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ETIC HUMAN RIGHTS
REPORT 2004 - 2005.
1 - POLICY OF DOUBLE STANDARDS IN CHINA IN THE LAW
2 - CONTINUED VIOLATION OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
3- COMPULSARY CHANGE OF UYGHUR EDUCATION TO BE IN
CHINESE LANGUAGE
4 - VIOLATION OF THE UYGHUR PEOPLES RIGHTS OF FREE
TOUGHT, FREE EXPRESSION OF THOUGHT AND FREE ACCESS TO
INFORMATION
Since
the Chinese Communist occupied East Turkistan in 1949,
they continued with state terror and in breach of
concepts adhered to internationally like defence of
human rights, freedom and preference of democracy, the
Uyghurs have in their own land been constantly
deprived of natural rights like living in freedom,
free expression of thought and self determination.
As a result, this situation is strongly objected by
the Uyghurs living in East Turkistan. The
confrontation on the national and ethnic level is
increasing every day and the most basic human rights
of the Uyghurs are violated in their own land. There
have been significant restrictions especially
regarding religious freedom, freedom of thought, the
freedom to speak the mother language and education.
Thus, the abyss between China and the democratic
states of the world has grown deeper.
Although there have been human rights consultations
and discussion of related laws due to the increase in
economical relations between the Chinese government
and the states of the European Union and China has
shown partial improvement in the field of human rights,
the justified call of the people in East Turkistan,
named “Xinjiang Autonomous Region”, for their rights
is being suppressed with very harsh measures and
therefore, differences regarding ethnic and cultural
issues are increasing every day.
1 - POLICY OF DOUBLE STANDARDS IN CHINA IN THE LAW
After the terrorist acts of 11 September 2001, the
Chinese government used terms such as "cooperation in
the war on terror" as pretexts, and under the motto
“striking hard on three kind of forces” which was
turned into a political move and by which countless
innocent Uyghurs were sentenced using pretexts as the
above. Since the whole force of the state structure is
directed to strike the Uyghurs politically, the crime
rate is grooving at high speed in the region and civil
security is severely disturbed by this.
For instance, according to the state controlled “Tian
Shan News Net”, the Ministry of Civil Security of the
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region held a meeting on 17
January 2004, and initiated a one-year-plan. It was
emphasised that in the year 2004 the fundamental task
of civil security forces was “to strike nationalist
separatists and illegal religious elements”.
According to this news, in 2003, 92796 criminal cases
occurred in East Turkistan. This was an increase of
20.2% compared to last year. 77.7% of those cases were
cases of theft and burglary and the success ratio in
solving the cases was around 50%.
In capital city Urumchi where the Chinese population
makes up to 90% of the whole population, theft,
burglary, murder and fraud make up 90% of total
criminal cases.
According to another news in “Tian Shan Net” (February
18, 2004) in Urumchi alone 32191 criminal cases
occurred during the previous year and compared to the
year before, this meant an increase of 6.1%, however,
only 15547 cases were solved. Only 5512 criminals were
arrested and 4653 criminals sentenced. In the same
year, only 12 cases of “separatist and illegal
religious activities”, as the Chinese government calls
them, were recorded during the initiative “to strike
hard on three kind of forces” directed towards the
local Uyghurs. If one compares the number of 32191
criminal cases against the 12 cases of “Nationalist
Separatists”, it is not difficult to see who endangers
the security of Urumchi. It is further clear that most
of the criminals who are committing theft, robbery and
murder in Urumchi are Chinese. Against this background
it is ridiculous that in the Beginning of this year,
at the “Meeting on the Duty of Political Laws in the
Urumchi Region” it was declared that “the main
responsibility of the law enforcement units in 2004
should aim at maintaining an ongoing suppressing and
striking hard against nationalist separatists,
terrorists and fundamentalist religious forces, the
‘three kind of forces’”.
