Tag: East Turkistan

  • China Secretly Seizing Uyghur Men, Rights Group Says

    China Secretly Seizing Uyghur Men, Rights Group Says

    CBD69BD0 34F3 4E44 8857 1A078E7BBA31 w393 sChinese troops deployed in Urumqi in September.
    October 21, 2009
    BEIJING (Reuters) — Scores of Uyghur men have disappeared since deadly ethnic riots in far-west China in July, seized by security forces who refuse to tell their families anything about their fate, a rights group has said.

    Police and soldiers swept through Uyghur neighbourhoods of Urumqi, capital of northwestern Xinjiang region, in the days and weeks after the violence that killed nearly 200, bundling men into vans or marching them away, Human Rights Watch said.

    It gave first-hand accounts of more than 40 cases, but added that these were likely just “the tip of the iceberg.”

    Oil-rich Xinjiang is strategically located in Central Asia but is riven by ethnic tensions. Many Uyghurs feel they are becoming an impoverished minority in their own homeland, and are angered by restrictions on their culture and Islamic religion.

    Security forces moved in after protests by Uyghurs in Urumqi on July 5 exploded into bloody attacks on residents, especially Han Chinese.

    Streets were sealed off as police checked men’s bodies for injuries that could hint they took part in violence and asked where they were the during the riots, sometimes beating them.

    Police also burst into homes and offices and seized men without providing warrants or explanations, witnesses said, according to the report from the New York-based advocacy group.

    “Three of the policemen just twisted his arms and started dragging him out,” the report quoted one father saying of a raid which began when police kicked open the door of his home.

    After the Uyghur protests and violence, some Han Chinese also took to the streets, vowing to take revenge for the bloodshed.

    None of the Han Chinese interviewed reported disappearances, although the report said it was possible some had been affected.

    Official data on the number of people detained have been sporadic and sometimes confusing, but they suggest the number is above 1,000.

    A regional spokesman who declined to be named said he could not immediately comment on the report or number of people in detention, but added that figure was “constantly changing.”

    Uyghurs who did go to the police to ask about relatives were turned away or told there was no information, the report said.

    While China often detains people and refuses access by family or lawyers, these cases are different because there was no acknowledgement that someone was being held, the report said.

    https://www.rferl.org/a/China_Secretly_Seizing_Uyghur_Men_Rights_Group_Says/1857011.html
  • China publishes white paper on Xinjiang

    China publishes white paper on Xinjiang

     2009-09-21 15:14:40

    Full text: Development and Progress in Xinjiang

        BEIJING, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) — The Chinese government Monday published a white paper on the development and progress in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, stressing national unification, ethnic unity, social stability are the “lifeblood” for the region’s development and progress.

        The paper, released by the State Council Information Office, reviewed the profound changes that have taken place in the past 60 years in Xinjiang, which accounts for about one sixth of the country’s land territory.

        It also slammed the “East Turkistan” forces for seriously disrupting Xinjiang’s development and progress by trumpeting separatism and plotting and organizing a number of bloody incidents of terror and violence.

        The 52-page document is divided into seven sections: Swift Economic Development; Remarkable Improvement in People’s Lives; Steady Development of Social Programs; Preservation of Ethnic Cultures; Upholding Ethnic Equality and Unity; Protecting Citizens’ Rights of Freedom of Religious Belief; and Safeguarding National Unity and Social Stability.

        The great development and progress “should be attributed to the concerted efforts by all peoples of Xinjiang under the banner of solidarity of all ethnic groups, as well as to the success of China’s policies on ethnic minorities,” it said.

        Since the first century B.C., Xinjiang, historically the passage for land transport and civilized contact between Asia and Europe, has been an important part of China, and played a significant role in the construction and development of a unitary multiethnic country, it said.

        Prior to the founding ceremony of the People’s Republic of China on Oct. 1, 1949, Xinjiang witnessed its peaceful liberation. Peoples of Xinjiang, who had undergone great sufferings together with the people in other parts of the country, became the masters of the state, it said.

        Since 1949, particularly after China’s reform and opening-up in the late 1970s, Xinjiang has entered an era of rapid economic and social progress, with the local residents enjoying the most tangible benefits, according to the paper.

        The local GDP in 2008 stood at 420.3 billion yuan, which is 86.4 times higher than that of 1952, three years before the establishment of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, up 8.3 percent on average annually, it said.

        In 2008, the per-capita net income of farmers in Xinjiang was 3,503 yuan, which is 28 times more than that of 1978, while the per-capita disposable income of urban residents reached 11,432 yuan, which is 35 times more than that of 1978, it said.

