Uyghur PEN Board Members
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Uyghur PEN Center’s Election Held in Almaty
The Uyghur PEN Center held its official election on April 16, 2025, at the Mir Publishing House office in Almaty, Kazakhstan. In addition to local members attending in person, participants from around the world joined the event online. A total of 24 members took part in the meeting. The session was chaired by Alisher Khalilov, head of the Executive Committee of the Uyghur PEN Center. Former president and artist Kaiser Ozhun opened the event with a report detailing the founding history of the Uyghur PEN Center and highlighting the accomplishments achieved during his tenure. Following this, Hamid Hamrayev, Secretary General of the Center and a respected writer, presented an overview of the work carried out during his term, as well as the Centre’s future plans and strategic vision. Distinguished Uyghur poet Abdughopur Qutluqov then proposed re-electing Kaiser Ozhun as president. However, Ozhun respectfully declined, citing the organization’s bylaws, which prohibit a third presidential term. The Board of the Uyghur PEN nominated Aziz Isa Elkun for the presidency. Elkun is a poet, writer, and academic based in the UK, and a former Secretary General of the Uyghur PEN Center. Elkun, who had travelled to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and was present at the Almaty meeting, accepted his nomination. In his address, he expressed gratitude for the Board’s trust and pledged to work tirelessly to promote Uyghur literature worldwide and defend freedom of expression for Uyghur writers and artists. After deliberation, the official election was conducted. Aziz Isa Elkun was unanimously elected as president of the Uyghur PEN Center. Subsequent elections for key leadership roles were also held. Alisher Khalilov was unanimously elected Secretary General, while Dr. Hakimjan Guliyev, a Doctor of Arts and acclaimed artist, was chosen as Chairman of the Executive Committee. The new Executive Committee members of the Board include […]
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Uyghur PEN Centre President
Aziz Isa Elkun is a Uyghur author, poet, writer, and academic. He was born in Uyghuristan (East Turkistan) and grew up in Shahyar County, near the Tarim River on the northern edge of the Taklamakan Desert, where he completed his primary and secondary education. From 1988 to 1991, he studied Russian and Chinese languages at Xinjiang University in Urumqi. Shortly after graduating, he was persecuted by Chinese authorities due to his political activities during his high school and university years. In 1999, he fled East Turkistan and in August 2001, resettled in the United Kingdom. Since then, he has pursued further studies and continues to live in the UK with his family. In 2009, he graduated from Birkbeck, University of London, with a degree in Web Development and Multimedia. Elkun is an active member of the exiled Uyghur community and the founder of the Uyghur music group London Uyghur Ensemble, established in 2006. Since 2014, he has been involved in various research projects on Uyghur culture at SOAS University of London. From September 2017 to October 2022, he served as Secretary of the PEN Uyghur Centre and as Director of the Uyghur PEN Centre’s Revitalisation Project. From September 2023, he has been working as a researcher on a UK Research and Innovation-funded project, Maqam Beyond Nation, based at SOAS, University of London. Since April 2025, he has also been serving as President of the Uyghur PEN Centre. In addition, he is a member of English PEN. Published books: Selected Articles and Contributions: Some Research articles and Opinion pieces that reflect the ongoing China’s Uyghur Genocide were published on various websites, newspapers, and magazines: Documentary Film: In early 2019, he produced a short documentary film, “An Unanswered Telephone Call”, depicting the ongoing sufferings of his family after China pursued a total blockade of international telephone calls […]
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Uyghur PEN Centre Board Members
The new Executive Committee members of the Board include the following: President: Aziz Isa ElkunSecretary General: Alisher KhalilovChairman of the Executive Committee: Dr. Hakimjan GuliyevMembers: Hamid Hamrayev, Villiam Molotov, Ihsan Ismail, and Maryam Sultan The Uyghur PEN Centre held its official election on April 16, 2025, at the Mir Publishing House office in Almaty, Kazakhstan. In addition to local members attending in person, participants from around the world joined the event online. A total of 24 members took part in the meeting. The Board of the Uyghur PEN Centre nominated Aziz Isa Elkun – a UK-based poet, writer, academic, and former Secretary General of the Centre- for the presidency. Elkun, who had recently visited Kazakhstan, was present at the Almaty meeting and formally accepted the nomination. In his remarks, he thanked the Board for its confidence in him and pledged to work tirelessly to promote Uyghur literature globally and to defend the right to free expression for Uyghur writers and artists. Following a round of deliberations, the official election was held. Aziz Isa Elkun was unanimously elected President of the Uyghur PEN Centre. Subsequent elections for Board members were also conducted, completing the formation of the Centre’s new leadership team. The new Executive Committee members of the Board include the following: President: Aziz Isa ElkunSecretary General: Alisher KhalilovChairman of the Executive Committee: Dr. Hakimjan GuliyevMembers: Hamid Hamrayev, Villiam Molotov, Ihsan Ismail, and Maryam Sultan In his concluding remarks, the newly elected President underscored the urgency of the Center’s mission, particularly in light of the ongoing political and social challenges facing the Uyghur people. He reaffirmed the Uyghur PEN Center’s commitment to promoting Uyghur literature and arts globally, preserving the Uyghur language and cultural heritage, and defending the rights of Uyghur writers and artists. He called on all members of the […]
