{"id":873,"date":"2019-11-16T22:06:19","date_gmt":"2019-11-16T22:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.azizisa.org\/en\/?p=873"},"modified":"2020-10-05T10:19:05","modified_gmt":"2020-10-05T10:19:05","slug":"let-sayragul-sing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azizisa.org\/en\/let-sayragul-sing\/","title":{"rendered":"Let Sayragul sing!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aziz Isa Elkun<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

About the poem: <\/strong>
this poem is dedicated to the courageous Sayragul Sauytbay, an ethnic Kazakh from East Turkistan. She was arrested in May 2018, after crossing into Kazakhstan illegally, and in a court hearing, she gave testimony about the re-education camps in East Turkistan (Xinjiang). She has bravely spoken to the outside world about China\u2019s \u201cConcentration Camps.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it was written:<\/strong>
On 1 August 2018, after arriving at Almaty airport from London, the first good news I heard was Sayragul Sauytbay\u2019s release from detention after the Zharkent court hearing. <\/em>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\nSayragul, let the Kazakh girl sing – sing, Sayragul
\nSayragul, let her sing for her country – sing, Sayragul
Sayragul, let her sing for justice – sing, Sayragul
\nSayragul, never stop her song – sing, Sayragul!
\n
\nYou are a voice for the voiceless – sing, Sayragul
\nYou are a freedom fighter – sing, Sayragul
\nYou are an envoy for freedom – sing, Sayragul
\nYou hover like an eagle – sing, Sayragul!
\n<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

\nLet\u2019s eliminate the oppression of the Uyghurs and Kazakhs
\nLet\u2019s free the Uyghur homeland from tyranny
\nLet our two lands live in brotherhood forever
\nNightingale, in the free world – sing, Sayragul!
\n
\nWe share the same roots, mountains, rivers and land
\nWe are soulmates, guided by the history we have witnessed
\nWe are Turks, companions-in-arms, undefeated in battle
\nYou sing for our country \u2013 sing, Sayragul!
\n
\nUyghurs are waking today with courage in their hearts
\nThe world is paying attention to you astonished
\nYou have become saviour for a million people
\nYou are a flag holder for justice \u2013 sing, Sayragul!
\n
\nWe are grateful to the mother who bore you
\nWe are grateful to the country that raised you
\nWe are grateful for your tremendous courage, Sayragul
\nSing out the road of truth – sing, sing, Sayragul!

\n
\n02 August, 2018, Almaty<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notes: <\/strong>

1). \u201cSayra\u201d – is a Turkic language word meaning \u201clet it sing\u201d. For example, in Uyghur: baghda bulbul sayraydu<\/em>\u2013 the nightingale is singing in the garden. Sayra is also used as a woman\u2019s name by adding the suffix \u201cgul\u201d – flower. So the literal translation of \u201cSayragul\u201d should be \u201cSinging Flower.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2). Sayragul Sauytbay <\/strong>is an ethnic Kazakh, citizen of China and former state employee. She was arrested in Kazakhstan in May 2018, after crossing the border illegally. In her July 2018 trial in the city of Zharkent, Sauytbay offered damning testimony about the re-education camps in East Turkistan (Xinjiang). Sauytbay testified that she had served as a political instructor in a re-education camp where she had access to secret documents about a state program to “re-educate” the Turkic peoples of East Turkestan.  Her testimony provided crucial evidence in the face of China\u2019s denial of the camps\u2019 existence at that time. On 1 August 2018, she was released on a six-month suspended sentence. She applied for asylum, and on June 2, 2019 she flew to Sweden where she was granted political asylum, and where she now lives with her family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the original Uyghur version of the poem:
http:\/\/www.azizisa.org\/sayra-sayragul<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aziz Isa Elkun About the poem: this poem is dedicated to the courageous Sayragul Sauytbay, an ethnic Kazakh from East Turkistan. She was arrested in May 2018, after crossing into Kazakhstan illegally, and in a court hearing, she gave testimony about the re-education camps in East Turkistan (Xinjiang). She has bravely spoken to the outside<\/p>\n

Read more…<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,70,30,56,124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aziz-isa-elkun-poems","category-elkun-poems-in-english","category-poem-translation","category-song-lyrics","category-uyghur-poets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azizisa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azizisa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azizisa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azizisa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azizisa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/www.azizisa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1027,"href":"https:\/\/www.azizisa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions\/1027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azizisa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azizisa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azizisa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}