[FPSPACE] Chingiz Aitmatov has died

[agzak at optonline.net]

... and, probably it worth to mention that Aitmatov is forever "connected" to space with his "Buranny Polustanok," which, I guess, one can translate as "Snowstorm Junction," a powerful tale of life in Kazakhstan in the shadow of forbidden space center.    

Anatoly Zak
http://www.russianspaceweb.com

----- Original Message -----
From: Jim Oberg <jeoberg at comcast.net>
Date: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 5:43 pm
Subject: Chingiz Aitmatov has died
To: james oberg <jeoberg at comcast.net>

> A world voice has gone silent....
> 
> 
> RFE/RL
> June 11, 2008
> Kyrgyzstan: Chingiz Aitmatov, A Modern Hero, Dies
> By Tynchtykbek Tchoroev and Bruce Pannier
> 
> Kyrgyz author and former diplomat Chingiz 
> Aitmatov, whose mythical novels and stories were 
> widely acclaimed in the former Soviet Union, has 
> died at a clinic in Nuremberg in southern Germany. He was 79.
> 
> He had suffered lung and kidney failure after 
> falling ill three weeks ago while on a film set.
> 
> On May 16, Aitmatov was in the central Russian 
> city of Kazan, where a Russian film crew was 
> making a film based upon his novel and a 
> documentary about his life, when he complained of 
> feeling ill. He was quickly rushed to a local 
> hospital, and two days later flown out to a hospital in Germany.
> 
> Aitmatov's condition was reported to be serious 
> but stable until June 10. That morning, Kyrgyz 
> Culture Minister Sultan Rayev told RFE/RL's 
> Kyrgyz Service that the writer's health had 
> significantly worsened, but few expected that 
> this was the last day for the man who was 
> regarded as the conscience of his nation.
> 
> Aitmatov's works have been translated into more 
> than 170 languages and UNESCO said he was among 
> the world's most read contemporary authors. Some 
> of Aitmatov's books have been made into films in 
> Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Turkey.
> 
> 'An Author Of World Significance'
> 
> Among his many fans was former Soviet leader 
> Mikhail Gorbachev (Aitmatov also was one of his 
> advisers during the perestroika era.) On learning 
> the news of Aitmatov's death, Gorbachev called 
> the writer "my great friend" and said, "a person 
> has passed away who was close to us all."
> 
> Former Russian President and current Prime 
> Minister Vladimir Putin called Aitmatov's passing 
> a "great and irreplaceable loss for all of us," 
> adding that Aitmatov "will remain in our 
> memories" as a "great writer, thinker, and 
> humanitarian." New Russian President Dmitry 
> Medvedev also expressed his condolences.
> 
> Academician Abdyldajan Akmataliev, a scholar of 
> literature and the director of the center for the 
> study of "Manas," a Kyrgyz epic heroic poem, at 
> Kyrgyzstan's Academy of Sciences, describes 
> Aitmatov as "an author of world significance."
> 
> The Ataturk Culture, Language, and History High 
> Agency of Turkey set up a special committee 
> earlier this year to nominate Aitmatov for the 
> Nobel Prize in literature. Turkish Minister of 
> Culture and Tourism Ertugrul Gunai recently said 
> that representatives of culture ministries from 
> Turkic-speaking countries and regions, including 
> Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, 
> Uzbekistan, and also representatives from 
> Russia's republics of Tatarstan and 
> Bashkortostan, planned to forward Aitmatov's candidacy.
> 
> Turkish President Abdullah Gul was among the 
> first world leaders to respond to the news of 
> Aitmatov's death. He said it was a "loss not only 
> for Turkic countries, but for the whole world." 
> Gul went on to say Aitmatov's contribution to 
> literature and to the 20th century would "be 
> remembered with warmth and respect."
> 
> Writer For All Nations
> 
> Aitmatov was the son of a Kyrgyz father and Tatar 
> mother, but his writing transcended ethnic 
> barriers to the point where all Central Asians 
> considered him "their" writer, and indeed, 
> citizens of the Soviet Union came to consider him 
> "their" writer as well. His books were popular 
> for truthfully describing life in the Soviet 
> Union, but were sufficiently tempered to avoid 
> being considered outright criticism of the Soviet authorities.
> 
> In his book "The Day Lasts Longer Than 100 
> Years," Aitmatov coined the term "mankurt." The 
> book explored the feelings of a Kazakh man who 
> was torn between the traditions of his people and 
> the efforts of the Soviet government to create a 
> "Soviet person." A "mankurt" was a Central Asian 
