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Report on
situation with human rights of Uygurs in Uzbekistan
Prepared by
East Turkistan Information Center (Munich, Germany)
April 2, 2002
More that 12 years passed since Uzbekistan among the
other former Soviet Union Turkic-speaking states
gained its independence in 1991. Although short in the
historical terms the developments in Uzbekistan and
Central Asia in general went through very turbulent
processes. It will be logical and useful to analyze
how the consequence of the government’s policies of
Uzbekistan undertaken affects the Uighur community of
this country.
Firstly we shall mention that Uighurs are of the same
Turkic origin as their Uzbek, Kazak, Kyrgyz and
Turkmen neighbors and share close linguistic,
geographic and cultural background. Secondly we have
to say that the community of the Uighurs in Uzbekistan
is estimated as of 200,000 according to some
unofficial data and heavily concentrated in Ferghana
Valley, Sirdarya and Tashkent region.
The independence gained by Uzbekistan in 1991 affected
enormously the minds of the Uighur intellectuals who
were inspired that after the disintegration of USSR
the last remaining communist Empire - China will also
collapse soon. The expectations were very high taking
into considerations the historical and cultural
closeness of Uzbeks to Uighurs and the hopes of
uniting all states in one Turkic Federation -
Turkestan. The slogan at early days of euphoria was
“Eastern Turkestan is the next to be liberated!”
Unfortunately this was not the case as soon the
community of Uighurs living in Uzbekistan discovered.
Especially taking into consideration the latest
developments and the growth of Chinese influence and
its presence in the region. We have to mention that
Uzbekistan’s government never had had a precise policy
in its foreign policy-making. Sadly we observed the
creation of the “Shanghai Five Group” the task of
which was directed to crackdown any Uighur
independence movement as early in 1996 and the active
participation in it of Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Tadjik
Governments. We hoped for the long time that
Uzbekistan would not joint this organization.
But the situation deteriorated sharply for the Uighur
Diaspora within the last three years since Uzbekistan
obtained its an observer status in “Shanghai Five
Group” in 2000. So much for brotherhood and Turkic
brotherhood!!! In 2001 Uzbekistan became a
full-pledged member of this Treaty, which is directed
against the Uighurs and their aspiration for the
self-determination. As an example we can mention just
the very few facts of those numerous counts of
Uzbekistan’s governments purges against its own
citizens of Uighur background. We all keep in mind the
brutal torture and killing of our Uighur Cultural
Center Chairman, beloved Emin Usman, in March 2001
while he was in custody of Uzbekistan militia (police).
Later authorities fabricated a “suicide” version of
his death in order to dismiss the international
criticisms of the government’s brutality.
Many Uighur activists who were outspoken in their
criticisms of the Uzbek government’s policy were
blackmailed and received numerous threat phone calls
in order for them to keep quite. There are examples of
beatings of such activist by unknown people in the
streets that we suspect were orchestrated with the
government’s blessing and approval. Not to mention
that Uzbekistan’s militia never considered and even
refused to launch the criminal investigations to bring
those responsible in attacks to justice.
Even before the assassination of the Uighur community
leader Emin Usman the campaign of purges was
intensified to discriminate and mock the Uighur
intellectuals of Uzbekistan and we suspect this was
done in order to win Chinese favor and financial
assistance for the stagnating Uzbek economy. The
Uighur Cultural Center was virtually shut down and no
further community activities were allowed. However,
officials would never say what was the real reason but
use financial matters as a mantra in justification of
its actions to cease the activities of the Center. Any
voice of criticism of the Uighur activists is still
being brutality silenced and the Uzbekistan government
went so far in equalizing the movement for
self-determination of Uighurs as the “ethnic extremism”
and used the cloak of the international fight against
the terrorism to justify its own oppression against
Uighur community of Uzbekistan. The long-lived TV
program “Umid” aired in the Uighur language was shut
down without any government’s explanation. The
journalists once employed there were fired and were
not even allowed to work at other Uzbek speaking
channels. The same is true for the Uighur Radio
programs at Uzbek Radio State-run station. The Uighur
community of approximately of 200,000 living in
Uzbekistan had tried unsuccessfully for the long time
to obtain government’s license from the Ministry of
Press to edit a newspaper in its own native language.
And even at that the Uighurs were denied to have its
own voice in Uzbekistan.
Uighurs are well known for their finest cuisine. But
in Tashkent nowadays you will not see a single Uighur
restaurant. The only one which was existed “Urumchi”
was closed for the long-time and it was not permitted
to reopen for the long-time despite of the numerous
attempts by the members of the Uighur community of
Tashkent city.
Summarizing the above-mentioned we have to mention
that the existence of the “Shanghai Agreement
Organization” and the fact that Uzbekistan become its
full-pledged member is a real treat to the Uighur
community not only in our Historical Motherland
-Eastern Turkestan but also in Uzbekistan. The wave of
purges and crackdowns on the Uighurs came finally to
Uzbekistan after the government’s of Kyrgyzstan and
Kazakhstan (which became the members of “Shanghai Five
Organization” earlier) wiped out any dissident Uighur
movement.
We, as the Uighur minority of Uzbekistan, call on the
Uzbek government to sympathize with our case in
seeking the self-determination right for the people of
Eastern Turkestan and to stop its purges of the Uighur
community in Uzbekistan.
We, as the community of Uighur people in Uzbekistan,
are deeply concerned with the latest developments and
urge Western democracies to pay more attention to the
Human Rights Violations in Uzbekistan in general and
to the case of the Uighur minority in specific. To the
Uzbekistan’s government policies of injustice and
persecutions of the Uighur community leaders. We
protest against using our community as an “escape
goats” in order to win exterior power’s favor and to
re-channel public attention from the domestic
mismanagements and failures.
We all hope that after dark days better days will come
and we as the community will feel safe and demanded in
order to work together for the prosperity of the
future of Uzbekistan.
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