that if he had saved his brother then, they could have fled to China, and Ybrai would have remained alive.
Gallery: Ybrai Konev.
On November 21, 1937, the Supreme Court of the USSR sentenced Ybrai Konev to execution. However, on May 7, 1957, he was acquitted.
In Kara-Kungoy, there are places named after Ybrai, such as "Ybraidyn zhayyty" and "Ybraidyn taly," which were renamed quite recently.
Kydyraaly, Ybrai's younger brother, waited his whole life for his return and did not destroy their family home. Even at the age of 90, when he fell ill, he continued to ask about his brother.
Unfortunately, the house they lived in was destroyed in 1990.
