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The Xinghua
Chinese News Agency issued a press release on December
21st, 2001, titled “The East Turkistan terrorists
will not escape justice”.
The statement concentrates on three main issues:
“History of the East Turkistan problem”, “Terrorist
crime committed by East Turkistan terrorist groups” and
“Links between the East Turkistan terrorist
organizations and the global terrorism”. The statement
outlines that “ so-called East Turkistan terrorist
groups committed acts of grave crime over the last ten
years”.
The press release eventually accuses the East Turkistan
liberation organizations of having close ties with Osama
Bin Laden and his international terrorist network.
We, the representatives of the East Turkistanis in exile
and the members of all East Turkistan human rights
groups, strongly deny all Chinese accusations made in
the above-mentioned report.
We view such statements made in the Chinese media as a
deliberate attempt to portray Uighurs and their
liberation movement abroad as terrorist groups in the
eyes of the world community.
The Xinghua Chinese News Agency outlined in its report
that “there is no historical ground whatsoever for [calling
this region] East Turkistan. The foreign invaders used
this term in the 19th century in an attempt to split our
Motherland. Xinjiang is a an inseparable part of our
nation.”
Anyone who has at least some basic knowledge of the
Central Asia’s history would know for sure that the
Uighurs, one of the most ancient Turkic ethnic groups,
have lived in East Turkistan for more than one thousand
years. Uighurs together with Uzbeks, Kazakhs and other
Turkic people refer to their language as to “Turkic”;
equally they define their identity as “Turkic”. Over
centuries the Arabs, Persians and other neighbors called
this region East Turkistan. The Western Orientalists
defined the Uighurs’ territory in 19th century as East
Turkistan. This term has long been accepted as a proper
geographic reference and as an official name of the
region among the locals and the world community. “East
Turkistan” is the name by which our Motherland has been
known worldwide; this the name of our sacred land!
We would like to stress out that the term Xinjiang used
by the Chinese invaders serves as a clear evidence of
the Chinese occupation and oppression. “Xinjiang” means
in the Chinese language “a new border, new territory”.
“New territory” for invaders – this is an ample example
of the typical colonial attitudes. The name Xinjiang was
made up by the Chinese aggressors; it never was accepted
by the people of East Turkistan!
In its report the Chinese media center once again made
lies stating that “Xinjiang was a part of our country
since 60 B.D”. It is true that this territory was
occupied for the first time by the Chinese in 60 B.D.
But a colonization and oppression does not signify
“uniting the country”. The Chinese daydream when they
say that this “territory was always a part of our
country”. The Chinese occupied at that time a certain
part of the world named Turkistan which also included
territories of present independent states of Uzbekistan,
Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. However, even though the
Chinese once occupied the ancient Turkistan nowadays
they do not raise any territorial claims to the new
independent countries. The Chinese know very well that
doing so would be extremely stupid of them!
The Chinese occupants have used various dirty strategies
for a long time, such policies are ultimately aimed at
falsifying historical facts. All Chinese propaganda
related to the East Turkistan’ issues is nothing but
gross lies.
Not “Terrorism” But Fight Against
Oppression!
The Xinghua Chinese News Agency’s statement poses a
question in its second part:
“ Which terrorist acts the East Turkistan terrorists
carried out?”. The report labels all existing East
Turkistan organizations and associations as illegal
terrorist groups. Moreover, the movement of civil
disobedience and human right activist protests in East
Turkistan are portrayed as “terrorist activities”.
Every civil movement has reasons for establishment and
declares its ultimate objectives. The East Turkistan
liberation movement cannot be viewed under any
circumstances as “ the terrorist organization of
external and internal enemies who try to split China”,
as the Chinese communist regime pretends to depict it.
The East Turkistan liberation movement is actually an
organized way of resisting the brutal Chinese oppression.
This movement aims at establishing the independent state
and struggles for the protection of the human rights.
The East Turkistan liberation movement is not a
“terrorist force” as the Chines claim it to be; it is
rather a unity of the best representatives of the East
Turkistan nation who would sacrifice their lives for
liberty and independence of their Motherland!
The East Turkistan people have suffered severely during
the last 200 years of the Chinese occupation. The East
Turkistanis suffered a tremendous oppression under the
Imperial Chinese ruling in the past; and they have
suffered even more under the present Communist regime.
Only within the short period between 1950 and 1980 more
than 500 thousand Uighurs were imprisoned, tortured and
murdered on charges of involvement in “ nationalist
separatist activities, illegal religious activities,
attempts to split the country” and so forth. From 1990
until presently over 2 thousand Uighurs were sentenced
to death on the similar charges; and they all were
executed the same day their verdicts were announced.
Roughly 100 thousand people are detained presently.
During last three months after the September 11 events
over 3 thousand religious clerics were detained; more
than 20 among them were executed immediately after their
verdicts were announced.
