Ziya
Samedi
From: Information <info@mail.uyghurinfo.com>
Ziya Samedi, Famous Uyghur Writer and
Revolutionary,
Succumbs
Washington, Nov. 20 (UIA) -- One of the most famous Uyghur writers in the
20th century and ex-colonel of Eastern Turkestan republic has succumbed today in
Kazakhstan, sources in Almaty said. Ziya Samedi, the famous Uyghur revolutionary
and writer, has passed away at the age of 86 this evening in Almaty, the former
capital of Kazakhstan. "Ziya Samedi is the most influential Uyghur writer
in
the 20th century whose literature has objectively and realistically
exposed the sufferings of the Uyghur people under both Chinese nationalist and
communist
government", Dolkun Yasin, a famous Uyghur writer and close
friend of Samedi, said.
Ziya Samedi was born in Yarkand County, near Almaty,
capital of Soviet Kazakhstan, in 1914. He went to elementary and middle schools
in Soviet Union. Samedi came to Ghulja, Eastern Turkestan, in 1930 and founded
many primary schools to promoting Uyghur education. During those years,
Samedi wrote "The Bloody Mountain", a novel exposing the suffering of the
Uyghur
people under the Chinese Nationalists (KMT). Samedi also rewrote
"Gherip-Senem", an Uyghur classic novel, into a play, which later was played on
stage. In 1937 Shen Shicai, the bloody governor of "Xinjiang
province", arrested him for his "enlightenment" movement and sentenced him to
seven years in jail.
Samedi was released from prison in 1944 when the
Uyghurs established the Eastern Turkestan Republic in the
north. Upon his release, Samedi joined the Eastern
Turkestan National Army and later promoted to colonel who was in
charge of military reconnaissance until 1949. Samedi from 1950-1958
took a number of important positions such as regional director of education,
director of culture as well as the chairman of writer's
association after
China reoccupied Eastern Turkestan in the name of "support" and
"nation-building". In 1958, China charged him as "ethnic
nationalist" along with hundreds of thousands of other Uyghurs who were
pro-independence for Eastern Turkestan, and
sentenced him to reeducation for
two years in a labor camp. In 1961,
after serving his prison terms without any compromise, Samedi along with his
family left Eastern Turkestan to Kazakhstan, former Soviet republic. There
he
contributed all his life to promoting the Uyghur Cause, the freedom and
independence of Eastern Turkestan and the development of the Uyghur art
and literature. Samedi wrote a number of great
historical novels such
as "Secrets of Years", "Mr. Ahmadjan
Khasimi",
"Mayimhan", and "Gheni, the Brave". In the 1980s, Samedi was
honored with the Kazakhstan People's Writer Award, recognizing his unprecedented
contribution to
the Uyghur literature. Dolkun Yasin,
Samedi's friend, said, "Ziya Samedi
devoted his entire life for the freedom
of the Uyghur people and the independence of Eastern Turkestan. He fought
both Chinese regimes with the might of his pen. He never stopped writing
until the breath of life has
finally left him. The Uyghur people shall
remember him to the ages yet to
come."
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