The law enforcement units have left aside to deal with
the thieves, robbers and murderers who are occupying
all quarters of the city and are mobilised to strike
on the in reality non existent “nationalist
separatists and extremist islamists”. These kind of
policies by the Chinese do not take serious the
increase of criminal cases in East Turkistan among
people of Chinese origin, and that by this increase
the security of the people and their property is
seriously threatened. That the Chinese government is
constantly neglecting criminal cases as mentioned
above and do not cease to oppress and violate the
rights of the Uyghur people, shows also that the
Chinese do not comply with their own laws and that
their political desires are more important to them
than adhering to the law.
The Chinese government is treating the Uyghurs who are
demanding to live under human conditions without mercy.
On 19 July 2004 the Qarghilik district court held a
closed trial for 20 Uyghurs who were accused as
“separatists” and sentenced to imprisonment, one of
them sentenced to death.
A 29-year-old person, Idris Qadir, was accused of
producing illegal arms and trying to break the unity
of the state and sentenced to death and executed. The
other 19 of them were sentenced from three years to
ten years imprisonment. There was one woman among them
by the name Rabiye Turup. She was accused of being a
contact person for separatists and providing
sustenance for them and was sentenced to five years
imprisonment.
Apart from the above mentioned, the Chinese government
arrested Abdulla Halil from Atush City, Abdulla Reyim
from Kuchar, Ablikim Qurban from Aqsu as suspects to
have connections to the East Turkistan Islamic Party.
The Chinese government is oppressing even prisoners
who had already accomplished prison terms, after their
release. For example, according to news in “Tian Shan
Net” from the beginning of this year titled “Toksun
district strikes hard on three kind of forces”, since
the beginning of the 2004, Toksun district police
forces inspected 195 Uyghurs who “have the potential
of being separatists” and put them under observation
and forbade their free movement. Thus, since 1990, 115
prisoners who had been released from prison have been
arrested again. Another example is that according to
news in the newspaper “The Spark” from 28 August 2004,
issue 103, Eysa Husen, the leader of the East
Turkistan Justice Party, who had been arrested in
August 1994 and sentenced to nine years imprisonment,
then released in August 2003, was arrested again in
August 2004 for no reason in the Toksu district.
Officials of the police have enforced that the work
contract of an Uyghur named Eysa Yüsüp, who had been
arrested because of political activities and began to
work after he was released from prison, has been
terminated. In this manner, they are releasing
communiqués not to employ Uyghurs who had been in
prison because of political activities and are thus
closing all possibilities for these people for a
living.
The incidents reported above are those that have
occurred in only one district of East Turkistan. There
are more than 80 districts in East Turkistan and it is
possible to encounter these kinds of incidents in all
of them.
For example, according to news on the website “Website
of Tian Shan”, the court of Tokkuzak in the Kashgar
province has accused 10 Uyghurs including İslam
İsmayil and Eziz Hesen in an open trial on 19 January
of conducting “nationalist separatist” activities and
sentenced them to long term imprisonment.
According to another newspaper, the “Agricultural
Reform Paper” the High Court of the Xinjiang
Autonomous Region has sentenced a young man in October
2003 with the charge of “separatist activities” and
“playing a crucial role in the Ghulja incidents” to
the death penalty and executed the sentence
immediately.
It is known by the public that the Chinese government
is establishing propaganda centres in many places in
China and is settling thousands of Chinese immigrants
in East Turkistan every year under the slogan “Opening
the Great West”. It has become a fundamental social
problem that Uyghurs who even have university degrees
are not able to find a job, let alone ordinary people.
The local people are strongly objecting to this policy
of double standards applied by the Chinese government
regarding employment discrimination.
For example in the document “Set of Rules for the
Method of Distributing University Graduates in our
Autonomous Region to the four Districts of South
Xinjiang, the Provinces, Counties and Villages” issued
on 23 March 2004 by the Ministry of Peoples Affairs of
the Xinjiang Autonomous Region and send to many
provinces and districts that in order to strengthen
the village based cadre line, it was planned to elect
700 university graduates and to send them to villages
and towns in places like Hoten Kashgar, Aqsu and Atush.
