140) Oppression of Eastern Turkestan by the Chinese

 

 

Here is an area of the world that is largely unfamiliar to me, and probably to you. We can believe most of what the article below claims, because the same things are happening in Tibet. We know what is going on in Tibet, thanks to the glamor of Buddhism, Richard Gere, the Dalai Lama and several movies produced in Hollywood dramatizing the horrible course of recent Tibetan events. Nobody knows or cares about Eastern Turkestan because the affected people happen to be the "low men on the valuable human being pole," the Turkic people.

 

What is happening in Eastern Turkestan and Tibet is one I could somewhat identify with, as  I've witnessed the same sort of colonization taking place on a mini- scale in regions of New York City. The Asian community took over whole neighborhoods, transforming entire neighborhoods in as little as twenty or thirty years. Many of the stores and services have little inclination to assimilate, and it's not long before older residents become strangers in their own land. I happen to like Asians, and please don't take what I'm describing as xenophobia... that's not where I'm coming from. If a community can succeed in carving out its little ethnic niche, the general idea of that is fine with me. I'm only describing the weird feeling of what I've discovered firsthand... being supplanted, having trouble communicating with new residents and no longer being able to make use of old, familiar haunts and services... when there is a whole new "alien" culture staring back at you.

 

Here is the difference I'm talking about. For example, there are Spanish communities in New York City, and they're all pretty charming and wonderful, as are the various Chinatowns in major American cities. There is a "Little Odessa" in Brooklyn's Russian neighborhood, and Astoria is a community known for its large Greek population (fast becoming less homogeneous, as has been the case with Little Italy for years), and anyone can go to these communities and made to feel welcome, while soaking up the special "ethnic" atmosphere... which is great. But here's the other side of the coin: in Miami, Florida a few years ago, a worker at a business establishment arrogantly began speaking in Spanish to me, even though I could tell he knew English pretty well, and he also knew I was not Spanish. (There is a large Cuban community in Miami.) The message was, I ought to know Spanish, because I happened to be on their turf.

 

This is different than if I walk into a Spanish store, and they assume I'm Spanish, and start speaking to me in Spanish (quickly changing their language when they discover they were mistaken)... and this is also different than all the many people coming up to me in New York speaking in Spanish... I can tell their English is relatively nonexistent, so I try to communicate back in my broken New York Spanish. It becomes unsettling when an ethnic resident gets the assumption the neighborhood has become "theirs," and the regular residents of the nation are made to feel like intruders.

 

Implementing governmental policies to eradicate a people from their own land, as Stalin had done with other Turkic peoples in the Soviet Union (and Russia still practices today), is an incomprehensible wrong. (Even my own country has been guilty of steamrollering over indigenous peoples... aside from the obvious example of the Indians, hardly any Hawaiians today remain ethnically pure, in their original land — vastly outnumbered as they already are by non-Hawaiians.)  The Ottoman Empire, by contrast, was Mr. Nice Guy, under the millet system, making sure to preserve the customs and traditions of the people from conquered lands. Nice Guys Finish Last, however, and this is why many of these nations managed to gain their independence after centuries of rule, once the Sick Man of Europe weakened sufficiently. China will most likely not have this problem... by making sure to covertly kill off the existing populations, and by encouraging ethnic Chinese to replace the indigenous people, the time may unfortunately come when Eastern Turkestan and Tibet will be tomorrow's Hawaiis.

 

I wonder why the United States Congress and the French Parliament keep harping about the hotly disputed events of nearly a century ago, in the form of the Armenian "Genocide," when these current real genocides are taking place this very day? We all know the answer to that question. What hypocrites politicians are, especially when they pretend to seek the moral high ground with the  Armenian "Genocide."

