The below statement is attributed to the Executive Council of the East Turkistan Government in Exile

Twenty years the United States of America faced one of the most heinous tragedies in modern history. The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, were not just an attack on the United States of America but was, in fact, an attack on all of humanity.

The East Turkistan Government in Exile and the people of East Turkistan stand in solidarity with the United States of America and all the victims of the September 11 Terrorist Attacks.

The East Turkistan Government in Exile resolutely condemns the September 11 Terror Attacks. It opposes terrorism in all forms, including state terrorism that has been and continues to be perpetrated by the Chinese State and its forces, including the Chinese Communist Party and its People’s Liberation Army against East Turkistan and its people, especially the Uyghurs.

Two weeks before the 9/11 Attacks, China claimed everything was peaceful and denied the existence of the ongoing centuries-old Sino-East Turkistan conflict whatsoever in an attempt to whitewash its ongoing campaign of colonization and to lure foreign investment in East Turkistan.

On November 11, 2001, the People’s Republic of China issued a propaganda statement at the U.N. Security Council to highlight what it calls “East Turkistan terrorist forces.” China deliberately fabricated the so-called “East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM)” and numerous other non-existent groups to confuse the world and portray the broad East Turkistan Independence Movement as a “terrorist movement.” The broad East Turkistan Independence Movement is a national independence movement that dates back to the early 1920s.

Unfortunately, as a result of aggressive Chinese diplomacy and appeasement policies towards China, a few countries across the world, including the United States, the E.U., and the U.K., bought into China’s lies that “Uyghurs are terrorists” and the existence of a terrorist organization called the “ETIM.”

There is no evidence of a group calling itself the “East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM),” nor was there any mention of such group before November 11, 2001.

Regarding the “ETIM,” the U.S. State Department wrote in its ‘Country Report on Terrorism 2019: China’

“The PRC government’s C.T. attention remained on ethnic Uyghur so-called “extremists” whom Beijing ascribes to the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, despite a lack of evidence that a group by that name is still active.

On October 20, 2020, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revoked the designation of the so-called “East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM).” The State Department stated that there was ‘no credible evidence that the ETIM exists. We urge other countries worldwide to follow the U.S. in de-listing the so-called “ETIM” and not allow China to carry out genocide and state terrorism against East Turkistanis under the false pretext of “anti-terrorism.”

For nearly 72 years, the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party have been waging a brutal, systematic campaign of colonization, genocide, and occupation through the use of state terrorism against East Turkistan and its people in the process.

September 11, 2001, marks a day of dark tragedy for all of humanity. The September 11 Attacks of 2001 also mark the beginning of a dark era in East Turkistani history. The Chinese government took advantage of the September 11 Attacks and the subsequent Global War on Terror that followed to engage in a campaign of genocide and state terrorism against Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in East Turkistan under the false pretext of “anti-terrorism.”

Since 9/11, every day has been full of tragedy for the people of East Turkistan as China has been using its state apparatus to engage in genocide and state terrorism against East Turkistan and its people. The greatest victims of the September 11 Terror Attacks and terrorism in the 21st century are East Turkistan and its people.

Today, over 3 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic peoples are locked up in concentration camps, with millions more in prisons and labor camps. East Turkistani people are subject to forced indoctrination, sterilization, forced medication, organ harvesting, systematic state-sponsored rape, torture, and even summary execution.

Many might ask why China is doing all these atrocities; what is China’s motive? East Turkistan is a strategically located country comprising 1.828.418 square kilometers or roughly 1/5 of the territories under the control of the People’s Republic of China. East Turkistan is rich in natural and mineral resources and is a strategic gateway connecting China to Central Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. It is the cornerstone of China’s Belt and Road Initiative for global economic, political, and military domination. East Turkistan is an Occupied Country; hence the Chinese refer to it as “Xinjiang,” which means the “New Territory’ in the Chinese language.

China fears losing control of East Turkistan; therefore, it is actively demonizing East Turkistan and its people, especially Uyghurs, as “terrorists,” much like how the Nazis demonized the Jews during the Holocaust. China seeks to eradicate East Turkistan and its people, seeing its a “final solution” to achieve its National Defense Strategy of “preventing the independence of East Turkistan.”

In July of 2021, the East Turkistan Government in Exile and the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement filed a formal complaint urging the International Criminal Court to investigate and prosecute Chinese officials for genocide and other crimes against humanity.

We urge governments, organizations, and individuals worldwide to support this case at ICC. We call on member states of the International Court of Justice to file a similar complaint. We urge governments to join the U.S. in recognizing the ongoing Genocide in East Turkistan and pressure the U.N. to uphold the Genocide Convention.

The world has vowed NEVER AGAIN following the Holocaust of the Jews by the Nazis during the 1930s to mid-1940s. In many ways, what is happening in East Turkistan today is a 21st Century Holocaust which must stop before it is too late. How many millions of Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples does China have to kill before the international community intervenes?

The people of East Turkistan are pleading for help; the only way to guarantee and ensure the human rights, freedoms, and the very survival of our people is only by restoring East Turkistan’s independence. Thus we urge governments worldwide to oppose Chinese state terrorism by formally recognizing East Turkistan as an Occupied Country and assist East Turkistan and its people to regain their rightful independence.