Among these 700 graduates, two hundred jobs were
assigned for minority nations and their age had to be
less than 25 years and had to fulfil the following
conditions:
1. They must strictly hold to the four basic
principles, must protect the unity of the state and
must stand against separatism and illegal religious
activities.
2. They must have a sophisticated political mind, must
have not any separatist activities or ideologies in
their relatives or family background, and they must
not adhere to any religious beliefs.
3. They must have been member of communist party or
cadre of students or they must have been awarded with
the title of the 3 best students.
It has been demanded from all employment offices in
all provinces and districts that all the above
conditions be complied with.
After the above-mentioned document was issued and
became known, there was strong objection to it among
the Uyghurs, especially among Uyghur graduates. Some
Uyghurs said, that under these conditions no Uyghur
graduates would be able to find a place to work, since
no Uyghur would write in his employment document that
he is an atheist. This is one of the traps that the
Chinese government has set up in order to divert the
Uyghur youth to atheism.
2 - CONTINUED VIOLATION OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
The Chinese government continued to violate the
religious freedom of the people of East Turkistan
since the occupation of East Turkistan. The Chinese
government also continues to publish human rights
reports hiding its violations and deceiving the public
opinion.
In the white book called “Human Rights Developments in
China in 2004” it reads, “The religious beliefs of
Chinese citizens are under the protection of the
Chinese law. The law will protect the religious
organisations of the citizens, religious meetings and
gatherings, the rights of the members of religious
groups and the acting out of accepted religious
practices.” It reads in the white book further: “In
the year 2004, for the first time in China, Guo Wu Yan
has legitimised religious freedom in a general manner
in China”. A “Guide for Religious Affairs” was
published and it reads therein, “‘Activities of
religious organisations and religious scholars are
encompassed by this and they have rights like
establishing religious schools, publishing religious
books, administrate the property and possessions of
mosques, extend their religious activities to the
exterior and complete their exterior relations. These
rights are supervised by local administrations and the
activities of people of Chinese origin and the
activities of religious organisations are conducted
under the protection of the laws.” (From the Shinhua
News Network) Rights as the above mentioned, however,
only remain written on paper and there is no
development in that regard in the practise. The
Chinese government has not lifted its terrible
injustice and oppression of religion from the people
of East Turkistan.
For example booksellers of religious books have been
arrested and imprisoned as from 10 November 2004. At
this present day, it is impossible to find any
booksellers for religious books in Urumchi.
In the newspaper “South China Morning News” an article
on the religious freedom of the Uyghur was published
by Nailene Chou, after a visit to Kashgar. The author
praises at the beginning of the article the Heytgah
Mosque and many more historic sites and sceneries in
Kashgar, but states that the Chinese government is
strongly oppressing any religious activity by the
Uyghurs. In the same article it was also mentioned
that despite the strong oppression of religious
freedom there are many religious schools operating in
the underground. It was also mentioned that this was a
typical example of the move to “strike hard” taking
advantage of the pretext of fighting international
terrorism to increase actions to come down on the
Uyghurs. In the same article it was mentioned that in
order to oppress the Uyghurs China was strengthening
its relations to neighbouring countries, and that
there are worries that the Uyghurs might demand more
religious freedom parallel to the increase in the
salaries of Chinese officials.
This is the eyewitness account of someone who has been
travelling in Uyghur lands and is a clear proof of the
religious oppression and prohibitions which the people
of East Turkistan are confronted with.
According to the news of the East Turkistan
Information Centre from 19 May 2005, the famous
religious scholar Abdul Ahat Barat Mahdum from Hoten
was arrested recently and sentenced to five years in
prison. According to this news, Abdul Ahat Barat
Mahdum Hajim was arrested on 2 January 2005 accused of
“religious activities by running an illegal religious
school”. As it became clear, this person was the
nephew of the late Mehmet Emin Bughra, the author of
“The History of East Turkistan” and one of the leaders
of the East Turkistan Movement. According to the East
Turkistan Information Center and the relatives, the
74-year-old Mahdum Hajim was sentenced by the Hoten
Province Court to a five years term of imprisonment.