 

 
Human Rights Tragedy in Eastern Turkistan 

 

Eastern Turkistan is the homeland of Uyghurs, a Turkic people who have been living there since the beginning of time. Eastern Turkistan lies in the heart of Asia, it borders Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan on the West; Pakistan and India on the Southwest; Tibet on the South; Russia and Mongolia on the North and China on the East. It covers an area of 1.6 million square kilometers, three times the size of France. Besides the majority Uyghurs, Eastern
Turkistan is also home to Kazaks, Kyrgyz, Tatars, Uzbeks, Mongols and Tajiks.

 

In 1876, the Manchu Qing Dynasty invaded Eastern Turkistan and after eight years of bloody war, formally annexed the territory of Eastern Turkistan in 1884 and named it “Xinjiang� meaning
“New Territory� or “New Frontier.�

 

After the Manchu empire was overthrown by the Chinese Nationalists in 1911, Eastern Turkistan fell under the rule of the new Chinese government. The Uyghurs, who also wanted to free themselves from foreign domination, staged numerous uprisings against National Chinese rule and twice, in 1933 and 1944, succeeded in setting up an independent Eastern Turkistan Republic. With the aid of Soviet Union intervention and political intrigue, the later Eastern Turkistan Republic fell, after 5 years, under the rule of Communist China in 1949. According to an agreement signed between the Eastern Turkistan Republic and Mao Zedong, the Uyghur people were initially guaranteed autonomy. However, once the Communists managed to disband the Eastern Turkistan National Army, they broke their promises and engaged in a repressive policy aimed at the destruction of the Uyghur nation. In 1949, ethnic Uyghurs constituted 78% of Eastern Turkistan’s population, while the Chinese who mainly comprised of Armies and
administrators constituted around 4%. After 48 years of Communist rule, the Uyghur population today has fallen to 52% of the 16 million Eastern Turkistan inhabitants while the Chinese population has climbed up to 38%.

 

Several factors contributed greatly to this massive population shift. First, a campaign to purge the Eastern Turkistan Republic’s leaders and inteligentia claimed hundreds of thousands of Uyghur lives. Terrorized by the murderous acts of the Communists, more than 200,000 Uyghurs fled to the neighboring Soviet Union and other countries. Secondly, the Chinese government moved millions of Chinese to Eastern Turkistan. In addition, during the cultural revolution, almost all the educated Uyghurs were accused of being nationalists and were therefore eliminated.

 

Moreover, rampant nuclear testing in the region killed an estimated 200,000 people. Diseases, resulted from poverty and lack of medical treatment, also claimed twice as many lives. Finally, the coercive birth control policies of the Chinese government severely curtailed the growth of the Uyghur population. The combined effects of these factors have dramatically changed the demographic situation in Eastern Turkistan. Uyghurs are rapidly becoming a minority in their own land.

 

Impact of Mass Immigration

 

Regardless of any opposition, the Communist government has speeded up immigration in order to transform Eastern Turkistan into a dominantly Chinese province before the the Eastern Turkistan issue becomes international.

 

In most Uyghur cities, the Uyghur-Chinese ratio has shifted from 9:1 to 1:9. This trend has not only strengthened the resentment of the Uyghurs, but has also started to cause anti-immigration feelings among the already settled Chinese. They have also begun to feel the population pressure even though they still enjoy priority over Uyghurs in education and job opportunities.

 

The sudden increase of population has brought hunger, unemployment and diseases to the Uyghur people. Although Eastern Turkistan has an area of 1.6 million square kilometers, it has very limited water resources. There is no excess water in the region. The Chinese emigrants have settled in the upstream regions turning areas of desert into green oases. At the same time, diversion of main river systems for irrigation purposes have adversely affected traditionally settled Uyghur agricultural farms downstream by significantly reducing water supplies or polluting them with herbicides, pesticides and other wastes. The result is increasing desertification of Uyghur farms.

 

The Uyghur farm lands are dramatically decreasing due to lack of water. A land once renowned for its prosperous resources and famous for its fruit gardens, now cannot feed the increasing population. The new settlers who do not seem to respect the holiness of water, pour their waste into the rivers from which the Uyghurs who live downstream have been drinking for thousands of years. Local people who have voiced their opinion on the water pollution are often labeled as separatists and anti-revolutionists and are prosecuted by the Chinese communists. Every summer, all kinds of contagious diseases like malaria and hepatitis break out among the Uyghur farmers who have no access to underground water and therefore have to drink the polluted water. While the Chinese immigrants enjoy the new-found prosperity and city life, the poor Uyghurs have become the waste disposer for them!

