What disasters has the Chinese communist regime brought upon the Uyghurs? (1)

Chinese leader Mao Zedong went to Tiananmen Square in Beijing on October 1, 1949 and announced the establishment of the Chinese Communist system. At the first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference held in Beijing on September 27, 1949, Mao Zedong delivered an opening speech on the theme "The Chinese People Have Resurrected" and made it clear that "people of all ethnic groups and groups will live independently and freely govern themselves in China.
However, in today's commentaries on the Chinese Communist regime, various political measures that occurred during the 27 years of Mao Zedong's rule from 1949 to 1976 are mentioned, and it is emphasized that this period was the most disastrous period.
Mr. Hu Ping, former editor-in-chief and commentator of the New York-based magazine "Beijing Spring", said that according to Mao Zedong's theory of "overthrowing the old society", the Chinese people were divided into two poles: the revolutionary people's pole and the class enemy's pole, and the entire Chinese people were politically drawn into the whirlpool of struggles.
Hu Ping said: "When the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, it was said that the whole of China had been liberated. At this time, Mao Zedong vigorously promoted the theory of "completely overthrowing the old system" in the Communist Party's Declaration. This meant the complete destruction of everything that was considered old. Class struggle was emphasized under Mao. The people were divided into workers and the hostile exploiting class. In the name of fighting the exploiters, the original social system of various peoples was destroyed and changed. At that time, in East Turkistan (Xinjiang) and Inner Mongolia, and after 1959 in Tibet, China carried out suppression and destruction under the name of "enemies of the exploiting class.". Not only were the religious beliefs and traditional culture of ethnic minorities destroyed, but also the ancient Chinese culture was destroyed. In his speech, Mr. Xu Ping said that since the founding of the Communist Party of China in 1949, the "agrarian reform," "three mountain toppling," "eliminating the five," "collectivization in agriculture," "establishment of communes," "great leap forward" have been carried out throughout China, "the crushing of the rightists," "the cultural revolution," "the destruction of the four old ones," "the re-education of rural youth," "the crushing of Lin Biao and Confucius," and other actions mentioned.
According to the second part of the book "History of the Communist Party of China," the "Great Leap Forward" caused a severe famine in China, and the famine that lasted from 1959 to 1961 killed one million Chinese people.
According to Hu Ping, the death toll during Mao Zedong’s “Great Leap Forward,” the “People’s Community,” and the subsequent “Cultural Revolution” created by Mao Zedong’s call to outdo Western countries such as the United States and Britain are the lowest estimates ever. Independent scholar Yang Jisheng states in his book “The Great Famine” that the death toll in those years due to famine and various political conflicts was much higher than reported.
A confidential report by Chen Yixin, former director of the China Institute for Economic Structural Reform, who worked under Gao Ziyang, estimated the number of deaths from starvation, or unnatural deaths, at 43 million to 46 million at the time.
Hu Ping emphasized that intellectuals were the main target of the wave of political conflicts in those years. During the “Cultural Revolution,” in addition to Chinese, a large number of public figures, religious scholars, and intellectuals from ethnic groups such as the Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Mongols were targeted for destruction.
Dr. Erkin Ekrem, a history lecturer at Hacettepe University in Turkey, said that the Chinese army’s occupation of East Turkistan was an occupation carried out with the help of the former Soviet Union. In a telegram sent by Soviet leader Stalin to Mao Zedong in June 1949, he used the term “occupation of East Turkistan.” After the Chinese army led by Wang Jin captured Kashgar at the end of 1949, the word “occupation” was changed to “the Red Army’s entry into East Turkistan.”
Dr. Erkin Ekrem said that when the “land reform” that began in China in the early 1950s was carried out in East Turkistan, the main goal was to settle the financial expenses of the Chinese government at that time. In the land reform that began in 1952, people were divided into two categories: the rich and the poor. As a result, by suppressing the rich and confiscating the wealth of the rich, the government accumulated a large amount of wealth.
Mr. Erkin Ekrem talked about various political measures such as “land reform”, “Great Leap Forward”, “elimination of rightists”, and “cultural revolution” carried out in East Turkestan under Mao Zedong. He said that almost all of these measures were aimed at strengthening the political dominance of the Chinese government in East Turkistan.
Mr. Erkin Ekrem said that in the early 1950s, China tried to completely destroy the religious beliefs and cultural circles of the Uyghurs in the name of “eliminating the old”. In addition, in the “elimination of rightists” movement, public figures, religious leaders and intellectuals who could truly guide the Uyghurs were systematically targeted and eliminated.
Since the second half of the 1950s, the so-called cadre unification project was implemented in the region, and about 20,000 local patriotic cadres loyal to the CCP were raised and educated. The original East Turkistan Army was gradually disarmed and later disbanded. Those who worked in the former East Turkistan government were accused of various charges and targeted for complete elimination. By 1954, the 200,000-strong army led by Chinese General Wang Jin, which invaded East Turkistan in 1949, had been stationed under the name of "Pingtuan" (Xinjiang Production and Construction Army), and an independent military colonization agency was established in the region. The corps laid the foundation for more Chinese settlers to flow into the country in the following years. Mr. Erkin Ekrem said that although the emphasis on class struggle was placed on the political movements at that time, the Chinese government's practice in the region was actually a policy of occupation. Therefore, Mao Zedong's policy during this period was aimed at destroying the religious beliefs and cultural national characteristics of the Uyghurs. In this, religious leaders and intellectuals who could lead the nation were the main targets for destruction. As a result, the Uyghurs were gradually dispossessed of their lands, and the Chinese government’s rule over these lands became easier.