Ziya Samedi

Ziya Samedi ( _ru. Зия Самеди) (1914-20 November 2000) was a Uyghur author who emigrated to Kazakstan.

Ziya was born in Yarkand County, near Almaty, Kazakhstan. After having gone to Soviet elementary and middle schools, he moved to Ghulja (in 1930). There he founded many primary schools to promote Uyghur education, he also wrote his novel "The Bloody Mountain", about the Uyghur people's suffering under the Chinese Nationalists. He also rewrote "Gherip Senem", a Uyghur epic poem into a play that has since been played on stage.

Samedi was arrested in 1937 by Sheng Shicai, who was in the habit of arresting Uyghur intellectuals, among others. Shicai sentenced him to seven years in jail.

In 1944 he was released, and joined the East Turkestan National Army (of the Second East Turkestan Republic) and was promoted to a Colonel, and was made in charge of military reconnaissance till the end of the Republic in 1949.

From 1950-1958 Samedi held a number of important positions in the Chinese government, among them regional director of education, director of culture as well as the chairman of writer'sassociation.

In 1958, however, the Chinese government convicted him as a "ethnic nationalist", and along with many hundreds of thousands of other Uyghurs, Samedi was senteced to two years of re-education camp.

After his re-education sentence was complete, in 1961, Samedi and his family fled from East Turkestan into Kazakhstan, then still a Soviet Republic. While in Kazakhstan Samedi devoted his life to the Uyghurs cause, he wrote several excellent historical novels, among them "Yillar Siri" (Secret of the Years), "Ehmet Ependi" (Mr. Ehmet), "Mayimhan", and "Gheni the Brave".

In the 1980's, Samedi was honored with the Kazakhstan People's Writer Award for his contribution to Uyghur literature.

His books are only available in Kazakhstan.

Works

*"The Bloody Mountain"
*"Yillar Siri" (Secret of the Years)
*"Ehmet Ependi" (Mr. Ehmet)
*"Mayimhan"
*"Gheni the Brave"