Batken is a small town of about 12,000 in southwestern Kyrgyzstan, on the southern fringe of the Fergana Valley. The Fergana Valley (also Ferghana Valley) is a region of Central Asia spreading across Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. ...

History

Batken became the administrative headquarters of the youngest of Kyrgyzstan's seven oblasts, created from the three westernmost raions of the former Osh oblast in 1999, after concerns over radical Islamist activities in neighboring Tajikistan and Uzbekistan led to demands for a more direct and visible governmental presence in this remote and mountainous region. There is a small airport and, since 2000, a small university as well. Kyrgyzstan is divided into seven provinces (singular: oblasty, plural: oblasttar) (capitals in parentheses)- Batken Oblasty (Batken) Chuy Oblasty (Bishkek) Jalal-Abad Oblasty (Jalal-Abad) Naryn Oblasty (Naryn) Osh Oblasty (Osh) Talas Oblasty (Talas) Ysyk-Kol Oblasty (Karakol) The national capital, Bishkek, in addition to being the seat of Chuy oblasty... See rayon for the textile made of processed cellulose. ... 1999 is a common year starting on Friday of the Common Era, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Islamism is a political ideology derived from the conservative religious views of Muslim fundamentalism. ...

Geography

Batken oblast contains several small enclaves belonging to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, respectively, created during Stalin's willful redrawing of maps in the 1930s; this causes significant problems for the movement of persons and goods within the oblast. In human geography, an enclave is a piece of land which is totally enclosed within a foreign territory. ... Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი; see Other names section) (December 21, 1879[1] – March 5, 1953) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and leader of the Soviet Union. ...