Press Release of the East Turkistan Occupation, October 1st

Dear members of the press,

We are here today to condemn China on the occasion of the 74th anniversary of the East Turkistan occupation. The policies of genocide and continuous assimilation in East Turkistan are growing more brutal day by day. Therefore, we issue this press release on this tragic day, marking the beginning of Chinese occupation, to demonstrate our determination in the struggle for independence, which is the only solution to all human rights violations and acts of genocide.

Seventy-four years ago, on October 1st, communist China declared its establishment and entered East Turkistan under the pretext of liberating it from the Chinese Nationalist forces, subsequently occupying it. Following that, China eradicated all state institutions in East Turkistan, including the army of the East Turkistan Republic. They also arrested and executed intellectuals, the wealthy, and opinion leaders in East Turkistan under the guise of combating local nationalism.

In this way, China changed the name of East Turkistan, whose lands it had seized and deprived it of the three basic pillars of society consisting of intellectuals, the wealthy, and the army, to "Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region" in 1955, officially occupying East Turkistan.

East Turkistan, a Turkish and Islamic land, with its independent governmental institutions, educational system, and legal framework before the occupation, had the right to self-governance. However, it was transformed into a province of communist China. All the rights of the people of East Turkistan were stripped away, and all its natural resources were plundered by communist China.

After the occupation, communist China began implementing a policy of assimilation throughout East Turkistan, subjecting its people to unprecedented levels of repression, persecution, and genocide. Uyghurs and other Turkish peoples, who are the native inhabitants of East Turkistan, have faced genocide through direct killing, extrajudicial executions, and lifetime imprisonment. The Chinese communist authorities have resorted to all forms of oppression and brutality to assimilate and sinicize the people of East Turkistan.

Communist China has employed all forms of oppressive and inhumane policies against the people of East Turkistan. This includes psychological and physical torture, organ harvesting, rape, humiliation, racism, unlawful detention, religious suppression, asset and land confiscation, forced abortion, sterilization, forced labor, language suppression, compulsory communism, and more. Scholars, opinion leaders, intellectuals, academics, and the wealthy in East Turkistan have been arrested and killed. Mosques, mausoleums, and other historical landmarks and areas in East Turkistan have been destroyed.

Furthermore, Uyghurs were also forced into forced labor as slaves in Chinese factories. They devised the so-called "kinship project" aimed at disrupting Uyghur family values and sending Chinese individuals to live in Uyghur households. They constructed detention camps for children, and Uyghur children, starting from preschool age, were compelled to stay in these camps, which were referred to as "boarding schools." This deprived parents of their right to educate and instill Uyghur language, culture, and values in their children. They even gave Uyghur children in Chinese detention camps to Chinese communist families.

The communist Chinese government implemented the assimilation policy step by step and over periods of time in East Turkistan. Between 1955 and 1965, hundreds of thousands of intellectuals, scholars, and religious figures in East Turkistan were slaughtered under the pretext of combating local nationalism. Mosques and religious schools were closed and demolished, which had been providing education since the time of the Karakhanids.

Between 1966 and 1976, during the Cultural Revolution, approximately one million East Turkistanis were subjected to control, and all historical material heritage, regardless of its significance, was destroyed and burned as remnants of the past. China also altered the demographic and ethnic structure of East Turkistan by relocating millions of Han Chinese settlers from the Chinese mainland to East Turkistan. Under the guise of the "Western Development" program during the reform period, they plundered the wealth of East Turkistan and distributed it to the Chinese interior provinces. They also prohibited the Uyghur language in schools under the pretext of "bilingual education," which was introduced in 2004.

By 2017, the Uyghur language was even banned in elementary schools. With Xi Jinping coming to power in 2013, brutal control in East Turkistan began under the guise of "combatting religious extremism." Millions of people were arrested and detained in "detention camps," which China began building across East Turkistan in 2014.

In summary, all these massive crimes committed by China in East Turkistan violate every article of the International Declaration of Human Rights. In addition, China is committing genocide in East Turkistan. In fact, in 2021, a Uyghur Tribunal established by a delegation of independent lawyers in London concluded that the Chinese regime had committed genocide in East Turkistan. China's policies in East Turkistan have been recognized as genocide by the parliaments of the European Union, the United States, the Czech Republic, Canada, Japan, Lithuania, France, and Taiwan. While all these atrocities continue to unfold in East Turkistan, Western countries have begun to raise their voices one by one. However, the Islamic world and the Turkish world, our religious and ethnic brothers, continue to remain silent on this issue. This silence is a lasting stain on the Islamic world.

The Chinese occupation policy in East Turkistan poses a threat not only to East Turkistan but also to neighboring countries, the international system, and global peace. All the massacres, assimilation efforts, and genocides that have been described as the brutality of the century, which have continued during the 74-year Chinese occupation, are a result of this oppressive occupation. These horrors caused by the occupation will only end when the occupation itself ends.

The whole world should act against the atrocities committed against the East Turkistan people. People should not remain silent, not only for the sake of the East Turkistan people but also for their own benefit. The Muslim world, Muslims, and members of other religions should not be silent. Because China is committing all these atrocities against Muslims and members of all religions in East Turkistan. Because China fights against all religions, it pressures and oppresses international communities. What is happening in East Turkistan today must be prevented from appearing tomorrow in another part of the world.

As the International Union of East Turkistan organizations:

1. We demand that all countries recognize East Turkistan as part of the territory occupied by China and support our struggle for independence, which we are launching by legitimate means.

2. We call on the United Nations, the European Union, the organization of Islamic Cooperation, the organization of Turkish States, and all other countries to take measures to immediately abandon China's racist attitude, restrictions on human rights and freedom of belief, the practice of the "modern Nazi torture camp" under the pretext of "terrorism and religious extremism", and stop the ongoing genocide in East Turkistan.

3. We demand that the UN General Assembly and the UN High Commission on Human Rights appoint a special representative for East Turkistan, send an independent monitoring team, and hold a negotiating session.

4. We call on governments and international organizations to exert diplomatic pressure on China to find solutions to human rights violations and cultural repression in East Turkistan.

5. We encourage all consumers and businesses around the world to be aware of supply chains that may contain forced labor for Uyghurs in East Turkistan and take steps to ensure products are sourced ethically.

With sincere respect and appreciation:

Hidayatullah oguzkhan

President of the International Union of East Turkistan Organizations