Kyrgyzstan guarantees four Issyk Kul resorts remain in Kazakhstan’s ownership

Four resorts at Issyk-Kul lake in neighboring Kyrgyzstan will remain Kazakhstan’s ownership, KazTag reports, citing the Kyrgyz Parliament Speaker Akhmatbek Keldibekov. “Kyrgyzstan is committed to private ownership rights. We won’t be reconsidering the issue of four Kyrgyz resorts earlier transferred to Kazakhstan. We will be adhering to international norms. These resorts have been sold out to Kazakhstan, but they are in the Kyrgyz territory. We shouldn’t politicize the issue. We will respect decrees issued by the previous Parliament and the previous Government. This particular issue will not be reconsidered”, Mr. Keldibekov said. In 2009 the Kyrgyz Parliament approved of the decision to transfer 4 resorts (Olympus in the village Korumdy, Kazakhstan resort in Cholpon Ata, as well as Samal and Universitet resorts) to Kazakhstan under a long-term lease agreement. The agreement makes sure Kazakhstan employs a certain number of Kyrgyz workforce. June 17, 2010 Vice Head of the Kyrgyz Interim Government Azimbek Beknazarov stated that in the nearest future he was to prepare a document to nationalize the four resorts transferred to Kazakhstan. Issyk Kul is an endorheic lake in the northern Tian Shan mountains in eastern Kyrgyzstan. It is the tenth largest lake in the world by volume and the second largest saline lake after the Caspian Sea. Although it is surrounded by snow-capped peaks, it never freezes; hence its name, which means "hot lake" in the Kyrgyz language.