 

Chinese cadres bring their own drinking water from the cities by water tank truck when they are sent to Uyghur villages, while the Uyghurs have to drink polluted water not good enough for the Chinese.

 

Some Uyghurs have tried to get away from the ever worsening villages to find new homes in the cities. However, they do not stand any chance of getting a job without speaking Chinese, a foreign language for which even a four-year college education is insufficient. Even the janitorial jobs are taken by the Chinese who claim to have come to hlp Eastern Turkistan People.

 

The massive immigration of Chinese to the area has had disastrous impact not only on the lives
of local people but also on the ecological environment.

 

Eastern Turkistan used to have a large forest around the Taklamakan desert. But today most of the forest has been destroyed to accommodate the new settlers. A lot of animal species, indigenous only to this dry forest also have been wiped out. The disrupted ecological equilibrium is causing the rapid desertification of the cultivated lands.

 

While the Chinese people are encouraged to settle into the region, a coercive birth control policy is being carried out among the local inhabitants. While the birth control policy is failing in
other parts of China, the Xinjiang government has always been praised by the central government for being very successful and effective in implementing this policy. To garnish such compliments from the bosses in Beijing, local government officials often disregard the health of the local women, most of whom are exploited since they have nobody to turn to. The govemment has forcefully implemented numerous, unsafe birth control measures upon the local women without the necessary education to teach them how to practice such measures safely. As a result, many women and children suffer from severe health problems with sometimes fatal results. Severe penalties for violation of birth control policy range from salary cuts, heavy fines, and the denial of citizenship and school for the children to the loss of housing and jobs.

 

Accompanying the mass immigration, a cultural genocide policy is also being implemented. At school, Uyghur kids are not taught Uyghur history and traditions. Places and things representing the Uyghur heritage have been destroyed or, as is the case with Appak Hoja Tomb, have been distorted. At the same time, many Chinese style architectures have been built. In most of the big cities there is nothing left to indicate any presence of an Uyghur culture. These cities are becoming indistinguishable from other Chinese cities.

 

 
International Taklamakan
Uyghur Human Rights
Association

 

From The Turkish Times, August 1998

 

 Atatürk's fascination with the Uighur Turks

 Ataturk was fascinated by the books of James Churchward. According to Churchward the Turks, or more specifically the Uighur Turks, were a dominant high civilisation which existed over 50, 000 years ago. The Uighurs colonised and spread their influence around the world from their homeland, an ancient continent called MU, now submerged and forming the bed of the Pacific Ocean.

 

"The Uighur Empire stretched its powerful arms from the Pacific Ocean across central Asia and into Eastern Europe from the Caspian Sea on. This was before the British Isles became separated from the continent of Europe."

 

Chinese legend tells that the Uighurs were at the height of their civilisation about 17, 000 years ago. This date agrees with geological phenomenon."

 

 

The Chinese Government Says.... 

 

The Chinese Information Office of State Council has a different view, of course; Their article begins:

 

"East Turkistan" Terrorist Forces Cannot Get Away With Impunity

Terrorism is a big public hazard in the world today, posing an enormous threat to the peace, security and order of the international society.

 

Over a long period of time—especially since the 1990s—the "East Turkistan" forces inside and outside Chinese territory have planned and organized a series of violent incidents in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China and some other countries, including explosions, assassinations, arsons, poisonings, and assaults, with the objective of founding a so-called state of "East Turkistan." These terrorist incidents have seriously jeopardized the lives and property of people of all ethnic groups as well as social stability in China, and even threatened the security and stability of related countries and regions.

 

Then how did the "East Turkistan" issue come about? What terrorist activities have the "East Turkistan" forces engaged in?

