5 April 2026
Press Release – For Immediate Release
East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGE)
East-Turkistan.Net
contact@East-Turkistan.Net
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGE) today commemorated the 36th anniversary of the 1990 East Turkistan Uprising, also known as the Baren Uprising, honoring the martyrs of one of the most significant acts of national resistance against China’s colonial occupation of East Turkistan. Demonstrations were held in Washington, D.C. and Edmonton, Alberta, where ETGE officials and community members gathered to demand accountability and international action to end China’s ongoing genocide.
On April 5, 1990, thousands of East Turkistanis in Baren Township rose up to protest China’s genocidal enforcement of coercive population control policies, under which over 250 Uyghur women were subjected to forced abortions. Led by Zeydin Yusup, demonstrators marched on the local Chinese colonial office to demand an end to these atrocities and to Chinese occupation itself. The Beijing regime responded with over 20,000 troops, helicopter gunships, and heavy artillery, massacring more than 3,000 people and arresting over 7,600 more.
The ETGE stated that the Baren Uprising was a legitimate act of national anti-colonial resistance consistent with the inherent right of all peoples to resist foreign domination under international law, and that the genocide it foreshadowed is now entering its twelfth year. Mass imprisonment, forced labor, coercive population control, family separation, and the systematic destruction of Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic cultures continue across occupied East Turkistan.
“The martyrs of Baren did not die fighting for so-called ‘genuine autonomy,’ ‘improved human rights conditions,’ or mere ‘cultural rights’ under the Chinese invaders. They died fighting for the restoration of the East Turkistan Republic,” said Salih Hudayar, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Security of the East Turkistan Government in Exile, speaking at the demonstration in Washington, D.C. “Guided by their sacrifice, we reaffirm our collective vow to continue our national liberation and independence struggle with unyielding strength until the occupation ends and East Turkistan’s national independence and sovereignty is fully restored.”
In February 2026, senior Chinese officials formally called for the normalization and continuation of genocidal policies in occupied East Turkistan, which followed by the enactment of the so-called Ethnic Unity Law, which mandates the erasure of all non-Chinese languages, cultures, and identities. The ETGE emphasized that this escalation confirms that China has no intention of ending its atrocities, and that the conflict between East Turkistan and China is an international conflict between an occupied nation and an occupying power, not an internal affairs matter of China.
“This day does not belong to history alone. It belongs to the living struggle of a nation that has refused, for seventy-six years, to accept erasure,” said Dr. Mamtimin Ala, President of the East Turkistan Government in Exile. “We have not broken in seventy-six years of occupation, genocide, and colonial domination. We will not break now.”
Commemorations were also held in Edmonton, Alberta, where members of the East Turkistani community gathered to mark the anniversary and call on the Canadian government to take concrete action. The ETGE emphasized that governments in both Washington and Ottawa must move beyond symbolic statements and take decisive, enforceable measures to hold Beijing accountable.
“Canada must not remain silent while a genocide unfolds,” said Abdulahat Nur, Prime Minister of the East Turkistan Government in Exile, who led the commemoration in Edmonton. “We call on the Canadian government to formally recognize East Turkistan as an occupied country and stand with our people’s inalienable right to decolonization and national independence.”
The ETGE called on the United States, Canada, and the international community to formally recognize East Turkistan as an occupied country under international law, impose targeted sanctions on Chinese officials and entities responsible for genocide, ban imports produced through forced labor, and support international accountability mechanisms including an International Criminal Court investigation into China’s ongoing genocide.
The ETGE reaffirmed that recognition without enforcement has failed and reiterated its commitment to justice, accountability, and the decolonization, liberation, and restoration of East Turkistan’s national independence and sovereignty.