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On World Poetry Day, do not forget imprisoned Uyghur poets
Today, March 21st, while celebrating World Poetry Day, please do not forget hundreds of innocent imprisoned Uyghur poets lying in Chinese prisons. Their only crime was writing poems in their God-given mother language, Uyghur. World Poetry Day is celebrated on 21 March, and it was designated by UNESCO in 1999 “with the aim of supporting linguistic diversity through poetic expression and increasing the opportunity for endangered languages to be heard”. Since 2017, China has arrested and persecuted more than 500 Uyghur poets, giving them lengthy prison sentences for their “crime” of writing poems. These poets, including prominent figures such as Abduqadir Jalalidin, Perhat Tursun, Ablet Abdureshid Berqi , Rahim Yasin Qaynami, Adil Tunyaz, and Gulnisa Imin Gulkhan, now find themselves behind bars, their only offence being the courageous act of sharing their voices through verse. The subsequent examples serve to illuminate the severe extrajudicial persecution endured by Uyghur poets at the hands of the Chinese government. Below, you will find excerpts from their poignant works: Abduqadir Jalalidin is a renowned Uyghur poet, scholar, and literature professor at Xinjiang “Normal” University. He was detained without reason in 2018 and since then his whereabouts are unknown. News that he was sentenced to 13 years in prison has sickened the Uyghur world, says Elkun. His poem, No Road Back Home, composed from his cell, was memorized by cellmates who, upon their release, recited it to prove to his family that he was still alive. An excerpt, translated by Munawwar Abdulla, was a rare glimpse of life behind bars in China, talking of a “broken heart, aching and longing” to be with his love, “tormented with no strength to move,” “watching the seasons change through cracks and crevices.” “I have no lover’s touch in this solitary corner, I have no amulet for each night […]
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Uyghur Poems
Edited by Aziz Isa ElkunTranslated by Aziz Isa Elkun and othersPublished: 26/10/2023EVERYMAN’S LIBRARY POCKET POETSPenguin Random House An unprecedented collection of poems spanning the rich two-thousand-year cultural legacy of the Uyghur people of Central Asia. EVERYMAN’S LIBRARY POCKET POETS. The Uyghurs have a long and glorious history of poetry, dating from the oral epics of the second century BCE through the elegant love poetry of the medieval period and up to the present moment -and much of it has never before been translated into English. Uyghur poetry reflects the magnificent natural landscapes at the heart of the Silk Road region, with its endless steppes, soaring mountain ranges, and vast deserts, as well as its turbulent history. Turkic, Sufi, and Persian influences have shaped the poetic tradition over the centuries, and more recently the modernism of the twentieth century left its mark as well. In the face of the systematic persecution of the Uyghurs in China today, which has driven many of their poets into exile, including the editor and translator of this volume, Aziz Isa Elkun, who lives in London. Uyghur Poems is not only a remarkable one-volume tour of an ancient and vibrant poetic tradition but also a vital witness to a threatened culture. EVERYMAN’S LIBRARY POCKET POETSPenguin Random Househttps://www.penguin.co.uk/books/457502/uyghur-poems/9781841598307 Uyghur Poems Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Uyghur-Poems-Everymans-Library-Pocket/dp/1101908343 _________________________________
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Communist China’s Genocidal Crackdown on Uyghur Intellectuals
by Uzay Bulut Ahmetjan Juma’s brother, Mamatjan, suggested that Ahmetjan is being punished simply because he, his brother, works at Radio Free Asia (RFA) as Deputy Director of the Uyghur Service. The Chinese government has blocked international organizations and journalists from going to the region to conduct an independent investigation. “My parents told me not to contact my brothers; that if I have anything to say to them or other relatives, just to tell my mother and she will pass the message along to them.” — Mamatjan Juma, brother of Ahmetjan Juma, high school principal and a literary translator, sentenced to 14 years in prison after being held for two years of “training” in China’s internment camps; interview with Gatestone. “Intellectuals are the people who can lead the social discourse, guide and educate people about their history, culture and everything about Uyghurs. A nation without its intellectuals would be like a person without its brain.” — Mamatjan Juma, interview with Gatestone. The report, The Uyghur Genocide, states that China bears state responsibility for an ongoing genocide against the Uyghurs, and is in breach of the UN Genocide Convention. Why is the world — and particularly the global Muslim community — largely silent as innocent Uyghurs are destroyed by a brutal, totalitarian regime for the “crime” of having been born a Uyghur? China’s genocide against its Uyghur ethnic minority in Xinjiang, also known as East Turkestan, presses on. Up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and other minorities have been detained in extrajudicial “re-education camps” where deaths, torture and political indoctrination take place. Pictured: The outer wall of an internment camp on the outskirts of Hotan, in China’s Xinjiang region. (Photo by Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images) China’s genocide against its Uyghur ethnic minority in Xinjiang, also known as East Turkestan, presses on. Up to […]
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