        The great economic achievements are the results of concerted efforts by all peoples of Xinjiang, and of support from the central government and the entire nation.

        From 1950 to 2008, the central government invested 386.23 billion yuan in Xinjiang, accounting for 25.7 percent of the total investment in the region, it said.

        Huge progress was also made in areas including education, science, arts, health and medical services, employment, social security, as well as the preservation of ethnic cultures, according to the paper.

        In Xinjiang, citizens of every ethnic group enjoy the rights prescribed by the Constitution and laws, including freedom of religious belief, and rights to vote and stand for election, it said.

        According to the Constitution and laws, they also enjoy the rights to equally administer state affairs, to receive education, to use and develop their own spoken and written languages, and to preserve and advance the traditional culture of their own peoples, according to the paper.

        The number of Xinjiang’s cadres from minority ethnic groups was46,000 in 1955. It shot up to 363,000 in 2008, accounting for 51.25 percent of the total number of cadres in Xinjiang, it said.

        Most people of Xinjiang’s 10 major ethnic minority groups, with a total population of over 11.3 million, believe in Islam now, it said.

        The number of Islamic mosques has soared from 2,000 in the early days of the reform and opening-up drive to 24,300 now, and the body of clergy from 3,000 to over 28,000, according to the paper.

        “All these achievements would have been impossible for Xinjiang without national unification, social stability, or ethnic unity,” the paper said.

        However, for years, the “East Turkistan” forces in and outside Xinjiang have been trumpeting national separatism, and plotted and organized a number of bloody incidents of terror and violence, seriously jeopardizing national unification, social stability and ethnic unity, thus seriously disrupting Xinjiang’s development and progress, it said.

        “The ‘East Turkistan’ forces pose a severe threat to the development and stability of Xinjiang,” the paper said.

        The “East Turkistan” forces have seriously violated the basic human rights to life and development of all the peoples of Xinjiang, seriously interrupted the region’s economic development, and pose a threat to regional security and stability, it said.

        According to incomplete statistics, from 1990 to 2001, the “East Turkistan” forces both inside and outside China created more than 200 bloody incidents of terror and violence in Xinjiang, by means of explosions, assassinations, poisoning, arson, attacking, riots and assaults, it said.

        As a result, 162 citizens, including people of various ethnicities, cadres at the grassroots level and religious personnel, lost their lives, and over 440 were wounded, according to the paper.

        In 2002, they again organized several bloody incidents of terror and violence in Xinjiang. The most recent “July 5” riot in Urumqi caused huge losses in lives and property of the people of various ethnic groups, it said.

        By July 17, 2009, 197 people died (most being innocent victims)and over 1,700 were injured, with 331 shops and 1,325 motor vehicles destroyed or burned, and many public facilities were damaged, figures from the paper showed.

        “Ethnic unity is a blessing for all peoples, while separatism would be disastrous,” it said.

        “It has become clearer for the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang that national unification, ethnic unity, social stability, plus the coexistence and development in harmony of all peoples who share weal and woe are the lifeblood for the region’s development and progress,” the paper said.

  • Uyghur Leader: ‘Entire Turkic-Speaking World Rallied To Support Us’

    Uyghur Leader: ‘Entire Turkic-Speaking World Rallied To Support Us’

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    Rebiya Kadeer said that after the September 11 attacks in the United States, the Chinese government “used this opportunity to label us as terrorists because we are Muslims and [because] we are a Turkic nation.”

    September 17, 2009
    Rebiya Kadeer, the U.S.-based head of the World Uyghur Congress, is a controversial figure in her native land.

    Kadeer was once held up by Chinese authorities as a model for the promotion of interethnic harmony. A woman, a Muslim, and an ethnic Uyghur, she is a member of a nation that has for centuries inhabited the area now called the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, part of western China.

    The mother of 11 started a Laundromat in 1976, gradually expanded the business into a department store, then to a huge trade center, and by the mid-1990s was one of the five richest people in China.

    Kadeer was an active philanthropist, helping other Uyghur women start businesses and championing the cause of equality for Uyghurs and other minorities in China.

    Her criticism of Beijing’s handling of riots in the western Xinjiang city of Yining (also called Kuldja) in 1997 sparked her downfall. She lost her place in the National People’s Congress and the Political Consultative Conference and was forbidden to travel abroad.

    In 1999, she attempted to send newspaper articles to her husband, who was living in exile in the United States and promoting Uyghur rights. In August that year, Kadeer was detained as she prepared to meet a U.S. Congressional delegation looking into the situation in Xinjiang.

    She was convicted of divulging state secrets and endangering state security in 2000, and jailed until her early release on medical grounds in March 2005.

