Qizil Tugh

Qizil Tugh (Uyghur: Қизил туғ, 'Red Banner') was a Uyghur language newspaper published from Alma-Ata, Soviet Union 1935-1938. It was an organ of the Alma-Ata Regional Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Kazakhstan and the Alma-Ata Regional Executive Committee.^[1][2]

The publication was initially named Qizil Bairaq (also meaning 'Red Banner').^[3] Qizil Tugh appeared three times a week, and had a circulation of 3,000 copies.^[2] The first issue was published on October 26, 1935.^[1] The editors of Qizil Tugh, at different times, were I. Tairov, N. Sharipov and M. Abdullin (Mukhpul).^[2]

The launch of Qizil Tugh was a milestone in development of Uyghur language-press and Uyghur culture in the Soviet Kazakhstan.^[2] The publication strictly followed the party line, and carried out propaganda work towards the Uyghur community.^[2] The newspaper was part of the campaign to complete the Second Five-Year Plan in four years and agitated in favour of the Stakhanovite movement to increase production outputs.^[2] The ideological line of the newspaper was derived from publications such as Pravda, Kazakhstanskaya Pravda and Sotsialistik Kazakhstan.^[2]

Qizil Tugh provided a publishing platform for young Uyghur poets and writers, and carried literary critique articles on Uyghur-language works.^[2] The newspaper published poems by Izim Iskanderov [ru], Qadir Hasanov [kk], H. Turdi, Nasreddin Mansurov, I. Rozi and Ismayil Sattarov [kk].^[2] The latter made his literary debut in the pages of Qizil Tugh in 1936.^[4]

The last issue of Qizil Tugh was published on April 11, 1938.^[1]