Kasym Tynystanov (1901-1938) was born in the village of Chyrpykty in the Issyk-Kul region. He is one of the founders of Kyrgyz linguistics and professional literature. At the same time, he was one of the active creators of Kyrgyz journalism. He began his journalistic career from 1919 to 1924 while studying at the Kazakh-Kyrgyz Institute of Education in Tashkent. He actively collaborated with the editorial offices of the Kazakh newspaper "Ak-Zhol" ("The Right Road") and the magazine "Zhas Kairat" ("Young Force").
In 1925-1926, K. Tynystanov worked as a secretary and then as the head of the department of the Kyrgyz Autonomous Region at the Academic Center of the Turkestan Republic. During the same period, from August to October 1925, he served as the acting editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Erkin-Tuu". From 1927 to 1930, while serving as the People's Commissar of Education of the Kyrgyz ASSR, he actively participated in the establishment of the magazine "Zhanı Madeniyat Jolunda" ("On the Path to a New Culture") - the present-day magazine "El Agartuu" ("Enlightenment"), and from its inception until 1931, he was the editor-in-chief of this magazine.
During these years, numerous articles of his were published in this magazine and in the newspaper "Kyzyl Kyrgyzstan" about cultural and educational work in the republic, the study and publication of examples of Kyrgyz oral folk art, the scientific development of socio-political, scientific-technical, and other terms, issues related to the transition to a new alphabet for the Kyrgyz language, various problems of the development of popular education, the national language, etc. Some of them include: "Ten Years of Struggle for a New Alphabet in Kyrgyzstan," "On the Influence of Foreign Terms on the Kyrgyz Language," "A New Project for the Kyrgyz Literary Language," "New Village," and others. In 1933, he, along with I. Toychynov, published a collection of socio-political terms.
K. Tynystanov was not only an outstanding linguist but also a talented poet, translator, and playwright. He translated the revolutionary song "Internationale," fables by I. Krylov, wrote several plays, and published a collection of poetic works.
On false charges, K. Tynystanov was repressed and executed in 1938, later rehabilitated.
One of the first founders of Kyrgyz journalism is Aaly Tokombaev - later an academician and the national poet of Kyrgyzstan (1904-1988). He was born in the village of Chon-Kemin in the Kemin district of the Chui region. His poem "The Time of October Has Come" was published in the first issue of the first national newspaper "Erkin-Tuu".
In 1927, after graduating from the Central Asian Communist University in Tashkent, A. Tokombaev returned to Kyrgyzstan, initially working as the head of the department of public education in the Chui canton, then as the editor-in-chief of the republican newspaper "Kyzyl Kyrgyzstan".
From that time on, his entire life was closely connected with Kyrgyz journalism and literature. He also worked as the editor of the Kyrgyz sector of Tsentrizdat in Moscow and as the editor of the Kyrgyz State Publishing House. From 1934 to 1949, A. Tokombaev was the chairman of the Writers' Union of Kyrgyzstan, the editor of the magazine "Soviet Kyrgyzstan," and the director of the Institute of Language, Literature, and History of the Kyrgyz branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In the 1950s, he was the editor-in-chief of the satirical magazine "Chalkan" ("Nettle"). He authored numerous journalistic and literary-critical articles. The most famous among them, published in the 1920s and 1930s, include: "The Task of Teachers During Summer Vacation" ("Erkin-Tuu," June 29, 1927), "The Masses - for a Major Campaign" ("Communist," No. 3-4, 1928), "Nothing is Given for Free" ("Kyzyl Kyrgyzstan," February 8, 1929), "Literature of Kyrgyzstan is Growing and Strengthening" ("Soviet Kyrgyzstan," April 29, 1934), and many others.
In the birth and development of Kyrgyz journalism, much effort and skill were contributed by the first professional journalist Syidyk Karachev (1900-1938), who was born in the village of Zhylyu-Bulak in the Tyup district of the Issyk-Kul region. As the responsible secretary, he did significant work in preparing and publishing the first and subsequent issues of the newspaper "Erkin-Tuu" in Tashkent and Pishpek. One of the employees of the first Kyrgyz newspaper, later a well-known Kyrgyz linguist K. Karasaev, recalled: "In those days, the responsible secretary S. Karachev worked with me and other editorial staff. He never tired of explaining to us how to prepare materials for the newspaper, how to write correspondences, articles, essays, and other journalistic genres."
