June 4, 2020
Washington, DC
The following statment is attributed to the Prime Minister of the East Turkistan Government in Exile
Today marks the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Pro-democracy student protests were brutally crushed by the CCP’s PLA forces. Numerous peaceful protests in East Turkistan were also brutally crushed.
On June 4th 2018, we publicly launched the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement, to awaken the world to the truth about East Turkistan and to advocate for an end to China’s brutal occupation and colonization of East Turkistan.
For decades, China has done everything it could to suppress ONE IDEA, ONE FACT, which is: East Turkistan is an independent country.
First China rewrote history, claiming that East Turkistan and its people were a part of China since ancient times. The fact is that in over 6,000 years of East Turkistan’s history, East Turkistan was never a part of China except for brief periods of occupation.
Over the past few years, China has imprisoned over 3 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, and Tatars as they seek to physically and psychologically wipe out our very existence along with the fact that the Uyghur and other Turkic Peoples of East Turkistan, are the rightful owners of this land. What China is doing in East Turkistan is no doubt 21st century colonialism and genocide.
When comparing the two petitions submitted to the White House in 2018, you can see that over 90% of East Turkistan’s people demand independence.This is not a coincidence; we have a long history of being an independent nation prior to the Manchu Qing conquest of East Turkistan in 1884. We declared independence twice as the East Turkistan Republic in 1933 and once more in 1944.
We maintained our independent democratic, secular, pluralistic East Turkistan Republic until Chinese Communist invasion and subsequent occupation of East Turkistan in December 1949. Our struggle to restore East Turkistan’s Independence has never stopped and won’t stop until the day that we restore our complete independence.
Freedom is not free! Today, we commemorate the countless Hong Kongers, Tibetans and students in Tiananmen square who died struggling for freedom and democracy. We also commemorate the millions of East Turkistanis who died struggling for East Turkistan’s freedom and independence.
On this special day, we would like to reiterate to the international community, especially to relevant governments, organizations, and individuals that East Turkistan is a separate and Independent country that is currently under Chinese occupation. East Turkistan’s people want to restore their Independence.
The people of East Turkistan are not Chinese and have never been a part of the Chinese nation. Nor do our people want East Turkistan to be an autonomous region or part of a federal state of China or a part of “New China”, no matter how democratic “New China” may claim itself to be.
If those advocating for a New China are truly democratic then they must distinguish themselves from the Chinese Communists, the Chinese Guomindang nationalists by acknowledging historical facts and recognize East Turkistan as an independent country that is occupied by China.
They must acknowledge the genocide and colonization undertaken by previous Chinese Communist and Nationalist administrations. They must publicly agree to withdraw ALL of China’s occupation and colonial forces, return the stolen land and properties back to the East Turkistani people, and they must compensate for the damages inflected upon East Turkistan and its people.
East Turkistan is an Independent country under Chinese occupation and the rightful, lawful owners of this land are the Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Tatar, and other Turkic peoples of East Turkistan, not the Chinese occupation forces and their colonists. China has no right to East Turkistan!