Published by Uyghur PEN on 18th June 2021

He was born in 1970 into a teacher’s family in Qaghiliq County of Kashgar Prefecture. After graduating from the Literature Faculty of Xinjiang University in 1993, he worked as a reporter for the Xinjiang People’s Radio Station.

The Uyghurs love poetry, which is very special to them. It is an essential part of Uyghur cultural heritage and expression, and plays an important role in the continuation of creativity and developing the Uyghur language and literature.

The poet Adil Tunyaz shocked the Uyghur world with his poem, written in 1992, “Qeshqerdiki yershari” (The earth of the city of Kashgar). It was read by many Uyghurs, and he became one of most celebrated poets, with a special place in the hearts of the Uyghurs.

,يۇلتۇزلار پەرۋاز قىلار تاڭ سەھەردە
,پەسىللەر پەرۋاز قىلار دەرەخلەردە
.بۇ شەھەر پەرۋاز قىلار چۆچەكلەردە
,بۇ يەردىكى ئادەملەر
.پەرۋاز قىلار يۈرەكلەردە

The stars are soaring at dawn,
The seasons are flying in the trees,
The city is soaring in the legend.
The people here,
Soar in our hearts.[i]

He published the following poetry collection books: “If I fell in love with you” (Söyü qalsam séni nawada); “The secrecy of a single poet” (Boytaq sha’irning mexpiyiti); “Eyes under the neqab” (Chumbeldiki köz); “The street on the sea” (Déngizdiki kocha).

One article collection book: “Nights in the land of the Prophet” (Peyghembir diyaridiki kéchiler)

According to the RFA Uyghur Service[ii]  and United States Commission on International Religious Freedom[iii], “Adil Tuniyaz and his wife, Nezire Muhammad Salih, were both arrested in December 2017. Their eldest son, Imran (19 years old), was also arrested at a Beijing school where he was studying Arabic. Imran was reportedly sent to a detention facility in Xinjiang. It is believed that their three younger children have been placed in state-run orphanages for Uyghur youth whose guardians have been detained. Adil’s father-in-law, the well-known Uyghur scholar Muhammad Salih Hajim, died in a re-education camp in Urumchi in January 2018.”

The Uyghur PEN Centre urges all PEN International members, Civil Societies, Human Rights Organisations, and Governments to follow Adil Tuniyaz’s case, demand from the Chinese government about his release. We appeal you take action to save hundreds of known and unknown Uyghur writers’ and poets’ lives. They are now suffering from injustice, unfair legal procedures, and extrajudicial punishments that systematically target the Uyghur intellectuals, sentencing them for long length of imprisonment or detaining them unlawfully into the Chinese internment camps in Uyghuristan (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China). In August 2018, U.N. said it has credible reports that China holds over a million Uyghurs in what resembles “massive internment camps”. The world must hold accountable for the Chinese Governments atrocities towards the Uyghur people and the increasingly deteriorating situation of the Uyghurs; the US, Canada, Netherland, U.K, Lithuania, Czech and Belgian parliaments and governments recognised China’s genocide on Uyghurs.  The world, and the U.N, and the people who stand against the Crimes of Humanity must take action to stop China’s Uyghur Genocide! 

[i] Extract from Adil Tunyaz’ dastan (narrative poem) “The Earth in the city of Kashgar”, published by Urumchi City Writers Union and “Tengritagh” literature Magazine in 2000, Urumchi. Published by Xinjiang People’s Publisher. ISBN7-228-05521-7/I

Blessing – a poem by Adil Tunyaz: http://www.azizisa.org/en/blessing

[ii] Xinjiang Authorities Detain Almost Every Family Member of Late Uyghur Muslim Scholar
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/scholar-09252018145144.html

[iii] Adil Tuniyaz is a well-known Uyghur poet, reporter at the state-run People’s Radio, and author of the books Questions for an Apple and Manifesto for Universal Poetry. Tuniyaz and his wife, Nezire Muhammad Salih, were both arrested in December 2017.
https://www.uscirf.gov/religious-prisoners-conscience/adil-tuniyaz-0

 

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