The East Turkistan Government-in-Exile (ETGE) extends its warmest wishes to all Muslims around the world on the blessed occasion of Eid al-Adha. May this sacred festival be a time of spiritual renewal, unity, and divine mercy for you and your families.
As we enter the blessed days of Eid following Arafah, we reflect on the eternal values of sacrifice, submission to God, and the struggle for justice. These are not merely symbolic; they are active responsibilities that call upon us to stand firmly in defense of truth and the oppressed.
Today we remind the Muslim world that while most can gather and celebrate Eid in peace, the Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic Muslim peoples of Occupied East Turkistan continue to suffer under seventy-six years of Chinese colonial occupation. That occupation has hardened into a genocide which has now entered its thirteenth year and has not stopped. Millions remain imprisoned or enslaved through forced labor. Families are torn apart and Uyghur and other Turkic Muslim children remained interned in state-run indoctrination boarding facilities to be raised as atheists. More than 16,000 mosques have been destroyed and damaged and the very practice of Islam by Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims has been criminalized. This is one of the gravest crises of our time, and it is being inflicted upon Muslims.
We therefore appeal to our brothers and sisters in faith to raise your hands in prayer this Eid for the swift liberation of East Turkistan and the deliverance of its people from Chinese colonial occupation and genocide. But we remind you that prayer alone is not enough. Faith without action is incomplete.
We call on the governments of the Muslim world, on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and on every Islamic institution and organization to end their shameful silence and complicity. To those who trade with and shield the Chinese regime carrying out this genocide: your silence is a betrayal of the very faith you profess. Recognize East Turkistan as an occupied country. Condemn China’s genocide and colonial occupation. Cease all cooperation that enables it. Support our petition before the United Nations Committee on Decolonization and our complaint before the International Criminal Court.
To the East Turkistani people, in our occupied homeland and in exile, we say: do not despair, and do not forget who you are. We are not Chinese; we are East Turkistanis. Our identity is not theirs to define, and our homeland is not theirs to own. The struggle for faith, freedom, and national liberation continues.
The restoration of East Turkistan’s independence is the only guarantee of our people’s survival and fundamental human rights. This Eid, let our prayers be matched by our deeds.
May Allah (SWT) accept all of our sacrifices, forgive our shortcomings, and strengthen our resolve. May He hasten the end of our oppression, revive our nation, and grant us victory in this noble cause.
— Dr. Mamtimin Ala, President, East Turkistan Government-in-Exile