The heroine was born in 1960 in the village of Kyzyl-Ozgorush in the Toktogul district. She has lived in Kara-Kul for the last 40 years.
“I got married in the village of Sovetskoe. At that time, I worked as a saleswoman in a store, and upon arriving in the city, I first became an assistant to a kindergarten teacher (nanny) at kindergarten No. 9, and later a teacher. This kindergarten is now called ‘Kelechek’. For good work over five years, I was allocated a house, where I currently live. Then the USSR collapsed.
In the first years after gaining independence, I worked as a cook, and I graduated from a vocational school as an accountant and a pastry chef. Thus, I worked as a cook in Bishkek for 4 years, and in 2006, I moved to Almaty in the same field. Upon returning, I worked for 8 years at the recreation center ‘Ozon’ along the Bishkek–Osh highway in the Chychkan area. Later, I worked in one of the city cafes, and for the past year, I have been resting at home,” she said.
A. Asanbekova is the mother of 3 daughters and a son. She also has 14 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.
In 2017, a women's creative collective called ‘Ak Tilek’ was established, of which she is a member.
“We decided to organize concerts with my colleagues. At that time, my older sister told me that I resembled Kurmanjan Datka. We decided to highlight this, and I performed an excerpt where her son was hanged. Since that day, the townspeople noticed the resemblance and began to speak positively about me. When we were invited to the Supuru ethno-complex, one of the guests looked at me and said: ‘50 soms’. [The 50 som note is dedicated to the ruler Kurmanjan Datka]. An idea arose to find photographs of Kurmanjan Datka and dress like her. Later, invitations to various events started coming in. The resemblance is especially noted in the outfit, like hers, while in casual clothes, they don’t consider me similar,” Asylkan apa recounts.
A. Asanbekova specially sewed clothes similar to those in the photographs of Kurmanjan Datka.
“I sewed an outfit just like Kurmanjan Datka's during her meeting with the Russian military leader in the film when her son was about to be hanged. Later, I saw that in one of the photographs, she wore clothing with a mink collar. I also sewed something similar. I even found a whip to create the image of the Alai queen.
I visited Tashkent, Samarkand, and Bukhara with my daughter. Tourists from Ukraine, Russia, and Uzbekistan paid attention to my outfits. They even said: ‘Kurmanjan Datka is apparently alive.’ They were curious if I was her descendant. I am proud to have become somewhat like her,” she said.
She added that the elechek, shaped like the image of Kurmanjan Datka that she sewed, weighs 4.5 kg.
“It took 14 meters of fabric for this elechek. It was sewn by my sister Asylkan Asanbekova. She works at the Children’s Creative House named after Ch. Aitmatov. Despite its heavy weight, this elechek helps maintain a straight posture.
Recently, Asanbekova received the title of ‘Datka Aiym’.