    Kadeer was elected president of the Uyghur American Association in May 2006 and president of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) in November of that year. Shortly afterward two of her sons in China were jailed and a Chinese court imposed a large fine on a third son for tax evasion.

    When rioting erupted between ethnic Uyghurs and Han Chinese in July this year the Chinese government said Kadeer and the WUC instigated the unrest.

    RFE/RL Kyrgyz Service director Tyntchtykbek Tchoroev and Tatar-Bashkir Service correspondent Metin Karismaz spoke with Kadeer while she was in Prague for an international conference on “Peace, Democracy, and Human Rights in Asia” recently.

    Asked about Chinese authorities’ attempts to brand Uyghur nationalists as terrorists, Kadeer said:

    “In a period after the ‘world terrorism’ term was introduced [in the West after September 11, 2001), the word ‘terrorist’ has been given to us as a negative label by the Chinese government. The government used this opportunity to label us as terrorists because we are Muslims and [because] we are a Turkic nation. They are saying that the Eastern Turkestan organization [Eastern Turkestan Liberation Front] is planning to carry out terrorist activities. They use the word as a tool to repress us [all Uyghurs].

    “Regarding the Eastern Turkestan terrorist organization, now even the Western world is studying whether it exists or not. Is there such a terrorist organization or not? America and the rest of the world are checking the information on that.”
    Dressed in traditional Uyghur clothing and with her hair in braids, the energetic and animated 62-year-old grandmother did not look the part of a “terrorist.” Speaking in a medieval cathedral in Prague (the venue for the conference), Kadeer said her goals and those of the WUC remain the same as they have been for years.

    “The World Uyghur Congress is struggling for the freedom of Uyghurs, for freedom, democracy, and human rights of all the Turkic nations in East Turkestan [the historical name of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region]. This organization is not terrorist. We are totally against any terrorist activities in the world. We are against any kind of violence.”

    Chinese authorities have labeled the Eastern Turkestan Liberation Front, which is not affiliated with the WUC, as a terrorist organization and made connections between that group and well-known terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda. Beijing has hinted that the WUC might be connected to Al-Qaeda also.

    Kadeer dismissed such accusations:

    “How could we have such a ties [with Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations]? You see we live in America, and America helps us financially and supports us, and we are sitting here today attending a [respected] international forum. If we had ties with [terrorists], then they would not invite us to this kind of forum.”

    Chinese authorities have blamed Uyghurs for the string of “syringe attacks” that have taken place in Xinjiang since July. Chinese medical officials said this week that none of the victims they treated were infected with any diseases or injected with poisons.

    Kadeer (right) with former President Vaclav Havel (left) and the Dalai Lama in Prague
    Kadeer said the WUC has never promoted such a response to Chinese crackdowns on the Uyghur community in Xinjiang, and that the figures for such attacks are in any event inflated due to opportunists.

    “As far as I have heard, in the event of a needle case, a victim would get 200,000 yuan ($30,000) from the Chinese government. That is why there were some cases when some Chinese pretended to be victims of such an attack. Now, even the Chinese government is itself checking into such claims. But we don’t have any relation to such attacks.”

    Not ‘Uyghuristan’

    Kadeer insisted she only wishes that the traditional lands of Turkic peoples in inner Asia be governed by Turkic peoples again.

    “This land belongs to all the Turkic nations living there. There was West Turkestan and East Turkestan. There had been a [united] Turkestan in the past. East Turkestan is the common land for all of us who are living there.

    “We don’t say that it belongs only to Uyghurs. That is why we are using the term East Turkestan, otherwise we would say only Uyghuristan. We live together with our [historic] relatives. That is why we are for [the people of] East Turkestan to [be able to] live together with our relatives.”

    Kadeer said she understands why governments in neighboring Central Asian states were reluctant to give public support to Uyghurs in China and in some cases have handed over fugitive Uyghurs to the Chinese authorities.

    “I did not think that it was a right decision. However, I don’t blame them because they were led by politics. They did it due to politics. But their people don’t do such thing toward us. Their people, our brothers, don’t do it.

    “Today’s world is where we live now. Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tatarstan is tomorrow’s day. If today China is oppressing us, maybe [the same] will come to them tomorrow. Our brothers have to understand this [danger].”

    But Kadeer said Uyghurs, and other Turkic peoples in Xinjiang, have the support of the people in the region once called Western Turkestan.

    “The whole Turkic-speaking world rallied to support us. The Tatar brothers held a demonstration in Crimea. Our brothers in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan held demonstrations or silent pickets supporting us.

