Today, the East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGE) commemorates the 50th anniversary of the passing of President Elihan Töre Saghuni, the first President of the Second East Turkistan Republic, who served from 1944 to 1946. The East Turkistan Republic existed as an independent state from November 12, 1944, until December 22, 1949, when Chinese communist forces overthrew our independent republic by military force.
East Turkistan, an occupied country currently under the colonial rule of the People’s Republic of China, remembers Elihan Töre not merely as a symbol, but as our head of state who asserted East Turkistan’s inherent right to independence, organized national resistance, and upheld the dignity of a people determined to remain free and independent. East Turkistan’s sovereignty belongs to its people alone. No external power holds the authority to decide our national destiny.
President Elihan Töre also held the rank of Marshal of the East Turkistan Republic’s National Army and provided political leadership to an independent national government reborn through the East Turkistan National Revolution of November 1944. He confronted betrayal, coercion, and the coordinated Soviet and Chinese efforts to dismantle our independent state. In June 1946, Soviet intelligence services abducted President Töre from Ghulja and forcibly placed him under house arrest in Tashkent, where he remained until his passing on February 28, 1976, at the age of 91.
Even under house arrest, President Töre sought to arm our nation with truth by documenting the uprising, the betrayal and coercion that undermined our independence, and the tragedy of occupation, while affirming the necessity of national liberation and the restoration of East Turkistan’s sovereignty in his seminal work, Turkistan’s Tragedy.
The East Turkistan Government in Exile honors President Elihan Töre’s memory and renews its solemn pledge to unwaveringly pursue the restoration of our national sovereignty and independence. We reject any and all colonial arrangements, imposed settlements or agreements, and every narrative that seeks to normalize foreign occupation and colonization of our homeland. The legacy of President Elihan Töre remains a directive to our generation—to liberate our homeland from Chinese occupation and restore East Turkistan’s national independence and sovereignty. Until the full restoration of national independence, the East Turkistan Government in Exile serves as the lawful custodian of the East Turkistan Republic’s sovereign mandate.
— Dr. Mamtimin Ala, President of the East Turkistan Government in Exile