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DECLARATION OF THE FORMATION OF THE E.T GOVERNMENT IN
EXILEN
GOVERNMENT IN EXILE
September 14, 2004, Capitol Hill, Washington
Fifty years ago (August 27, 1949), a plane carrying
the leaders of the Republic of East Turkistan crashed
under mysterious circumstances. When the news reached
Beijing, Mao Zedong sent in the Communist military,
and the occupation of East Turkistan began.
Throughout the intervening years, many have come to
the aid and comfort the oppressed, and tried to spread
their message of pain and anguish, salved by the hope
of freedom and independence for what was once a
flourishing civilization. However, the Communists
continually, and brutally, snuffed out every candle,
silenced every voice, and killed any flower of hope
they could find. For years, the people of East
Turkistan have wondered: does anyone hear them? Is
there a voice abroad for East Turkistan? Is there any
entity, a government, an authority that speaks for
them?
That wondering: that longing has ended. East Turkistan
has found its voice one again.
So that the international community, particularly the
United States, can help us in establishing and
amplifying that voice, we, the East Turkistani
community in exile have established a government of
the Republic of East Turkistan in exile.
We strongly believe that we can bring hope again to,
and be a voice for, the Uyghurs, Kazaks, Kyrghiz, and
all other oppressed people of East Turkistan suffering
under Communist occupation.
Communist China calls my country Xinjiang province.
That fact alone explains much of our purpose. Certain
assumptions come from calling this region “Xinjiang.”
The most basic is that it is part of China. And from
that flow the assumptions that its natives speak
Chinese, that they look like East Asians, that they
come out of a Confucian tradition, and so on.
All of these assumptions are wrong. As the name
“Eastern Turkistan” implies, this vast region has for
centuries been the land of the Eastern Turks, who are
Muslim by faith, Caucasian by race, and whose native
language is not remotely related to Chinese.
Eastern Turkistan, which had remained an independent
state for many centuries, was invaded and conquered by
the Qing Empire in 1759. During the years which
followed, the native people rebelled on numerous
occasions against their distant rulers. In 1864, the
Turkic people successfully chased the Manchus from
their motherland. Their independent state, which they
preserved for most of two decades, established
diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Empire, Russia,
and Great Britain.
The Manchu Empire again gained control of Eastern
Turkistan in the early 1880s, declaring on November
18, 1884, that Eastern Turkistan was China's
nineteenth province. It was at this time that the
imperial viceroy, Tso Tsung-t'ang, officially gave the
land its Chinese name: “Sinkiang,” pronounced today as
Xinjiang. This new name means “the new territory” or
“the new dominion” in Chinese.
The struggle of the Eastern Turkistani people for
control of their land has continued in the 20th
century. The 1933 Qumul Rebellion led to the
resurrection of an independent Eastern Turkistan. A
second major uprising in 1944 led to independence
again. This was maintained until 1949 when Soviet and
Chinese forces combined to crush it. Since this most
recent takeover, Beijing has strengthened its
occupation of my homeland.
Since then, Eastern Turkistan has become a dungeon for
its people. Communist China has been constantly
violating the human rights of the East Turkistanis –
arresting, torturing, and killing the innocent.
Hundreds of thousands of East Turkistanis who have
bravely challenged Communist authority have been
executed. Many have fled to neighboring countries.
Hundreds of thousands have been sent to labor camps.
The control of East Turkistan is enforced ruthlessly:
many, many thousands of families have suffered from
forced sterilizations, forced abortions, and economic
penalties.
Beijing's policy toward my country has moved beyond
control toward complete assimilation. In recent years
China has moved millions of ethnic Chinese into
Eastern Turkistan, seeking to dilute the true native
populations. Those who arrive from China are given the
best jobs and the best pay and the best housing -- all
at the expense of the millions of East Turkistanis.
Meanwhile, Beijing has attempted to eliminate all
aspects of East Turkistani culture, including our
religion.
Turkistanis are forced to speak, read and write
Chinese, and to dress, eat, sing, dance, and behave as
if they are Chinese. Beijing claims to respect “its
minorities,” but we who have lived under their rule
known that their real policy is one of genocide. Their
goal is clear: one day there must be only Chinese in “Xinjiang.”
Communist China's lack of respect for the people of my
country has been equaled by its disregard for the very
land of Eastern Turkistan. We have become a dumping
ground for China's environmental waste. Lop Nor, a
region known well by your government, is far more than
a research center; it has become a profoundly toxic
site of nuclear waste. We will never know how many
lives have been prematurely ended by nuclear radiation,
how many cancers have been spawned, how many children
have been born with deformities. The count of my own
people is that there have been half million deaths
from radiation alone.
As the diplomats and journalists of the free world
tell you, Beijing does not want the world to know of
its treatment of the East Turkistani people. They
prefer to carry on their repression out of site of the
world. Even when natural disaster strikes, Communist
China seeks to withhold the information, fearing that
aid workers will convey to Americans and others the
ongoing horrors of the Communist occupation.
Today, as America fights terrorists in Afghanistan and
Iraq, the Communists are using the brave struggle that
began on 9/11 to justify their repression. They claim
to be fighting terrorists and supporters of Osama bin
Laden, but it is they – the Communists, not the East
Turkestani people, who have laundered bin Laden’s drug
money, bought from him unexploded cruise missiles,
signed economic agreements with the Taliban, sold
missile technology to Syria and Libya, enabled Iran’s
nuclear weapons program, integrated Saddam Hussein’s
air defenses, and protected North Korea even as it
violated promises not to become a nuclear-armed regime.
Communist China would like America to believe East
Turkestan is her enemy. To the contrary, it is
Communist China who supports terror, and East
Turkestanis who oppose it. It is Communist China who
tried to stop American troops from defeating the evil
forces and behind 9/11, and East Turkestanis who
supported the U.S.
Eastern Turkistanis seek to determine their own future.
Distinct in every way as a people, they seek the right
to select their leaders and control their fate as do
other nations around the world. And, we turn to the
United States as the most important of those nations.
The people of Eastern Turkistan turn to the United
States as so many others seeking freedom and self
determination have done over the years. We ask that
the United States raise its voice on behalf of the
millions of East Turkistanis whose voices are silenced.
We ask that you make clear to Beijing that human
rights – including the human rights of Eastern
Turkistanis – matter to the U.S.
We ask that the United States press the United Nations
to investigate the just cause of the East Turkistani
people, working directly with their true
representatives, the East Turkistani Government In
Exile, not the puppets appointed by Beijing.
We ask the United States to continue its pressure that
China truly end its nuclear tests, and end its use of
our region as a dumping ground for nuclear waste.
We ask that the United States seek the right to visit
the prisons and labor camps scattered throughout my
homeland. The United States already has laws
preventing the import of goods made by prison labor;
much of that labor is to be found in my homeland.
The East Turkistani people ask to control their own
fate. We seek to join the international community of
nations in openness and peace. We seek to share our
plentiful natural resources with the peoples of the
world: they must not be seen as the private preserve
of Beijing.
We turn to the United States of America, as the leader
of liberty, justice, and wisdom, hoping that the
United States of America will recognize the just cause
of freedom and independence of millions of East
Turkistanis. We turn to the United States of America
and free world for compassion and leadership to put an
end to the misery of so many innocent people.
Many Americans do not know East Turkestan, but
millions of East Turkestanis know and love America. We
hope you will accept our hand of friendship, and help
us achieve the freedom to enjoy life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness, the very things Communist China
continues to deny to the people of occupied East
Turkestan.
Anwar Yusuf Turani
Prime Minister, the East Turkistani Government In
Exile, Washington
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