The following statement is attributed to the Dr. Mamtimin Ala, President of the East Turkistan Government in Exile
Today, January 19, 2025, marks an important yet somber occasion as the East Turkistani people across the world observe East Turkistan Genocide Recognition and Remembrance Day. We commemorate this day not only as a testament to the resilience of our people but also as a clarion call to the world to act against one of humanity’s gravest atrocities.
Seventy-five years ago, on October 12, 1949, the Chinese Communist regime invaded East Turkistan, forcefully overthrowing the independent East Turkistan Republic by December 22, 1949. Since then, East Turkistan has endured an unrelenting campaign of colonization, assimilation, and occupation—a campaign that reached its apex of brutality in May 2014 when Chinese dictator Xi Jinping declared his genocidal intent to “wipe them out completely, destroy them root and branch, break their lineage, break their roots, break their connections, and break their origins…show them absolutely no mercy.” These chilling words have been followed by unspeakable actions that continue to this day.
As of 2025, the genocide against the Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic peoples of East Turkistan persists unabated. Millions remain interned in modern-day concentration camps, enslaved through forced labor, and subjected to heinous atrocities. Over 580,000 Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from five years to life, giving East Turkistan the world’s highest incarceration rate. Hundreds of thousands of women have been forcibly sterilized, their fundamental rights to life and family stripped away.
Nearly one million Uyghur and Turkic children have been forcibly separated from their families and placed in state-run internment facilities, where they are subjected to assimilationist indoctrination designed to erase their ethnic, cultural and religious identities. Over 3.7 million Uyghur and Turkic babies have been forcibly aborted, and over 16,000 mosques and cultural sites—pillars of our heritage—have been destroyed. Thousands of Uyghur and Turkic women have been forced into marrying Chinese colonizers, a grotesque act of state-sponsored rape designed to annihilate our identity.
The destruction of our cultural, linguistic, and religious practices is systematic and deliberate. Furthermore, it is estimated that at least 150,000 Uyghur and Turkic youth have been killed solely for their organs, sold on a black market that turns the blood of innocents into profit for Beijing’s regime.
We must also recall the pivotal moment on January 19, 2021, when the then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, under the Trump Administration, formally designated China’s atrocities in Occupied East Turkistan as an ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity. This historic recognition marked a critical step in acknowledging the suffering of our people. We congratulate President Trump on his upcoming inauguration tomorrow, January 20, 2025, and urge the Trump administration to uphold their commitments to “Never Again.”
We call on the Trump administration to take meaningful action to address the root cause of this atrocity by recognizing and condemning China’s illegal occupation and colonization of East Turkistan. Recognizing East Turkistan as an occupied country and supporting the East Turkistani people’s struggle to restore East Turkistan’s independence is the only way to ensure the true end of this genocide and to safeguard our human rights, dignity, and very existence.
This genocide is not merely a tragedy for East Turkistan but an affront to humanity’s conscience. It demands not only recognition but resolute action. As we remember the victims of China’s campaign of extermination, we call on the United States, the international community, and all freedom-loving nations to take decisive steps:
- Recognize China’s illegal occupation of East Turkistan and formally condemn its genocidal policies.
- Hold China accountable through international courts for crimes against humanity and genocide.
- Support East Turkistan’s right to external self-determination and independence, ensuring freedom, survival, and human rights for its people.
Lip service is not enough. Words must be matched by actions that challenge China’s genocidal regime and support the restoration of justice and dignity for the people of East Turkistan.
Let today be a reminder to the world: silence is complicity, and inaction enables the continuation of these crimes. The future of East Turkistan’s people depends on a unified global commitment to justice. Together, we can and must stand against tyranny to ensure that East Turkistan’s suffering ends and that the rights and freedoms of its people are restored.
May the memory of the victims fuel our collective resolve, and may we soon see a free and independent East Turkistan once again.
In solidarity,
Dr. Mamtimin Ala, President of the East Turkistan Government in Exile