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Not “Terrorism” But Fight Against Oppression!
The
Xinghua Chinese News Agency issued a press release on
December 21st, 2001, titled
“The Eastern Turkistan terrorists will not escape
justice”.
The statement concentrates on three main issues:
“History of the Eastern Turkistan problem”, “Terrorist
crime committed by Eastern Turkistan terrorist groups”
and “Links between the Eastern Turkistan terrorist
organizations and the global terrorism”. The statement
outlines that “ so-called Eastern Turkistan terrorist
groups committed acts of grave crime over the last ten
years”.
The press release eventually accuses the Eastern
Turkistan liberation organizations of having close
ties with Osama Bin Laden and his international
terrorist network.
We, the representatives of the Eastern Turkistanis in
exile and the members of all Eastern 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 Uyghurs 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] Eastern 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
Uyghurs, one of the most ancient Turkic ethnic groups,
have lived in Eastern Turkistan for more than one
thousand years. Uyghurs 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 Eastern Turkistan. The Western
Orientalists defined the Uyghurs’ territory in 19th
century as Eastern 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. “Eastern 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 Eastern 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 Eastern Turkistan
terrorists carried out?”. The report labels all
existing Eastern Turkistan organizations and
associations as illegal terrorist groups. Moreover,
the movement of civil disobedience and human right
activist protests in Eastern Turkistan are portrayed
as “terrorist activities”.
Every civil movement has reasons for establishment and
declares its ultimate objectives. The Eastern
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 Eastern 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 Eastern 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 Eastern Turkistan nation who
would sacrifice their lives for liberty and
independence of their Motherland!
The Eastern Turkistan people have suffered severely
during the last 200 years of the Chinese occupation.
The Eastern 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 Uyghurs
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 Uyghurs 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
Uyghur people realize that gaining true liberty is not
possible without gaining real independence. The
oppressed nation does have the natural right for
resistance! The Uyghur people raised over 500
rebellions against the aggressors within the last 200
years of the Chinese occupation. Just in the last
century the Uyghurs succeeded twice in proclaiming
national independence and in establishing the Eastern
Turkistan Republic -- in 1933 and in 1949. However,
due to various reasons Uyghurs lost their independence
and freedom to the Chinese invaders. Over the last
fifty years of the Chinese invasion the Uyghur
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 Uyghur
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 Eastern Turkistan
Party”. Xinghua associates these parties with other
Eastern 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 Uyghur organizations
worldwide. They all have different programs and use
different strategies in their activities.
The main recognized Uyghur organizations in exile are
“Eastern Turkistan/ Uyghuristan/ National Congress”,
“European Eastern Turkistan Unity”, “Eastern Turkistan
Informational Center”, and the “Uyghur’s Youth World
Congress”. These main Uyghur 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
Eastern Turkistan liberation.
Presently no forms of free political organization or
mass protest against the government are possible in
Eastern 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 Qashgar when the clerics of Heyitkah
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 Uyghur origin. We
should ask ourselves: why would an Uyghur kill another
Uyghur? Assassinated clerics actually were loyal to
the Chinese government, they betrayed innocent Uyghurs
and charged them with political crimes in order to
gain benefits from their Chinese masters. So it is
quite understandable that some Uyghur organizations
attacked the national traitors in Eastern 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 Hotan. Xinghua especially
points out that ‘such gross actions were planned,
organized and carried out by the terrorist Eastern
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 Eastern Turkistan groups
have close links with international terrorism” and
that “ the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement has
close ties with Osama bin Laden who provided them with
financial aid.” It is true that some Uyghurs 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 Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement”. Even if
such links really existed there is no reason to label
all acting Eastern Turkistan liberation organizations
as “terrorist groups”. The Chinese media illogically
attempts to charge all Uyghur organizations with the
alleged wrongdoings of the single non-representative
group. This organization is not a leading member of
Eastern Turkistan liberation movement. It does not
belong to major liberation organizations and
associations. The “Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement”
represents only itself. It is responsible for its
actions, under any conditions it cannot be presented
as the general Uyghur national liberation movement
force.
One should keep in mind that the armed resistance in
Eastern 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 Eastern 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 Uyghur
national liberation will not cease until the full
victory since it is not sponsored from abroad and
since it draws sources from the Eastern Turkistan
people and their immense will and desire for freedom!
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ETIC REPORT 2000 
