Ziya Samedi

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      "Uyghuristan" National Congress received the news of the death of Uyghur veteran revolutionary and famous writer Ziya Samedi with great sorrow. His death is a great lost to the Uyghur nation. We express our condolences to his family, friends and all the Uyghur people, and wish "Rahmet" to him from allmighty (Allah).

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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