> who had opted for being the "Soviet person," and 
> the term was adopted and used derisively by Central Asians.
> 
> Well-known Uzbek writer and political dissident 
> Muhammad Solih tells RFE/RL's Uzbek Service that 
> Aitmatov's death was a great loss for the 
> Turkic-speaking people. "He was one of the great 
> writers in the Turkic-speaking world," he says. 
> "He was a thinker, philosopher, and a great 
> symbol of the Turkic world." Solih says Aitmatov 
> embodied "the honor and dignity of al the Turkic 
> world in the 20th century. He was one of the 
> greatest geniuses of the Turkic literary world, I would say."
> 
> Representatives of other minorities of the former 
> Soviet Union, such as Nivkhis, Tajiks, and 
> others, would say the same. Russians also regard 
> him as "their" writer because Aitmatov wrote in 
> both Kyrgyz and Russian and his novels are taught 
> as modern Russian literature in Russia's secondary schools.
> 
> Representing Kyrgyzstan
> 
> For years, Aitmatov preserved his good image and 
> politicians of all stripes in his native 
> Kyrgyzstan sought his public support, hoping to 
> tap into Aitmatov's popularity. He was one of the 
> main intellectuals who endorsed the Kyrgyz 
> language's status in the 1980s, when few schools 
> were teaching in Kyrgyz in Bishkek (formerly 
> Frunze), the capital of Kyrgyzstan.
> 
> He was also good for Kyrgyzstan's image, drawing 
> positive attention to the small Central Asian 
> country similar to the kind of publicity that 
> former Czech President Vaclav Havel earned for 
> his country. His intellectual gathering, the 
> famous Issyk-Kul (Yssykkol) Forum founded in 
> 1986, was credited as being a major breakthrough 
> in creating a dialogue between intellectuals of the West and the 
> Soviet Union.
> 
> After independence in 1991, Aitmatov also served 
> as Kyrgyzstan's ambassador to European countries 
> (Belgium/Netherlands/Luxembourg and France), 
> UNESCO, the European Union, and NATO. Works by 
> Aitmatov have received numerous awards, including 
> Soviet-era accolades like the Order of Lenin, the 
> Gold Olive Branch of the Mediterranean Culture 
> Research Center, the Academy Award of the 
> Japanese Institute of Oriental Philosophy, and 
> the Austrian State Prize for European Literature. 
> He was also an academician of the Kyrgyz National 
> Academy (1974) and the Hero of Kyrgyzstan (1997).
> 
> Aitmatov's father, Torokul Aitmatov, one of the 
> first Soviet-period national officials in 
> Kyrgyzstan, was executed by the Stalin regime in 
> 1938 on charges of being an enemy of the people 
> and a pan-Turkist. His body, along with those of 
> other Kyrgyz intellectuals and leaders, were 
> recovered only after the Soviet collapse and the 
> Ata-Beyit (Father's Graveyard) memorial complex 
> to the victims of Stalinism was erected near 
> Bishkek in 1992 to inter them. The name Ata-Beyit 
> was given by Chingiz Aitmatov, who was one of the 
> first Kyrgyz writers to openly expose the Stalinist purge in the 
> 1980s.
> RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service interviewed the renowned 
> Kyrgyz writer on his 79th birthday on December 
> 12, 2007, while he was still serving as 
> ambassador to Brussels. He praised the role of 
> RFE/RL for the Soviet and post-Soviet societies, 
> saying that "we could not live without listening 
> daily" to RFE/RL in the 1980s. Aitmatov 
> encouraged RFE/RL and other media and democratic 
> institutions to continue their work. "Democracy 
> cannot be built at once, cannot be developed 
> overnight," he said. "Democracy has to be in 
> motion, as a stream, all the time."
> 
> For Aitmatov, mankind's main achievements were 
> spiritual. As he put it in August 2006, during a 
> meeting with Kyrgyz writers, poets, and 
> journalists in Bishkek, "Whatever the economic or 
> industrial achievements are, in the end any 
> achievements will be measured by culture and spirituality."
> 
> Aitmatov leaves behind a wife, three sons, and a daughter.
> 
> The Kyrgyz people say that two heroes made their 
> nation world-known: one is the epic hero of 
> "Manas," another is Chingiz Aitmatov. They will 
> say their last goodbye to this great son on June 
> 14, when Aitmatov will be buried with his father 
> in the Ata-Beyit memorial cemetery he helped 
> found. The Kyrgyz government has declared June 14 
> a day of mourning in his honor, and a special 
> state commission has been established to organize his funeral.
> 
> RFE/RL's Kyrgyz and Uzbek services contributed to this feature
> 

Anatoly Zak
http://www.russianspaceweb.com