 

The term "East Turkistan" first appeared at the end of the 19th century. Here, "stan" means "place" or "region." However, "East Turkistan" is not merely a geographical concept, but a political concept first put forward by old colonialists with the aim of dismembering China.

 

Originally, the term "Turks" referred to people of an ancient nomadic tribe. In the fifth century, the Turks wandered about the region of the Altay Mountains. From the mid-sixth century to the mid-eighth century, they appeared frequently on the grasslands of north China, and conducted exchanges with people in China’s Central Plains during the Western Wei (535-557), Sui (581-618) and Tang (618-907) dynasties, through various channels and at many levels. In 552, the Turks founded a khanate, which, at the height of its prosperity, ruled quite a vast area. In the Sui and early Tang dynasties, the Turks became a major force in north China. Later, they split into eastern and western branches, which engaged in constant struggles for dominance of the khanate. In the mid-eighth century, the eastern and western khanates of the Turks declined and went out of existence one after the other, and their descendants gradually merged with other ethnic groups. After the 11th century, the "Turks" mentioned in foreign history books embraced all the ethnic groups who spoke the Turkic language, which is a branch of the Altay language family. At the end of the 19th century, some people proposed to unite all the ethnic groups speaking the Turkic language from the Strait of Bosporus to the Altay Mountains to form a political state. In fact, throughout history there has never been a unified country consisting of all the Turkic-speaking peoples, despite claims to the contrary.

 

To split Xinjiang from China and bring it under their domination, some of the old colonialists gave Xinjiang the name "East Turkistan" (correspondingly, they called the countries in Central Asia "West Turkistan"), fabricating the fallacy that Xinjiang was the home of "Eastern Turks."

 

After the establishment of a frontier command headquarters (duhufu) in the Western Region by the Han Dynasty in 60 B.C., Xinjiang became a part of Chinese territory. From that time on, the central government has never ceased jurisdiction over Xinjiang. But in the beginning of the 20th century, a handful of fanatical Xinjiang separatists and extremist religious elements fabricated the myth of "East Turkistan" in light of the sophistries and fallacies created by the old colonialists. They claimed that "‘East Turkistan’ had been an independent state since ancient times," and that the ethnic group in that state had a history of nearly 10,000 years. They incited all ethnic groups speaking the Turkic language and believing in Islam to unite to form a state featuring the "integration of religion and politics." They denied the historical fact that all China’s ethnic groups have joined their efforts to create the great motherland, and called for "opposition to all ethnic groups other than the Turks," and for the elimination of "pagans."

 

Since the formation of the "East Turkistan" theory, separatists of every description have conducted activities in the name of "East Turkistan," in an attempt to set up a political state called "East Turkistan."

 

The article goes on to state:

 

To achieve their aim of splitting China, in recent years the handful of the "East Turkistan" terrorists within and outside the territory of China have carried out a series of sabotage activities by means of terrorism and violence. It is only natural that this has been firmly opposed by people of all ethnic groups in China, including the Uygur people in Xinjiang.

 

...

 

China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region exercises regional ethnic autonomy.

 

 

(To read the rest: china.org.cn)

 

Sounds like the Uygurs and the Chinese are really one big happy family, and this region is... "autonomous"? I like the part about the "old colonialists with the aim of dismembering China." I had no idea the Boxer Rebellion was alive and well.

 

This is a subject I'm not well versed in, but it doesn't seem correct that the entire East Turkestan region would consist of Turkic people if the Chinese had the region under their control since all the way back from 60 years Before Christ, as they claim. If the Chinese controlled the region for all that time, I doubt there would be any Turkic folks living there today... since the Chinese have been doing their best to aggressively move in. (The Chinese population moved up from a measly 4% all the way up to 38% from 1949 to 1997, and their numbers have no doubt increased even further since 1997. No different than what is shamefully happening in Tibet. Very insidious.)

 

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© Holdwater 

tallarmeniantale.com/Turkestan.htm

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