In June and July 2004 a wide scale operation of
“cleansing and arresting” was carried out where many
underground schools were raided and many religious
scholars and Uyghurs sympathetic to the idea of
independency were arrested. 75 people suspected of
having established underground schools and underground
religious teaching, three people running
organisational matters under the lead of Erkin, seven
teachers, five people who had aided these and 16
people with the task of finding members were arrested
along with 32 pupils. Among the pupils were 27 of the
age between 7 and 15, 16 of them being girls. These
arrested students had come from different cities like
Hoten, Kashgar, Ghulja, Turpan and Urumchi by
intermediation of relatives and friends. The parents
of these students were people who in the past years
had suffered political mistreatment by the Chinese
government, labelled “participating in illegal
religious activities” and sentenced to “Re-education
by Work”.
It becomes clear from all this, that the demand of the
Uyghurs for religious freedom is very much connected
to their demand for political rights. However, the
Uyghur are not engaged in terrorist activities as
claimed by the Chinese. As the Chinese government
itself declared in the news on “Xinjiang Television
Channel”, in the last three years the Chinese
government opened 10 different courses and has trained
7465 Imams in the politics and ideology of the Chinese
Communist Party. As was underlined in this news the
Communist government gave great importance to
political education. It has been outlined during these
courses with 13 political points how the verses of the
Noble Qur’an had to be interpreted.
In the same news it was stated, “During the extensive
educational activities for Imams in the Uyghur regions,
the awareness of religious scholars regarding national
separatism was increased”.
As we all know, the issue of political education of
religious scholars in the Uyghur lands is a matter
much criticised by international human rights
organisations. The fact that courses are initiated to
educate Imams in Communism and thus brainwashing them
is a clear example of how religion is oppressed in
East Turkistan.
Not only that the dictatorial Chinese government is
playing the games described above, it is also
prohibiting the Uyghurs to undertake the Hajj-journey
to Mekka. For example, in a news from 28 April 2005 by
Radio Free Asia, it was reported that the Chinese
government arrested in Aktu near the town of Atush
during this years Hajj season 43 Uyghurs who wanted to
travel to the Hajj with state permission. They had
been planning to travel via Pakistan but after
becoming aware of this plan, the Chinese government
disliked this and thus arrested the people whom it had
granted permission before.
According to news of the French news agency, a
policeman from Aktu confirmed that 31 people were
arrested at the border near Kashgar.
Fearing that the religion of Islam will become strong
in East Turkistan, the Chinese government is
prohibiting in different ways that Uyghurs can
undertake the Hajj-journey. It has for example stopped
the issuing of passports for those who apply for it in
order to travel to Saudi Arabia. Further, the
applications of people who want a passport to visit
their relatives abroad are rejected. All this is
further indication that the justly demanded rights of
Uyghurs are being disregarded.
One of the points that must be stressed is that the
education of children is a tradition from ancient
times and that religious education always began in the
families. Uyghur women consider this teaching in the
family to be a vital part of the education of their
children and a vital part of the religious education
and their being thought good manners. The Chinese
government is declaring this practise illegal and is
arresting women who act in this way.
For example, the office of civil security in Shahyar
has arrested on 25 March 2005 Aynihasan Muhammet, a
female teacher in religion along with their five
students. As it has come to be known, the children
taught by Aynihasan were between the ages 12 to 20. It
has also come to be known that the Chinese government
accused Aynihasan of not having used the books that
were made compulsory by the Chinese political offices.
(RFA)
It becomes apparent that the “Guidelines for Religious
Activities to be adhered to by Chinese Citizens” is
nothing but a pretext for the prohibition of religious
freedoms of Chinese citizens by way of law.