    “That is why I feel that I am not alone. We have brothers supporting us. That is why I believe that the Uyghur Turks will not disappear [as a nation from the historic stage].”

    https://www.rferl.org/a/Uyghur_Leader_Entire_TurkicSpeaking_World_Rallied_To_Support_Us/1824878.html

  • EU Parliament Rights Head Calls For Uyghur Inquiry

    EU Parliament Rights Head Calls For Uyghur Inquiry

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    A U.S.-based Uyghur group issued this photo soon after the Xinxiang violence erupted, showing clashes in Urumqi.

    September 01, 2009

    BRUSSELS (Reuters) — The head of the European Parliament’s human rights committee has backed a call for an independent international inquiry into deadly riots in northwest China’s Xinjiang region in July.

    “We have got some quite worrying information about events of July 5,” Heidi Hautala told a joint news conference with Rebiya Kadeer, exiled leader of China’s largely Muslim Uyghur ethnic group who earlier addressed the parliamentary committee.

    “I believe that there is a case for an independent international investigation so that all human rights violations from all sides can be cleared and investigated,” Hautala said.

    She said such an inquiry should be conducted by the United Nations with the backing of the European Union.

    In Xinjiang’s worst ethnic violence in decades, Uyghur rioters attacked majority Han Chinese in Urumqi on July 5 after taking to the streets to protest against attacks on Uyghur workers at a factory in south China in June in which two Uyghurs died. Han Chinese in Urumqi sought revenge two days later.

    The violence left 197 people dead, mostly Han Chinese, and wounded more than 1,600, according to official figures.

    Uyghurs, a Turkic people who are largely Muslim and share linguistic and cultural bonds with Central Asia, make up almost half of Xinjiang’s 20 million people.

    Kadeer said some 10,000 Uyghurs were missing following the riots and accused the Chinese Communist government of pursuing a policy resembling “cultural genocide” in what Uyghurs call East Turkestan.

    She called in July on the international community to send an independent investigative team to the site of the riots.

    “The arrests and detentions continue,” she told the news conference, adding that most were teenage students who, she said, were being tortured in detention.

    Kadeer accused the Chinese authorities of using the international battle against Islamist militancy and the global economic downturn as pretexts to repress the Uyghur people.

    https://www.rferl.org/a/EU_Parliament_Rights_Head_Calls_For_Uyghur_Inquiry/1812564.html

  • Uyghur Diaspora Faces Government Pressure in Kyrgyzstan

    Uyghur Diaspora Faces Government Pressure in Kyrgyzstan

    Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 6 Issue: 156
    August 13, 2009 12:25 PM Age: 1 days
    By: Erica Marat

     

    On August 10, Kyrgyz authorities detained Dilmurat Akbarov, the leader of the Ittipak Uyghur society, and his deputy Jamaldin Nasyrov. These leaders had organized demonstrations calling for an independent investigation into last month’s riots in Xinjiang. They featured images and posters accusing Beijing of implementing cruel policies against Uyghurs in Xinjiang. According to the Kyrgyz authorities, approximately 500 people participated in the event in Bishkek (www.akipress.kg, August 10).

    The exact reasons for the arrests on August 10 remain unknown, since the government has avoided making any official statements. Many experts in Bishkek believe that these arrests demonstrate the Kyrgyz government’s agreement with Beijing’s policies. The arrested leaders are likely to be released soon, but their future activity based on criticizing the Chinese government will be discouraged.

    Over 50,000 ethnic Uyghurs live in Kyrgyzstan, but unofficial records claim that the actual number is much higher. Demonstrations against Beijing’s policy in Xinjiang took place in Almaty and Bishkek in July, but received little attention from the local media.

    Ittipak strived to maintain constructive relations with the Kyrgyz regime. The organization is part of the Peoples’ Assembly of Kyrgyzstan, a government body uniting different ethnic minorities. Its former leader Nigmat Bazakov was killed in 2000, allegedly by his enemies who disagreed with his overly-loyal relations with the Kyrgyz regime. At this time China’s influence within Central Asia was becoming more noticeable, according to Rustam Mukhamedov, a New-York based expert. Since then, local reports on Uyghur separatist and terrorist organizations have saturated the local media, while the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) quickly turned into a regional guarantor of security. China and Russia, both facing separatist movements at home, are the SCO’s leading members.

    Bishkek has consistently complied with Beijing’s directives in relation to the Uyghur diaspora. Mukhamedov said that Ittipak is under the close scrutiny of the interior ministry. The August 10 demonstrations were not allowed before the recent presidential election. They were also sanctioned to take place in the outskirts of Bishkek. While only two hours were allocated for the demonstrations, the activists were arrested within the first hour, halting the entire event. Ittipak leaders’ harsh criticism of Beijing’s policies expressed at the August 10 demonstrations came as a surprise to the Kyrgyz authorities. As one Kyrgyz expert told Jamestown, the top ranks of the Peoples’ Assembly of Kyrgyzstan, in which Ittipak is a member, are likely to be sacked soon for allowing these anti-Chinese demonstrations to take place.

