Memoirs of East Turkestan Republic leader Alihan Tora Saghuni published in France as “Amer Turkestan”

The book “Turkiston Qayg'usi” (“The Sorrow of Turkestan”) by Alihan Tora Saghuni (1885–1976), leader of the East Turkestan Republic (1944–1946), has been published in France as “Amer Turkestan”. The 448-page edition was released on 23 October by Bleu Autour.

The work blends history and memoir: the author describes persecution by Soviet and Chinese authorities, the independence movement and the years he led the republic proclaimed in Ghulja in November 1944. Born in Tokmok, Saghuni was taken to the Soviet Union in 1946 and lived the rest of his life in Tashkent.

French historian and Orientalist Stéphane A. Dudoignon, a senior CNRS researcher, translated and edited the volume between 2024 and 2026 together with the author's son, Qutlughkhan, adding scholarly commentary. He presented it at the Rendez-Vous de l'Histoire festival near Blois on 9 October. It is the first translation of Saghuni's writings into a Western European language; an English edition is planned next.