In the second issue of the newspaper "Erkin-Tuu," a large, meaningful poem by S. Karachev titled "Erkin-Tuu" was published. It poetically outlined the main tasks of the newspaper and served as a kind of appeal from the editorial board to the readers regarding the release of the first issues of the national newspaper. S. Karachev worked in "Erkin-Tuu" and then in "Kyzyl Kyrgyzstan" until 1930. During this time, he wrote numerous leading and propaganda articles, sketches, essays, and literary reviews. As recalled by the national poet of Kyrgyzstan A. Toktomushev, S. Karachev spoke and wrote well in Russian, Uzbek, Kazakh, and Tatar, which allowed him to systematically engage in translations of literary and journalistic texts into Kyrgyz from these languages. The republican newspaper regularly published materials from central newspapers and magazines translated by him. Later, S. Karachev worked for several years as the responsible secretary of the editorial board of the newspaper "Kyzyl Pakhtachy" ("Red Cotton Picker") in the Osh region and as a translator at the Kyrgyz State Publishing House.
Syidyk Karachev also worked extensively on artistic works and their translations. Here is what he wrote about it himself:
"What do I bring to the first congress of Kyrgyz writers? First of all, recently I have written a number of stories based on our contemporary material. Among them, I want to highlight 'Torn Strings,' 'Why Sabira Cried,' 'The Concern of Sagyndyk.' In addition, I have made the first translations of stories by Henri Barbusse into Kyrgyz, one of which, 'Face to Face,' is already being published in the newspaper 'Kyzyl Kyrgyzstan.' I am also working on translations of prose by local Russian authors."
He was repressed in 1938 and executed, later rehabilitated.
The famous linguist and academician Kuseyin Karasaev (1901-1993) was born in the village of Ken-Suu in the Tyup district of the Issyk-Kul region. In 1924, while studying at the Tashkent Institute of Education, he was invited to participate in the preparatory work for the publication of the newspaper "Erkin-Tuu" in the Kyrgyz language.
At first, he was assigned to deal with issues of the orthography of the Kyrgyz language, which was then based on the Arabic alphabet. In addition, he performed various editorial tasks. For example, he was a copyist of the newspaper's materials for submission to the typesetter, in other words, he worked instead of a typist, and also served as a proofreader. He then became a correspondent and joined the first editorial board of "Erkin-Tuu," established in 1924 by the Kyrgyz regional committee of the RCP(b) consisting of seven people. His notes and correspondences were published in the first issues of the newspaper, often under the pseudonym "Zharkyn" ("Bright"). At the end of 1924, when the editorial office moved to the city of Pishpek, K. Karasaev remained in Tashkent as a correspondent for "Erkin-Tuu" until the end of his studies. After graduating from the institute, he returned to Kyrgyzstan and continued to collaborate with the editorial office of this newspaper as a freelance correspondent. In his memoirs, the scholar provided interesting and instructive examples of his diligent and effective work as a staff and freelance correspondent for a periodic printed publication. Here is one such example. K. Karasaev, while working as a staff correspondent for the newspaper "Erkin-Tuu" in Tashkent, and then as its freelance correspondent in Pishpek, attracted several responsible workers from party, Soviet, and economic organizations to collaborate with the newspaper as authors. This was not an easy task. He had to approach them repeatedly, persuading them to work on compiling materials. He recounted this himself:
"At that time, I was working in the group producing the newspaper 'Erkin-Tuu.' Jusup Abdrakhmanov was the responsible secretary of the Turkispolkom in Tashkent. I kept asking him to write us an article.
- Where can we get an article? - he smiled, - I studied in a Russian school. To write an article, one must have a good command of the Kyrgyz language.
- Write as you can, and we will correct it and publish it, - I urged him. During that period, a special friendship and closeness developed between us. One day, I went directly to his home to get another article out of him... Later, when he held the post of Chairman of the Kyrgyz People's Commissariat, he himself began to offer us articles."
Expressing special respect and gratitude to this person, it should be noted that he, working in the apparatus of the first Kyrgyz newspaper from its inception as a journalist, and then actively collaborating in all media of the republic as a freelance correspondent and author, left a number of valuable memories with bright, rich, and instructive thoughts, observations, and reflections on the historical stages of the formation and development of Kyrgyz journalism and its well-known, original, and talented representatives who gained nationwide recognition: about K. Tynystanov, O. Aliev, S. Karachev, T. Aitmatov, T. Baijiev, and others.