    As Chinese influence in Kyrgyzstan increased, Ittipak struggled to balance its image between supporting the Uyghur legacy and avoiding being labeled as an extremist organization. This prompted its leaders to publicly express their support for the regime. According to Akbarov, the diaspora supports Kyrgyzstan’s development by organizing charity work, helping veterans and the victims of earthquakes, and promoting the incumbent government (www.ittipak.biz). Most of Ittipak’s initiatives are funded through contributions by local Uyghur businessmen.

    Ittipak hopes to celebrate its twentieth anniversary this year. In 2004, the diaspora encountered difficulties in commemorating its fifteenth anniversary. Since then, Ittipak members have avoided mentioning their ideas in the mass media about the unity of the Uyghur peoples across Central Asia and Western China. Due to the August 10 demonstrations, this year’s celebrations are also likely to fail, further complicating the Kyrgyz regime’s relations with the Uyghur diaspora.

    Both former president Askar Akayev and the incumbent Kurmanbek Bakiyev have utilized the Peoples’ Assembly to promote support for the government among the country’s ethnic minorities. Local diasporas were allowed some freedom to stage cultural events and preserve their customs and traditions, but were equally expected to support the regime. In this way, Ittipak also supported Bakiyev in the July 23 election, convincing Uyghurs in Kyrgyzstan to vote for him (www.ittipak.biz, June 2). Likewise, the leaders of other ethnic minorities such as the Dungans and Koreans are forced to maintain friendly relations with the regime.

    As a member of the SCO, Kyrgyzstan is under strong geopolitical pressure from its larger neighbors. The diaspora was officially warned by the Kyrgyz government to avoid undermining Kyrgyzstan’s relations with China (www.akipress.kg, August 10). Ombudsman Tursunbek Akun promised to investigate the arrest of the Ittipak activists, but he suggested that the movement must terminate its demonstrations.

    Last month’s riots in Xinjiang revealed strong sentiments among Central Asian Uyghurs about their shared history and identity. Consequently, family ties were rediscovered between the Uyghurs in Kyrgyzstan and China. “The majority of Uyghurs have relatives back in East Turkistan. Therefore, people are worried about their relatives,” Mukhamedov told Jamestown.

    https://jamestown.org/program/uyghur-diaspora-faces-government-pressure-in-kyrgyzstan/

  • Kyrgyzstan Uyghur Leaders Detained After Protest

    Kyrgyzstan Uyghur Leaders Detained After Protest

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    Ethnic Uyghur women grab at a riot police officer as they protest in Urumqi in China’s far west Xinjiang Province in July

    August 10, 2009

    BISHKEK (Reuters) — Kyrgyzstan police have detained two Uyghur community leaders after they accused China of “state terrorism” at a rally and called for an independent investigation of last month’s clashes in neighboring Xinjiang.

    About 500 Uyghurs gathered at a building on the outskirts of the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek on August 10 with photographs posted to the walls showing what they said was abuse of their kinfolk in China.

    The pictures portrayed people being beaten up and held at gunpoint, as well as depicting unconscious or dead people lying in the streets.

    In Xinjiang’s worst ethnic unrest in decades, Uyghurs staged protests in the regional capital Urumqi on July 5 after two Uyghurs were killed in a clash at a factory in south China in June.

    The violence left 197 people dead and more than 1,600 wounded, mostly Han Chinese who launched revenge attacks in Urumqi days later, according to the Chinese government.

    About 1,000 people, mostly Uyghurs, have been detained in a government crackdown.

    “The Chinese started mass pogroms on June 26, scores of people have been killed, but the Chinese government is concealing those facts,” Dilmurat Akbarov, the head of local Uyghur society Ittipak [Unity], told a meeting.

    “We demand that those responsible are punished.”

    People in the crowd chanted “Freedom to Uyghurs” and banners reading “We accuse China of state terrorism against the Uyghur people” hung on the walls.

    The police did not interfere but detained Akbarov and his deputy Zhamaldin Nasyrov after the protest was over.

    Kyrgyzstan’s ombudsman Tursunbek Akun, who was present at the rally, told reporters Akbarov and Nasyrov were held for staging a rally not sanctioned by the government.

    https://www.rferl.org/a/Kyrgyzstan_Uyghur_Leaders_Detained_After_Protest/1796440.html