3 - COMPULSARY CHANGE OF UYGHUR EDUCATION TO BE IN
CHINESE LANGUAGE
The Chinese government, since it has not been able to
break down the people in East Turkistan through
long-term oppression and punishments and make them
obedient, has now turned to attack the mother language
of the Uyghurs under the pretext “necessities of the
age”. They have turned the Chinese language into the
most decisive element of life in China and have tied
the success of the Uyghur generations to the language.
This has led to more strong objections of the people
towards the Chinese government and has given rise to
serious worries about the future of coming Uyghur
generations. Language is one of the vital elements of
the inheritance of a people and for their
participation in actual history.
The Uyghur people, considered uneducated by the
Chinese government are now engaged in preserving and
rescuing their language. The Chinese government had
announced its intention of conducting Uyghur education
in Chinese already in 1998. The first place to
manifest action in this regard was to be in the
Xinjiang University, the symbol of Uyghur thinking and
policies. All of a sudden, lectures that so far had
been in Uyghur language, were to be held in Chinese.
Earlier, only some lectures in natural sciences were
held in Chinese. The Uyghur students used to learn
both languages. When suddenly it was announced that
lectures in Uyghur literature and Uyghur history would
be held in Chinese, the people began to express their
objections to this practice. Many of those who
expressed their objection were thrown out of work or
placed under observation. Our people have ever since
educated their children in their mother language and
there have always been Uyghur speaking intellectuals
at universities, and so, this sudden leftist policy
puzzled the Uyghur intellectuals and was a hard blow
against them. The Union of Educators examined the laws
regarding autonomy and brought examples from it and
discussed the issue in open forums but the government
did not regard these kinds of demands whatsoever. The
present day Chinese government has declared a
merciless war on Uyghur education.
In order to enforce the Chinese language, the
government has been using the trick of qualification
tests against Uyghurs and refused to grant to whoever
did not pass these tests the status of “qualified
personnel”. Minorities who prior to these tests have
been fulfilling the responsibilities of their work
were now regarded unqualified.
For example, the Xinjiang University has from March
this year on accepted the Chinese Language
Qualification tests as an absolute necessity and thus,
many gifted Uyghur teachers and lecturers have been
excluded. As was reported by trustworthy sources,
Güljemal Memtimin from the Faculty of Philology, Osman
Ismayil und Eneytullah Kurban and some more, eight
people in total have been suddenly removed from office
with the explanation that they did not reach Level
Eight in the Chinese Language Qualification tests.
Güljemal Memtimin is female, 38 years old and has a
master degree in Uyghur Literature. She has a long
term experience as a lecturer and an experienced
researcher. She has been publishing scientific
articles in important magazines in the Peking District
and has also had significant contributions in the
field of research. She is an enduring and struggling
lecturer. She is also capable of reading works of
Classical Uyghur Literature and translates into
present day language. She has been interested in
Uyghur Literature since long and has also acquired
thorough knowledge of the Persian language and
literature.
Osman Ismayil is male, 42 years old and has a title as
doctor in social sciences from Kazakhstan and is
experienced as a teacher, lecturer and researcher. He
has written numerous investigative articles and many
books on Uyghur folklore. He is interested in a broad
range of topics. He speaks very fluent Russian. He has
no difficulties in examining and making use of Chinese
material.
Enaytullah Kurban is male, 45 years old and a
successful prose writer and researcher for
contemporary Uyghur literature. He is an experienced
lecturer for higher education. He is a learned man who
has compiled, ordered and structured lists of
contemporary Uyghur literature and has also presented
many works himself, and he is a man of literature
known to all Uyghurs. There is no room whatsoever to
doubt the command of Chinese this person has. This man
has always been aware of contemporary Chinese
literature both regarding the lectures he gave and his
own prose writing. Here, there is the necessity of
relating these new developments and research results
to Uyghur students in their mother language. The
lecturers mentioned here are people entitled to
lecture and research in their mother language. But
according to the Chinese, those who do not teach in
Chinese are without niveau.
