The oration of Khayriddin Sultonov , the Counselor of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, in a literary evening devoted to the 100 anniversary of Zulfiya, the people’s poetess of Uzbekistan!
Greetings dear friends, honorable teachers and admirers of an uzbek poetry!
Today we have assembled in such a majestic palace because of an unforgettable event in our spiritual world, 100 anniversary of Zulfiya, the people’s poetess of Uzbekistan.
In such an unforgettable movements while we are talking about life, creative works, exemplary and good qualities of our honorable poetess who has already been as an example of loyalty and devotion it is natural to remember and admit again that an attention to our spirituality was a priority of a state policy in the independence years.
We have to emphasize a significant attention towards a personality and a creature of our honorable poetess Zulfiya talking about a care of our nation and government to the creators who are serving a purpose of a bright future of our motherland , respecting the human rights and singing a beauty and greatness of our homeland with a limitless love as children of it.
Our nation and all poetry lovers are aware of that our President Islom Abduganiyevich Kharimov looks at an unique creature and a vivid personality of Zulfiya with a great respect and an esteem in the row of a number of representatives of a spirituality.
All of us can remember very well that an exactly 20 years ago, in 1995 in this splendid palace with a huge joy we celebrated solemnly 80 anniversary of Zulfiya.
Our President congratulated sincerely honorable poetess Zulfiya on that day by sending her a greetings and gave a significant mark to her creative and sociable activities.
We think that the opinions expressed on the greetings can open completely an essence and an importance of the life and creative works of poetess:
“ It cannot be an exaggeration that you are a resonant voice of Uzbekistan as a respected poetess and as a public official of our era. The spirit of an independence rejuvenated you and your creative. The celebration of your birthday, the birthday of a prominent poetess, skillful translator, famous publisher-editor and a public official is a great event in the life of our independent motherland. It is quite a natural that celebrating this lucky date in such bright days and in a sovereign period creased a joy of her millions of poetry lovers.”
In 1999 the state prize named after Zulfiya was established according to the decree of our President in order to show a great respect to female gender, admit their incomparable attempts on the way of bringing up versatile youths and a generation of mature and clever women, stimulate the achievements of youngsters in the spheres of literature, arts, science and culture and their exemplary activities on the way of developing national independence concepts and cultural-spiritual customs.
It is appropriate to emphasize that by now hundreds of talented, active and initiator girls have been rewarded with this prize and most of them are in the sphere of culture.
“Mobilizing yourself for great goals drop by drop and particle by particle without being tired and making this quality as areal criteria of daily activities is areal heroism”- wrote our president on his book named “ High spirituality-invincible power”. Zulfiyakhonim who showed a spiritual appearance of uzbek women in high levels not only with her poems, but also with her whole life was mentioned on this book in the row of such people.
It cannot be an exaggeration that her poems that she read on the stages of the world could teach a humanity, love and loyalty to the millions of poetry lovers as a bright example of wisdom, keen-wittedness, perfection and unique qualities of Eastern women .But this complicated life did not show concern every time to that women whose soul was full of love towards her nation and motherland, who looked for a beauty and kindness in her whole life. Actually, bitterness of parting is linked to the lives of all people of this world. But, women who conquer all grief and sorrows with a strong will and became a symbol of loyalty and devotion with their firm patience as Zulfiya deserve all great respect and an esteem.
As all of you know, on 1st March 2008, on Zulfiya’s birthday a beautiful monument of our beautiful poetess was established in one of avenues in the centre of our capital city.
It is important to emphasize that our President who was an initiator of creating a monumental work supervised a control of a project of a monument many times by paying a serious attention to all parts of it and by giving vital ideas with expressing opinions in order to make it perfectly.
“To my passed life I started not to regret,
And I do not want no ones to be as mine:
I loved, I was fondled, I lost and I burnt
I felt respect and its one living! “
Those lines mentioned above which have a deep philosophical meaning and can express course of life and creative way of Zulfiya were written at the bottom of the monument by a well-known sculptor Ravshan Mirkhojiyev according to the proposal of our President.
Since that time, welcoming spring by visiting to Zulfiya’s monument on the first day of March has been a sacred tradition for the creators and poetry livers.
The decree of the President of our Republic on 31st October 2014 “ On celebrating 100 anniversary of Zulfiya’s birthday” without any doubt made a new and high spirit to our spiritual life as a practical example of a great respect and honor to poetess’s image.
Dear friends!
As we know, Zulfiya was not only a well-known poetess, but also she was a gracious person who was honored with a respect and an esteem of our nation and community due to her exemplary and good qualities.
