Uyghur PEN Board Members
Post Tagged with: "Uyghur PEN Centre"
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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 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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Adil Tunyaz, a well-known Uyghur poet, arrested in 2017, and his fate is unknown
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 […]
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China – Xinjiang: Severe prison sentences for Uyghur writers is latest example of government efforts to erase Uyghur culture
PEN International Monday 10 May 2021 – 3:37pm PEN International is alarmed by recent reports of severe prison sentences being handed down to Uyghur writers and intellectuals, many of whom had already been extrajudicially detained for several years in Xinjiang’s notorious re-education camps. We continue our call for an immediate end to the atrocious repression of Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang carried out by the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Among those detained is literary translator and academic principal, Ahmetjan Juma, who was reportedly sentenced in 2019 to 14 years’ imprisonment according to a social media post made by his brother on 1 May 2021. The sentencing took place two years after he was initially detained in a re-education camp in 2017 for possessing a book that was prohibited by the authorities. His brother, who works as Deputy Director of Radio Free Asia’s (RFA) Uyghur Service, believes that Ahmetjan Juma’s punitive prison sentence is a form of punishment for his work at RFA highlighting human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Recent reports have also emerged about the sentencing of Uyghur writer, Ahtam Omer, to 20 years’ imprisonment on separatism charges after he was initially detained on 12 March 2017 for allegedly sending money to his nephew while he was studying in Egypt. The author of much-loved books, including Child of the Eagle and Polluted Lake, Ahtam Omer was also a member of the China Writers’ Association and had previously worked as a professional writer for the Kashgar Prefectural Literary and Artistic Association, according to a profile by Uyghur PEN. Despite Child of the Eagle having been published as part of the prestigious China Ethnicities Literature journal, in 2020 the book was reportedly taken off shelves and burned by the authorities as part of a campaign to vilify and destroy Uyghur literary works, many of which were previously given […]
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Keeping the Uyghur Culture Alive in Exile
03/03/2021. RUTH INGRAM BITTER WINTER MAGAZINE Non-Chinese culture is repressed or reduced to a tourist attraction in Xinjiang. But exile and sorrow have produced a flurry of poetry and creativity among the diaspora. by Ruth Ingram A #MeTooUyghur campaign organized by the anonymous @SuluArtco activist collective, set up to raise awareness about disappearing Uyghur intellectuals. Strange bedfellows; tear gas and poets, tasers and writers, electric cattle prods, handcuffs and artists; folklorists and pepper spray. But when orders come down from the top to break Uyghur lineage, break their roots, break their connections, and break their origins, and CCP procurement figures for a secret network of transformation through education camps include instruments of torture, the pieces of the puzzle start to make sense. No one willingly walks into the annihilation of their culture. Unreasonable force will be part of the deal. Not content with rounding up so-called “holy warriors,” “splittists” and “the politically dangerous” for Beijing’s euphemistically named “vocational training” program, more than 400 academics have also been dragged into the black hole of internment and the disappeared since the start of a program of cultural annihilation, which began in 2017. Unlike most Uyghurs who were corralled into 24/7 Chinese language classes and political indoctrination, these university professors, writers, poets, singers, and dancers are fluent Mandarin speakers and often loyal Party members. Accused of being two-faced traitors and half-hearted supporters of the regime, these intellectuals’ only crime is their love for Uyghur history and culture, and their desire to see their nation flourish. They have all without exception vanished, and with them a vital bridge to the intangible cultural heritage they embody. Uyghur writers, poets, and academics gathered online last week to commemorate UNESCO’s International Mother Language Day and the 100-year anniversary of PEN International, a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote literature and defend […]
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Qurban Mamut, a retired Uyghur editor held incommunicado in China
Published by Uyghur PEN on 15th February 2021 Qurban Mamut, a 70 years old poet, prominent journalist, and retired editor for an Uyghur language magazine the “Xinjiang Civilization”, was held in incommunicado by Chinese authority since February 2018, according to his son Bahram Qurban, who said the arrest is being used as leverage against him because he is living in exile in the U.S. Bahram said to the Radio Free Asia on 18 October 2018 “My father never committed any crime, but the authorities regularly arrest people who have relatives living abroad [to gain leverage over them]. I believe that is why he was arrested. While it isn’t my fault, I feel that I am the reason for his arrest.”[1] After Qurban Mamut stayed incommunicado at the “Re-education Camp’ for more than three years, his son’s tirelessly campaigned and searched about his father. Finally, one Han Chinese staffer at the Xinjiang Hall of Public Culture told Bahram that she knew his father’s detainment.[2] He worked as a reporter and editor at Xinjiang Radio Station from 1976 to 1984, and Vice Editor-in-Chief at one of the most well-known magazines, Xinjiang Civilization, from 1985 to 2011. He was never a member of the Chinese Communist Party. In 2011, he retired at age 61. After he retired, he worked part-time as a requested Editor-in-Chief at Xinjiang Science Publishing house. In his more than 40 year career, he made tremendous contributions to Uyghur journalism and culture. Qurban Mamut ((库尔班 ·⻢木提), he visited his son Bahram Qurban[3] in the US in February 2017. His son, a U.S. citizen, believes that having relatives outside China is the reason behind his father’s detention. A source told him in September 2018 that Qurban Mamut had been sent to a “transformation-through-education” facility. Given his age and lack of information about his condition, there are severe concerns for […]
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