The title translates to: "Atatürk Park should be a place of rest and tranquility for the citizens. Is this the case?"

Once, the city of Frunze was called one of the greenest cities in the Soviet Union. However, after two and a half decades, the Kyrgyz capital has lost its reputation as a clean and well-maintained metropolis. Now, the streets of Bishkek are littered with uncollected garbage, and the park areas - the lungs of the city - are being cut down. In their place, like mushrooms after rain, apartment buildings are appearing. According to the mayor Kubanychbek Kulmatov, the situation in the capital's Atatürk Park is complicated: the greenery is not being watered, and about 20% of the trees have already died.

Alyshar TASHMATOV, a public figure, spoke about the difficult times that the former Friendship Park is experiencing.
- The park is home to more than 50 species of trees, including 5 coniferous and 36 species of shrubs. Among the deciduous trees are birch, linden, eastern biota, common pine, poplar, and so on. The most frightening thing is that a large part of the park's territory is not being watered at all. When high-rise buildings were constructed in the park area, the irrigation and drainage systems were completely destroyed. Now we are trying to restore it. Another problem is that some "land" marauders are intentionally drying out parts of the territory, slowly uprooting the trees. Moreover, you won't even find a stump from most of them. They are pulled out of the ground, and all traces of the "crime" are covered with soil. If you look closely, you can see that pieces are being torn out of the park in neat rectangles, obviously for another new building.
Another significant problem is the garbage dumps. Opposite the park, on the side of Dushanbe Street, there is a football club. Athletes and enthusiasts come here to play. I, of course, have nothing against it! But they leave a lot of garbage in the park area. It accumulates, and local residents have to organize clean-up days to collect it into a pile closer to the road. Fortunately, the General Prosecutor's Office is nearby, and apparently, government officials do not like to see garbage, so it is immediately removed.
Alyshar Tashmatov showed several still-living trees in the park, their trunks carefully charred at ground level.
- We are trying to water such trees manually - with buckets. These trees were planted by our grandfathers and fathers. The park's fauna is also dwindling. Lizards, turtles, hedgehogs, and rodents still inhabit here. However, due to the destruction of the ecosystem, they are becoming fewer and fewer. Since we took patronage over the park with local residents, there have been more pheasants. We feed them. But some "individuals" come here with dogs and hunt the birds, - Tashmatov reported. - The Atatürk Park and other similar places are the lungs of the cities. If we do not take care of them, water them, and maintain them, we will suffer ourselves later.


- There is a new director in the park now. He is trying to preserve "Atatürk," but how long will he last? Previous directors, I don’t know if under someone’s pressure or voluntarily, sold off part of the park's territory, - noted the public figure. - The boundaries of the park zone originally stretched from Mira Avenue to the Ala-Archa River and from Akhunbaev Street to the Southern Highway. This territory is documented in numerous plans. There are even such documents in the archives of Moscow. We cannot allow "Atatürk" to become even smaller.

- We spent several months persuading the city hall to help the park in any way. And only recently did they start organizing clean-up days here. For a month, every weekend, city officials cleaned only the same area near Akhunbaev Street. Moreover, Kubanychbek Kulmatov repeatedly came to the clean-up, tried to work, while many of his colleagues just stood around. I decided to point this out and asked why they were doing nothing when the mayor was working; then they seemed to stir, but it didn’t last long. They arrived in their pristine white gloves and left in them.
However, I want to thank the mayor for the tractor he brought. In less than an hour, with its help, the irrigation ditches were dug, and the area began to be watered. "Zelenstroy" promised to provide seedlings for the renewal of the green park zone soon.

Alyshar Tashmatov also noted that the operation to save Atatürk Park will continue in the future.
- Until new trees are planted, irrigation ditches are dug, and the park is brought closer to its original state, neither I nor the local residents will leave the city hall in peace. At the same time, we are ready to actively participate in the improvement of the park area ourselves, - said the activist. - We do not need money or positions. Our main task is to preserve the park inherited from our grandfathers and fathers, so that our children can walk there and breathe fresh air.
Due to the total reduction of the green fund in the capital, the air is becoming drier, and the amount of dust is increasing. Against the backdrop of rising average annual temperatures, all this threatens to increase lung and other diseases in the future.
Reference: The Atatürk Park is the former Friendship Park. It was a dendrological park of the Botanical Garden of the Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz SSR. Since 1996, the park has been renamed in honor of the outstanding Turkish political figure Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The park currently covers an area of about 70 hectares, although its area was previously 107 hectares.