As Zahkiriddin Mukhammad Bobur gave a description: “There was no any educator as Alisherbek to the men of science and handicraft” we can say for a long time and give examples about our generous-hearty poetess Zulfiya that she was a real devoted person of our literature, affectionate and exacting teacher of youngsters.
Our old-aged writers can remember vey well that Zulfiya gave a practical help to her hundreds of students who came from different provinces to study and then became poetesses, scientists, professional artists and skillful teachers. Besides, she accepted some of them to her home as her children and brought up with love. Moreover, she read and answered to all letters which were sent to her home and regularly asked about the next destinies of the authors of letters.
It is not an exaggeration that especially, during her 30-years-leadership at the “Saodat” journal she gathered all women creators to the editorial office and brought up a big generation of poetesses.
When we observe a wide-range of reformations regarding showing abilities of talented youngsters ,particularly girls of our country and raising a position and prestige of women in our community, we think that the spirit of our incomparable teachers as Zulfiya will be happy who lived her whole life with such kind wishes and aspirations and wanted our nation and uzbek women to be better than others.
As she saw all difficulties and hard trials of life during her whole life, real human qualities like being sincere and hearty, considering others’ sorrows and good fortune as hers and striving to help them was a life belief of Zulfiya.
It is appropriate to give an example here.
As it is generally known Zulfiya was the first to support Pirimkhul Khodirov’s work named “Yulduzli tunlar” and even she published the former parts of it at “Saodat” journal. But, everyone knows very well tat writer was cast stones of blame at the Republic writer’s congress and then at the Central Committee’s plenum by a previous system.In such desperate situations Zulfiya was only person who was a spiritual support to the write rand who said “writer people must learn a true loyalty to the pencil from you” against unfair pressure and criticism regarding writer.
Zulfiya was very well known to a number of countries of the world. Especially, Eastern nations respected her as their poet. For that reason, our honorable poetess was rewarded with awards like India’s international prize “Javokharlal Neru” in 1968 and Asian and African writers’ movement prize “Nilufar” in 1971.
Firstly, Zulfiya was an uzbek girl. In all places she tried to keep nation’s dignity and pride by catching it so high.
She was worthy of nation’s esteem, since wherever she went could show uzbek women’s beautiful, courageous and proud spiritual appearance , wise and generous image in her example.
Therefore, we know that there are a lot of sincere and lofty opinions of well-known creators about Zulfiyakhonim’s unique talents and personality. It is natural that those thoughts will sound in our today’s circle.
Dear friends!
In this place it is an appropriate to imagine the time when our passionate poetess Zulfiya just entered to a field of literature at the 30th year of the past age.
In that time not looking at the pressure and violence of the previous ideology our sturdy creators like Abdulla Khodiriy , Fitrat , Chulpon , Gafur gulom , Oybekh , Khamid olimjon , Uygun , Mirtemir and Usmon Nosir were creating diligently.
As a great writer Mukhtor Avezov said “Creative works appeared in our literature were high and majestic like Pomir mountains, beautiful and miraculous as Chaykhovskhiy’s symphonies and permanent like “ O’tkan kunlar’.
Despite the fact that Zulfiya was young she entered to an enormous field of literature with a big heart and courage as said our prominent poet Abdulla Oripov. By touching a heaven of great people and even by taking the hands of experienced teachers she was able to find her place among such stars with her clear tune and voice.
If we take from the other side, that years were such a risky and dangerous, that life was in disorder, disasters and misfortune were pouring fourth to our grieving nation, bloody prohibition policy just had started to shade above great representatives of our literature and spirituality.
That time was such a oppressor period that a terrible system was taking a possession over the masters of an intelligence like Maryam Sultonmurodova, Tojikhon Shodiyeva and Sobira Kholdorova who were bright representatives of culture and literature.
Today, plenty of historical documents can prove that Zulfiya Isroilova’s family wasn’t out of violence and oppression of such a merciless system.
Poetess Zulfiya never digressed from her chosen way – the way of literature, humanity and kindness in such a dangerous moments , when writing a poem was equal to go with ember on hands and linked her whole life with an art of word.
Her lines on her poem that she wrote later:
“ Still my gilt on my property is poem”
“ Still my belief is truth, indeed”
One of her poems Zulfiya wrote “people call me lucky woman”. Indeed, an idea of “lucky woman” was seem to Zulfiya as a definition admitted by the public and as a bright symbol . we, the youth contemporaries of Zulfiya would think such about her.
But , after passing many years we understood that how poetess could carry all sorrows and grief in her tender body with patience and an endurance. She never fall into decay, undeserved reproaches couldn’t bend her strong will since she lived with searching for beam.
