On the 4th of September, a poet and translator, a patriot of Crimean Tatar people Yunus Qandim would have been 60. He was too young when he left this life, but his contribution to Crimean Tatar literature is invaluable. “Avdet” suggests us to recollect the poet’s creative and public activity. His children helped us to make a list of twenty facts about this outstanding person.
- Yunus Qandim was born in a family of a native of Urkusta village (nowadays Peredovoe village, near Sevastopol) Nadzhie Umerova and Turkmen named Oraza Qandimov, one of the victims of dispossession of kulaks.
- Qandim – it is the name of the poet’s great grandfather. Also, it is a name of a herb that can grow and survive in deserts thanks to its long and strong roots.
- According to the poet’s children, a generation of teachers and philologists begins from Tair – odzha Umerov, who was among those exceptions without any nickname – “lagap”. Tair Umerov was shot in 1938.
- A lot of people wonder about how did Yunus Qandim, during 45 years, manage to do so much? According to his daughter, the poet had almost a regime of a soldier. He had a night of limited sleep. The time between 3 am and 4 am considered to be ” an hour of Yunus Qandim” because he used to wake up early. He also died at that time.
- In 2001 he was awarded by a title of HonoredArt Figure of Ukraine.
- One of the most favorable hobbies was fishing.
- Yunus Qandim believed in the development of Crimean Tatar literature, made many efforts for it. For instance, he organized an All-Crimean contest of young talents – “Qirim – Menim Vatanim” (“Crimea is my Motherland”), named by Yunus Qandim. Besides that, he initiated a work of a young poets club “Ilham”.
- There are three streets in Crimea named by Yunus Qandim: in Sudak, Yevpatoriya and Bahchisaray region.
- Together with his wife he brought up three children: Timur, Emir and Khatidzhe (three grandchildren).
- His wife Sabrie is one of the publishers of Yunus Qandim’s works that haven’t been published yet. Among them such books as “Yureknen qaplagan yer”, “Kuneshchik”, poems for children, “Yuqu yoqtir kozlerde”.
- Together with a Ukrainian poet Mikola Miroshnichenko (Mikola-emce, how children called him) had published the first anthology of the Crimean Tatar poetry “Kuneshten bir parcha”. This book has included a period from the 13th century until nowadays. Besides that, they have published the first anthology of the Crimean Tatar prose in two books “Qarilgachlar duasi”. Moreover, they were publishers of such books as “Kuresh meydanini ot basmaz” – historical work dedicated to Noman Celebidzhihan, and “Qurultay. O nasil olgan edi” – about the First Qurultay of Crimean Tatars.
- Yunus Qandim wrote the first monograph about Noman Chelebidzhihan.
- More then 30 song were written using the poems of Yunus Qandim: “Destan”, Edip Asanov, Leniye Izmylova, Zera Kendzhikaeva, etc. (“Milletim”, “Qirimtatarim men”, Selam sana, Qara deniz”, “Bekle”, Seyleshtim tushumde”, “Unutma tek”).
- Edip Asanov has devoted his composition “Elegiya” (Yangiz Yildiz) to Yunus Qandim. According to Qandim’s daughter, the music describes her father’s character and personality very precisely.
- Among the poet’s works, there are not only lyrical, philosophic and patriotic poems but also plenty of stories, publications, and translations.
- Yunus Qandim was one of the first who got Crimean Tatar readers acquainted with novelist Dzhengiz Dagdzhi, with whom they had been in touch. He translated four novels from Turkish into Crimean Tatar language: “Qorqunch yillar”, “Olar da insan edi”, “Yurtuni gayip etken adam”, “Anama mektupler”.
- Yunus Qandim was the first after Shagin Geray and Yunus Temirkaya who tried to write palindromic poems (that could be read the same from the beginning and the end) not changing the meaning.
- He had translated the drama of Lesya Ukraiinka ” Lisova Pisnya” (” Orman turkusi”) that later was performed in the Crimean Tatar Theatre.
- Yunus Qandim had translated “Kavkaz” and much more among Taras Shevchenko’s pieces into the Crimean Tatar language. Translated Gamzatov and Voznesenskiy, and a lot of works from Uzbek, Karakalpak, Russian, Belorussian, Kazakh, and other languages.
- Yunus Qandim had translated a lot of works by P. Tychina, V. Sosyura, A. Krymskiy, P. Kotsubinskiy, L. Ukraiinka from Ukrainian into Crimean Tatar language.
