Recently I had the opportunity to attend the launch of the Irish Uyghur Cultural Association held at a restaurant near Halfpenny Bridge in Dublin. Central Asia’s Uighur people have suffered unimaginable atrocities at the hands of the Chinese government, but many of the participants wore traditional costumes, tables were lined with plates of Uyghur food, and people groaned. There was an unmistakable festive atmosphere to the event. Including cakes that people had prepared and brought in for the occasion.
There are approximately 200 Uyghurs living in Ireland, many of whom have lived here for more than 10 years, some with Irish citizenship, and some with children born here (from their grandparents or ancestral lands). may never meet). The United Nations has said China’s campaign against Uyghurs may amount to crimes against humanity, and some have described it as an attempt at cultural genocide. The campaign warns Uyghurs in the West that if they speak publicly about what is happening in their homeland, they risk being punished for doing so, including having their families in China disappear into camps and never be heard from again. It includes informing someone of something. Because of this cross-border repression, it is no surprise that Uyghurs living in Ireland have been slow to tell the media about what is happening. They live with levels of trauma and fear that are difficult to imagine. However, it was precisely for this reason that there seemed to be a very positive atmosphere surrounding the public launch of the new association. It was a celebration of the people, their culture and their determination not to be afraid.
Those attending the presentation included London-based Uyghur poet and scholar Aziz Isa Erkun, whose new collection of Uyghur poetry was published by Everyman’s Library. Released.
This volume is the first English-language anthology of Uyghur poetry and includes a foreword by Aziz that serves as a brief introduction to Uyghur history and the history of Uyghur poetry over the centuries.
Uyghur poetry reflects the majestic landscapes of Central Asia, endless grasslands, towering mountains and mysterious deserts, at the heart of the famous Silk Road and where the Uyghur people have lived for 2000 years. , he writes.
The Uyghurs (Uyghur means federation or federation) are a Turkic people. The history of their beliefs includes Tengriism (sky worship), shamanism, Manichaeism, Nestorian Christianity, Buddhism, and, from around the 10th century, Islam, which is now the dominant religion. The last independent ruler was overthrown by the Qing dynasty in the mid-18th century, after which the Chinese settled into Xinjiang, a vast territory that had been home to Uyghurs and other Turkic ethnic groups for centuries. meaning).
After a brief period of Uyghur independence in the 20th century, the region was occupied by the People’s Republic of China with Soviet support in 1949 and returned to Chinese control. There are about 12 million Uyghurs in Xinjiang, and another 2 million outside China, who call their homeland East Turkestan.
The first poem in Aziz’s collection of poems is his translation of the work of Mahmud Kashgari, who died in 1102, and the last poem is one of his own poems written by him on October 10, 2021. This is his translation of “Rose”. About the long history of the Uyghur people, the waves of literary and historical influences that shaped the works Aziz translated and collected, about the poets who wrote about myth, landscape, and love over the centuries, and what they faced in their wake. It’s heartbreaking to read. , the second half of the volume contains poems about the barbarities currently happening to the Uighur people.
More than one million people, perhaps two million, including children separated from their parents, have disappeared into the system of “re-education” camps. Aziz’s poem “Rose,” written in London, where she lived in exile, is dedicated to her beloved mother, whom she lost contact with in 2017.My greatest wish is that she is alive and well. ing. In this photo he is sitting in the garden, planting the first rose bush three years ago to commemorate the destruction of his father’s grave, the second in commemoration of Mother’s Day, and the third in the camp I remember the time I planted it for an unknown Uyghur. The last line should look like this:
my roses are blooming full of hope
sing a song of freedom
without waiting for spring
they remind us
How beautiful it is to be alive
To live in peace in our beautiful world
Uyghur Poetry, edited by Aziz Isa Erkun, is published by Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets Series.