Let’s all think about it how a great patience and endurance are needed for a woman to combat all misfortunes , who separated from her two brothers and her little sister Buvinisa when they were too young. If her brother Normad Isroilov , who was a growing state and a public official was imprisoned and shot in 1937, she parted from her husband when she was in her 29 as our master poet said: “Half from life, orphan from love”.
By the way, about a patience!
As all of us know very well a prominent poet of Russian nation Khonstantin Simonov has a well-known poem “Wait me’. Since our ardent poet Khamid Olimjon translated that poem into our mother language so skillfully that even it had already been a famous uzbek music among our nation.
Therefore, it is not difficult to find someone who considers Khamid Olimjon as an author of this poem.
Each lines of that well-known poem, which sounds as an anthem of love and loyalty unintentionally can make any person shudder and be excited:
Wait me and I will come back
Only with a passionate waiting,
When you are tired of rain,
And when it is snowing.
Wait me and I will come back,
Even if you are so pale,
Never wish a goodness,
To those who says “he is away”.
May if they mourn,
Because of my absence,
My daughter, my mother and my sun,
May my friends drink the wine,
Because of the bitterness of parting,
But you wait and show the hardiness,
Even if your eyes are full of teardrops.
Wait me and I will come back,
By conquering a death,
May they say “he is doing well”,
Who did not wait me as you did.
Your amazing destiny,
May seem strange to others,
Cause you kept me safely,
By waiting me more than others.
Because of your great endurance,
Only you could wait me,
And I will tell only to you,
How could I live so safely.
Every time when we read and listen to that poem, we can feel and realize that those ardent lines seem as testament and as Khamid Olimjon foresaw his future destiny with Zulfiya. Then, we will be sure how a great divine miracle is a literature.
Unintentionally, we feel that due to the great patience and loyalty of Zulfiya , Khamid Olimjon is living his second life without falling into decay and by “conquering a death”.
Dear friends, all of us read several times the epic poems like Farhod va Shirin, Layli va Majnun and Vomiq va Uzro. In majority of situations, it is not a secret that we think that such a true love and an incomparable devotion and a loyalty only can be on stories.
But Zulfiya’s love and devotion to her husband was not a legend and yellowish pages. On the contrary, was not it a great truth and an edification which happened in front of our eyes in the XX century?
We can see this truth in the course of life, love, devotion to their darling in the example of tens of wise, courageous and patient women like Zarifa Saidnosirova, Khibriyo Khahhorova, Mukharram Gulomova, Fozila Sulaymonova and Saida Zunnunova who show a spiritual courage in tragic and hard times.
In that way, we are convinced of how selfless, confident and well-educated women lived in the same period with us. Thus, by making a bow with a childly love we express our deep thanks to our motherland for giving a birth to such open-hearted people and bringing them up as a real human.
Dear participants of our ceremony!
In her whole life Zulfiyakhonim lived with great wishes of writing deep and beautiful poems as a heart of our nation and wanting them to give a pleasure to thirsty souls as a handful water by living forever in the purest hearts.
“You make me thirsty,
You gave to drink,
O mu nation!
You are my desert and ocean of my heart!
I became so rich by loving you.
Cause you are my world in the world!”
Poetess sings her great love to her mother country in each poems of hers.
The most importantly, Zulfiyakhonim could reach a happiness of seeing such a prosperous, flourishing and free days. Poetess welcomed an independence of our motherland with a huge joy. Despite the fact that, she was in her honorable and a respectful age, she created with an agitated, clear voice and with an inspiration and a skill. By the last movements of her life she felt the sense of being responsible for the destiny of our motherland and made a valuable contribution to strength a spiritual basis of our independence.
It would be an exact truth that if we estimate her creative work of “Xotiram siniqlari” not only as a life poem of poetess, but as a fictional annals of hard and tragic times that our nation saw during a previous system. The poem was created with a high skill and calls us to live carefully by being aware of everything, appreciate and keep our independence and such bright days.
Dear friends!
People’s poetess of Uzbekistan Zulfiyakhonim wrote “ I am an indefatigable caravan travels without stopping” on her poem named ”Tong”.
Indeed, her life caravan which is full of with love, loyalty and beauty have not stopped yet and it is on its way of distant places. Happy and fortune journey of our honorable and selfless poetess to the hearts of our nation, to the millions of poetry lovers and to souls of the young and pure generation has been continuing by now.
As there is a literature, devotion and gentle senses of humanity in the world, the name of Zulfiya and Zulfiya’s poetry will live without falling into decay. Bright talent and an incomparable personality of our prominent poetess will stay forever as an example of servicing to our motherland with a pure love and devotion as its children.