When these respectable lecturers withdraw fom their
offices, what is then to become of the mother language
of the Uyghurs and their literature? These kinds of
practices are nothing but intents to turn Uyghur
education into Chinese.
The Chinese government is initiating manifold
activities in order to change Uyghur education into
Chinese. While the places of higher education are in
the situation described above, examination classes are
being established in middle and primary schools and
gifted students from the minority areas are being
taken into inner regions of China with the pretext of
receiving sophisticated education and thus Uyghur
children are taken out of Uyghur lands and are
deprived of learning their literature and history as
has been taught since ancient times and thus, feel and
think like Uyghurs. Uyghur lessons are being closed
down so that Uyghur children have no opportunity to
learn their language. For example, in 1998, one
Wednesday, all of a sudden, after a seminar of
political education, it was announced that the Uyghur
classes would be closed. Although the families of the
concerned students insisted that these classes should
not be closed, these requests were not accepted since
the order came from high positions. Taking the
Xinjiang University as an example many classes for the
Uyghur language were closed throughout the Urumchi
district. It is now impossible to find any Uyghur
language classes in the Urumchi district. Activities
to change Uyghur education into Chinese are carried at
rapidly also in the other districts of East Turkistan.
According to news of the East Turkistan Information
Center in Germany dated 27 April 2005, 70 teachers at
the Karamay City Technical School were removed from
their posts with the excuse that they did not reach
Level Eight in the examinations for the Chinese
Language Qualification tests and instead they were
assigned tasks like doorkeepers, lawnmowers or
cleaning the building. According to the information of
the East Turkistan Information Center, there were two
Chinese Language teachers among them, but on the
above-mentioned pretext they were assigned to cleaning
the toilets of the school. One of them is Gülnaz
Tohniyaz and the other Aygül Hüseyin. The school
administration has warned them that they had to pass
Level Eight at the Chinese Language Qualification
tests because otherwise their employment at the school
would be terminated.
In an official declaration from 16 March 2004, the
Chinese have decided that the 600 teachers in the
Gulja district would be taught Chinese language and
that within six years a body of politically trained
and Chinese speaking teachers would be formed
selecting every year 10 teachers from among the
minorities. According to this document it was decided
that until 2010 the teachers in the 73 schools of this
district should be politically trained, Chinese
speaking, well educated and well informed. What the
Chinese government is really intending by this is
assimilation politically and regarding the language.
That the Chinese government is considering such
long-term activities and is making the Chinese
language compulsory serves nothing but the turning of
Uyghur education to be in Chinese.
In commanding that the Chinese language should be the
sole means of education in all districts, towns and
villages, the Chinese government is conducting a
severe attack to the natural way of life of the Uyghur
people.
4 - VIOLATION OF THE UYGHUR PEOPLES RIGHTS OF FREE
TOUGHT, FREE EXPRESSION OF THOUGHT AND FREE ACCESS TO
INFORMATION
Among the rights of the Uyghur people constantly
violated during the decades long domination by the
Chinese government are the rights of free thought and
free expression of thoughts and to inform themselves
through the world news sources. In the 21st century,
when human rights are emphasised all over the world
and hymns of peace and freedom are echoing everywhere,
the Uyghur people are living in a situation where free
access to information is denied, the freedom of
thought is ever suppressed. Some Uyghur youth who
desire renewal and are somewhat concerned about the
future of their people are imprisoned for no reason
and have to endure brutal torture by the Chinese
government. As reported by the East Turkistan
Information Center on 19 April 2005, the young poet
and writer and a voice of freedom, Nurmuhammet Yasin (pen
name: Oerkesh) has been secretly arrested. Nurmuhammet
Yasin had been arrested by the Chinese government for
having published a story about freedom titled “The
Wild Dove” in “The Kashgar Literature”, Issue 5 from
the year 2004. The Chinese government defamed
Nurmuhammet as “inciting separatism and independence”.