It is the Communist Chinese government which is a real
terrorist organization.
It is only natural for people to resist oppression. The
Uighur people realize that gaining true liberty is not
possible without gaining real independence. The
oppressed nation does have the natural right for
resistance! The Uighur people raised over 500 rebellions
against the aggressors within the last 200 years of the
Chinese occupation. Just in the last century the Uighurs
succeeded twice in proclaiming national independence and
in establishing the East Turkistan Republic -- in 1933
and in 1949. However, due to various reasons Uighurs
lost their independence and freedom to the Chinese
invaders. Over the last fifty years of the Chinese
invasion the Uighur national liberation movement has
never ceased fighting for freedom. The intensified
struggle for the national liberation is not “sponsored
by foreign enemies.” Neither the liberation movement is
an Islamic fundamentalist organization. These lies are
all made up by the Chinese Communist propaganda in order
to deceive the public opinion. The struggle for Uighur
liberation has been going on for over 100 years now and
it will continue until the full victory.
The Xinghua Chinese News Agency especially mention the
program and activities of two parties - “Islamic Party
of Reforms” and “Allah’s East Turkistan Party”. Xinghua
associates these parties with other East Turkistan
liberation organizations and claims that all
anti-Chinese fighters are essentially terrorists.
Once again we would like to stress out that presently
there are more than twenty Uighur organizations
worldwide. They all have different programs and use
different strategies in their activities.
The main recognized Uighur organizations in exile are
“East Turkistan/ Uighuristan/ National Congress”,
“European East Turkistan Unity”, “East Turkistan
Informational Center”, and the “Uighur’s Youth World
Congress”. These main Uighur parties base their
activities on peaceful political fight for liberation,
advocacy of freedom and tolerance, recognition of only
political and civilized solutions to the issue of East
Turkistan liberation.
Presently no forms of free political organization or
mass protest against the government are possible in East
Turkistan and overall in China. It is easy to understand
why some people turn to the armed resistance. Struggle
for liberation has many tactics; undoubtedly the
oppressed people have the right of choosing the form of
resistance. For example, the Chinese authorities mention
“ terrorist attacks” in 1995 and 1996 in Kashgar when
the clerics of Heyitgah and Qawultoga mosques were
killed. These assassinations were organized and carried
out by the members of the above mentioned organization.
The interesting side of this story is that the assassins
and their victims were all of the Uighur origin. We
should ask ourselves: why would an Uighur kill another
Uighur? Assassinated clerics actually were loyal to the
Chinese government, they betrayed innocent Uighurs and
charged them with political crimes in order to gain
benefits from their Chinese masters. So it is quite
understandable that some Uighur organizations attacked
the national traitors in East Turkistan in order to
encourage population for resistance. Such fight is
another way of national resistance.
In its report the Xinghua Chinese News Agency mentioned
famous events of the 1990 in Barin, February 5th 1997 in
Ghuldja and 1999 in Khotan. Xinghua especially points
out that ‘such gross actions were planned, organized and
carried out by the terrorist East Turkistan groups”. The
protesters were in fact ordinary citizens who did even
not know the terms “terrorists”, “terrorist organization”
used by the Chinese propaganda. These protesters only
fought against the brutal Chinese rule.
This report states that “ the East Turkistan groups have
close links with international terrorism” and that “ the
East Turkistan Islamic Movement has close ties with
Osama bin Laden who provided them with financial aid.”
It is true that some Uighurs fled in 1990’s to
Afghanistan seeking refuge. They received military
training there; however, it is not clear at all how
close were the links between Osama bin Laden and “the
East Turkistan Islamic Movement”. Even if such links
really existed there is no reason to label all acting
East Turkistan liberation organizations as “terrorist
groups”. The Chinese media illogically attempts to
charge all Uighur organizations with the alleged
wrongdoings of the single non-representative group. This
organization is not a leading member of East Turkistan
liberation movement. It does not belong to major
liberation organizations and associations. The “East
Turkistan Islamic Movement” represents only itself. It
is responsible for its actions, under any conditions it
cannot be presented as the general Uighur national
liberation movement force.
One should keep in mind that the armed resistance in
East Turkistan began in 1980’s and continued in 1990’s.
For instance, In April of 1990 in Barin region large
groups of protesters rebelled against the Chinese rule.
They had no arms at all and fought with sticks and
stones in their hands against the regular military and
police forces. At that time the Taliban movement did not
exist on Earth and literally a few number of people
heard about a person called Osama bin Laden.
Today the Taliban regime is overthrown and notorious bin
Laden is hiding from the international justice. But the
struggle for East Turkistan’s independence is continuing.
This struggle has nothing in common with Islamist
radicals, bin Laden, and generally with terrorists of
all kinds. This just fight for Uighur national
liberation will not cease until the full victory since
it is not sponsored from abroad and since it draws
sources from the East Turkistan people and their immense
will and desire for freedom! |
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