Aziz Isa Elkun

Catherine Philp Saturday July 25 2020, 12.01am, The Times

As contact with his family in China dwindled and ethnic Uighurs fleeing Xinjiang brought disturbing stories, Aziz Isa Elkun, a poet, academic and activist who lives in London, began speaking out about their plight.

Using Google Earth, he tracked down the site where his father was buried in 2017; the cemetery had been demolished, seemingly part of a pattern of erasing Uighur culture. CNN ran a story about the apparent destruction of more than 100 Uighur graveyards, featuring Mr Elkun and his story.

Days later CGTN, the international arm of the Chinese state broadcaster, interviewed Mr Elkun’s frail mother. She led a crew through a new “eco-friendly” cemetery. “We voluntarily applied to move the old grave here,” she said.

Continue reading: The Times

Aziz İsa Elkün
translated by Sultankiz

Seher yıldızı tebessüm içinde gülümsediğinde,
Baharım ellili yaşımda çiçek açtığında,
Aşka bu ömür hiç doymayıp geçtiğinde,
Dünya kuluna güzelmiş, aslında güzel imiş.

Olmasa âşık, bülbül çiçek dalına konmaz,
Olmasa delikanlı olgun, vuslat imkânına ulaşamaz,
Eğer olsa er, sözünden asla dönmez,
Emeğiyle doğru insan menziline ulaşır imiş!

Yıldızım meşale gibi gecenin parlağı,
Dolunay ise gölge yoldaşım oldu,
Gülüp çıkar hem güneşimin sevgi-ateşi
Gem vurmazsan ömrün böyle geçer imiş!

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Aziz Isa Elkun

When the morning star smiled with happiness,
When my spring bloomed from my fifties,
When this life passes and love is never enough,
The world is beautiful to us, truly beautiful!

If not a lover, the nightingale won’t alight on the flowering branch,
Until a young man grows, he won’t achieve his desires,
If he is a man, he will never break his promise.
A man must struggle hard to reach his destination.

My star shines like a torch in the dark night,
The full moon has become my companion shadow
When will my Sun come out with fiery warmth,
Your life will pass by if you don’t grasp it.

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