“The Kashgar Literature” had been printed 2000 issues
and the Chinese government had assigned a special
“Armed Confiscation Group” to collect the magazine
from the people and has employed the Kashgar Civil
Security Office and the State Security Office for this
purpose, and further, the staff of the Office of
Cultural Affairs was forced to take part in the
confiscation. The confiscated magazines were stored in
the office of the responsible officer in the police
department.
Nurmuhammet had entered the literature scene under the
pen name “Oerkesh” when he was 12 years old. His poems,
stories, prose and pieces for theatre like “Where Are
The Children Who Want To Play”, “Mysterious Night”,
“My Weeping Heart”, published in magazines and
newspapers like “The Rosebuds of Tarim”, “The Kashgar
Literature”, “Yarkent Newspaper”, “The Kashgar
Newspaper”, “The Civilisation of Xinjiang”, “The Arts
of Xinjiang”, the magazine “Bulak”, the newspaper
“Workers Times”, “The Xinjiang Youth Magazine”,
“Urumchi Evening News” are well known by our people
and he is a country loving, justice loving young
writer. The people working in “Radio Free Asia” have
telephoned the Police Department of the Kashgar
Province, the Maralbashi District and the People’s
High Court of the Autonomous Region to get information
about the state of Nurmuhammet Yasin but were only
told that he has been arrested and that he had been
spreading ideas of separatism and independency. The
ferocious government is hesitating to give information
about the situation of Nurmuhammet Yasin and are
trying to hide their own terror from the public and
the people of East Turkistan.
The pressure on all who are engaged in the news and
information sector is very heavy and those who observe
the real state of affairs and speak the truth are
faced with heavy imprisonment sentences by the Chinese
government. The Uyghur reporter Abdugeni Memtimin is a
typical example for this. Abdugeni Memtimin is a male,
38 year old Uyghur with higher education, a cultured
person and teacher at the Textile Industry School in
the Kashgar province. He has been put under
observation on 26 July 2002 and has been arrested
under the current laws on 30 August 2002.
Abdugeni Memtimin has been sentenced to nine years of
imprisonment and deprived of all political rights for
three years on accusation of illegally sending secret
state information to abroad. His term of imprisonment
will end 25 July 2011. During his trial Abdugeni
Memtimin has not been allowed a lawyer to defend him
and although he defended himself, his defence was not
regarded in any way and he was found guilty according
to Chinese law and sentenced to imprisonment. The
guilt of Abdugeni Memtimin has been the change of his
ideas after having discovered the newspaper “The Spark”
of the East Turkistan Information Center via the
internet and with the help and under instruction from
Abduljelil Karakash he has been working fore the East
Turkistan Information Center, and has been sentenced
to imprisonment because of sending news by means of
his computer via the internet, news like, “Human
Rights Violations in East Turkistan”, “Teacher fired
because of illegal activities in the Peyzavat District
and three people sentenced because of providing
assistance”, “Ideological Resistance against
Separatism continues”, and forwarding the words of the
President of the Communist Party in the Kashgar
Province, Zhang Jian, “To preserve integrity and to
stand against separatism is a long term duty” by use
of his computer.
As can be clearly seen from these examples, this is
the situation of Uyghur intellectuals who want to
preserve their human dignity and protect their rights
despite the many ways of oppression from the Chinese
government and the situation of Uyghur youth who want
to inform others about the suffering and the situation
of their people.
