The East Turkestan Republic
On December 22, 1949 the People’s Republic of China occupied the independent East Turkistan Republic, leading to many East Turkistanis including senior military and government officials to flee to the Soviet Union.
Over the decades since China occupied East Turkistan, various East Turkistani entities played the role of a de-facto government in exile but were unable to find a friendly nation willing to host them as an official government in exile.
The East Turkistan Government in Exile was finally formally established on September 14, 2004, as an official government in exile in Washington, DC, by prominent Uyghur, Kazakh and other East Turkistani independence leaders representing over a dozen organizations from across the East Turkistani / Uyghur diaspora following the dissolution of the East Turkistan National Congress (ETNC).
The East Turkistan Government in Exile is a democratic body with a representative Parliament. The primary leaders — President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Speaker (Chair) of Parliament, and Deputy Speaker (Chair) of Parliament — are democratically elected by the Parliament members from all over the East Turkistani diaspora in the General Assembly.
The East Turkistan Government-in-Exile (ETGE), the Government in Exile of the Republic of East Turkistan, is the democratically elected official body representing East Turkistan and its people.
The Prime Minister forms the Government’s Cabinet with the President, the Speaker (Chair), and Deputy Speaker (Chair) of the Parliament’s approval. The Members of Parliament are elected by the diaspora community in their respective host nations. Elections occur every four years, and all members of the Parliament serve a four-year term and can be re-elected.
The East Turkistan Government in Exile has close contacts and working relations with most East Turkistan and Uyghur organizations across the world that peacefully promote restoring independence, human rights, religious freedom, and democracy for East Turkistan and all of its people.
The East Turkestan issue is a national issue for over 85 million people living in Turkey…The East Turkestan issue is the issue of everyone who says..’I am a Muslim’, moreover, the East Turkestan issue is a human issue.
So Uyghur NGOs organised multiple meetings in Turkey on Saturday to commemorate the formation of the First (1933) and Second (1944) East Turkestan republics and reaffirm their resolve for independence.
The Uyghur community living in exile in Turkey celebrated the creation of the two short-lived republics with great enthusiasm as they turned out in large numbers.
The speakers at the meeting included East Turkestan Federation leader Mahmud Amin Damollah, Uyghur Science and Marifet Foundation president Habibullah Koseini, president of East Turkestan National Assembly Seyit Tumturk and writer Kamer Artis. The speakers highlighted the ‘hunger genocide’ being perpetrated in East Turkestan by Chinese authorities in the garb of controlling the Covid-19 pandemic.
They also took a promise from the gathering that East Turkestan is our homeland and we will continue to strive and fight for its independence from Chinese ‘occupation’.
The International Union of East Turkestan NGOs led by chairman Hidayetullah Oghuzhan organized another gathering at Istanbul Beylikduzu Kaya Hotel & Convention Centre, which saw enthusiastic participation from the community, religious leaders/ Ulemas and Uyghur academics, among others.
Chairman Hidayetullah Oghuzhan spoke about the need to understand and highlight the Chinese ‘genocidal policy’ against Uyghurs and other ethnic groups.
He called upon the International community to increase its engagement with East Turkestan and that Uyghurs should continue to strive towards the formation of a sovereign Uyghur nation. The gathering was attended by around 800-900 persons.
Meanwhile, another East Turkestan Republic Commemoration meeting was organized by the Uyghur Science and Civilization Research Foundation, World Uyghur Congress Foundation, Uyghur Academy, East Turkestan Research Foundation and Isa Yusuf Alptekin Foundation at Canakaya, Ankara.
Among the participants were nearly 200 delegates comprising NGO representatives, politicians, academics and journalists.
Faruk Bal, a former minister of state spoke on the assimilation policies being followed by the Chinese regime adding, “In the 21st century, Uyghur Turks are being massacred in front of the eyes of the world…people are taken from their homes in groups….to camps only because they are Uyghur, Kazakh or Kyrgyz….and subjected to the most brutal tortures you can think of in the camps.”
Dr Oghuzhan Aydin head of Turkish Language and Literature department at Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University said, “We should never be hopeless in our struggle for East Turkestan’s independence. Our goal is to perform the morning prayer on the Great Wall of China, our red apple.”
Istanbul Beykent University faculty member, Magfiret Kemal Yunusoglu, talked about the role of Uyghur women in the struggle for East Turkestan’s independence and also alleged torture on them in East Turkestan internment camps.
A panel discussion on ‘Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow and East Turkestan’ was organized at Baris Manco Kultur Merkezi, Bursa to discuss the ‘genocidal policy’ of China in East Turkestan. The programme was hosted by Bursa Yildrim Municipality and moderated by Dr Erdem Ozdemir from Bursa Uludag University. A presentation was also made on ‘East Turkestan Problem in International Law Framework and Attitude of States’.
While Abdulkadir Uyghur spoke about the ‘cruelties’ perpetrated by the Chinese authorities, the President of Yusuf Facedluler Association, Advocate Veysel Akin delved into Turkiye’s attitude towards the issue and what can be done.
Recently Turkiye Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu along with senior officials of the Turkish Directorate of Migration Management met with a high-level Chinese delegation consisting of Deputy Minister of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China, Du Hongwei, First Deputy Minister of Public Security of the Uyghur Autonomous Region, Pan Xi, Deputy Director General of the Anti-terrorism department of the Ministry of Public Security of China, Gao Fei, and Chinese Ambassador to Ankara, Liu Shaobin.
The meeting sparked concerns and drew criticism from the Uyghur community and its leaders that the Chinese agenda were aimed at restricting Uyghur activities in Turkiye, which may lead to the extradition of Uyghurs on the pretext of their being involved in criminal activities.