The Chinese government has closed five magazines which
reflected and discussed sensitive political issues in
the Uyghur lands. The Office of News and Publications
in the Uyghur Autonomous Region has since the
beginning of 2005 ordered the closing of magazines
like “The Leader in the Capital City”, “Living Well”,
“The Cart Man”, “Colourful Life” and “Jiu Shang”,
which discussed political issues that were of concern
to the society. (ETIC, 26 April 2005)
Although the Chinese government has established a
compulsory rule in the Uyghur lands by means of
numerous political tricks, the people have never
inclined to this fascist government because there has
never been any cultural or ethnical similarity. This
being the case, the Chinese government began to
rewrite the “General History of Xinjiang” according to
its political desires, a history which belongs to the
people. On 1 January 2005, the “Tian Shan Internet
Website” has released the news that a meeting of
authors to write the “General History of Xinjiang” had
assembled in Urumchi and thus “the most comprehensive
compilation of history ever in the history of Xinjiang”
had begun. The Member of the Chinese Central
Government Political Bureau and Secretary of the
Communist Party for the Uyghur Region, Wang Le Quan
said recently: “The history of Xinjiang is a serious
matter. Separatists inside and outside the country are
twisting the history of Xinjiang and are using
political and historical arguments in order to
separate Xinjiang from our homeland. Therefore I am
hoping that there will be a book that documents that
Xinjiang is an inseparable part of our homeland. It is
a necessity of our political struggle that we stand
against the separatists and protect the integrity of
the homeland.” 1990, the propaganda section of the
Chinese Communist Party in the Uyghur lands had openly
criticised three books written by the Uyghur historian
Turgun Almas, “Short History of the Huns”, “The
Uyghurs” and “Declarations on the History of Classical
Uyghur Literature” and held a gathering of critique
and evaluation and finally prohibited the circulation
of these books and assigned a special unit to write a
“Short History of the Uyghurs” and a “History of
Xinjiang”.
Since the beginning of 2005, the Chinese government is
conducting a cleansing of illegal publications.
According to Nur Bekri, the Assistant of the Secretary
General of the Communist Party in the Uyghur
Autonomous Region, the cleansing of illegal
publications was part of the “Resistance to Separatism”
and “Resistance against Infiltration”. Until now, 450
publications have been confiscated. Among these were
religious books, political books, magazines and audio
and video tapes. According to news from the Uyghur
lands, the movie “Braveheart” which tells the story of
the independence fight of Scotland has been banned.
Further, internet service centres have been designated
as places which need to be cleansed as well. (RFA)
In the five years since the Chinese government has
been conducting its operations of ideological
resistance against separatism and striking hard on
separatism, many patriots, intellectuals, writers and
members of the teaching staff of higher schools have
come under serious psychological pressure and many
have become ill on account of that situation. A
typical example of this is Tursun Kurban, one of the
leading lecturers at the Xinjiang University, who is
the teacher for Children’s Literature and Theory of
Literature at the Faculty of Literature. This teacher
has under the attacks and the pressure from the
Chinese government become partially paralysed due to
increase of tension and is now a pensioner. Tursun
Kurban was one of the most successful teachers at the
Xinjiang University and taught for many years
Children’s Literature and did much research in this
field. He had deserved to stand in the rank of those
who contributed to the education and deserved to spend
the rest of his life under pleasant circumstances.
This lecturer had drawn the attention of the Chinese
government because he always spoke about the people in
his lectures, analysed their situation correctly and
inspired students in their forming aims and goals for
themselves. When in 1990 the Soviet Union broke up and
there were serious changes in the world taking place,
Tursun Kurban was inspired by these changes and he
explained to his students what effect the formation of
independent Turkic states could have on the Uyghur
region and on account of this, he was removed by
Chinese authorities from his post as lecturer and was
placed under observation for nine years assigned to
the supplies section of the faculty.
In the year 2001, during the “Movement for Resistance
against Ideological Separatism” the above-mentioned
activities of Tursun Kurban were brought up again and
he became the subject of heavy interrogations. These
had a heavy effect on him and shortly afterwards he
became ill due to high blood pressure and a tense
state, and shortly later he got bleedings in his brain.
After the operations he had to undergo he survived,
but part of his body became paralysed. It is
impossible to say that the severe Chinese treatment
was not the cause of his illness.
Just like this lecturer there are many other middle
aged and young lecturers who suffer from psychological
problems, high blood pressure and heart diseases.
There are many more pressures on the Uyghur lecturers
and their distress is growing every day.
“East Turkistan Information Center”
(This report was written by ERKINAY, the lead
journalist of the newspaper “The Spark”) |
