My fellow East Turkistanis, friends of freedom, and members of the international community:

Today, we commemorate the 22nd anniversary of the East Turkistan Government-in -Exile (ETGE).

On September 14, 2004, Uyghur, Kazakh, and other East Turkistani leaders gathered in Washington, D.C., united by a common national purpose: to restore East Turkistan’s national political voice, preserve the continuity of our statehood, and reaffirm before the international community the inherent right of the East Turkistani people to national self-determination, independence, and sovereignty.

The East Turkistan Government in Exile was established as the legitimate political successor to the East Turkistan Republic, which was forcibly overthrown following the occupation of East Turkistan by the People’s Republic of China in 1949.

For more than seven decades, the people of East Turkistan have endured foreign occupation, colonial subjugation, massacres, mass internment, enslavement, forced assimilation, demographic engineering, and the systematic destruction of our national, cultural, religious, and political existence.

In recent years, these policies have escalated into an ongoing campaign of genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples of East Turkistan.

Yet East Turkistan endures.

Our national identity has not been erased. Our political will has not been extinguished. Our right to freedom and independence has not expired.

For the past twenty-two years, the East Turkistan Government in Exile has worked to advance the national cause of East Turkistan before governments, parliaments, international organizations, courts, and the global public.

We have consistently exposed the occupation and colonization of our homeland, documented the genocide and crimes against humanity committed against our people, and defended East Turkistan’s legal and historical right to national self-determination and independence.

Today, governments have formally recognized the genocide. Parliaments have adopted resolutions condemning the atrocities committed against our people. United Nations experts and international institutions have documented grave violations, including slave labor, mass detention, forced population transfers, family separation, and other atrocities amounting to serious international crimes.

In May 2026, the East Turkistan Government in Exile took a further historic step by submitting the first petition concerning the national question of East Turkistan to the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization.

That petition placed before the international community the question of East Turkistan’s political status, China’s occupation and colonial rule, and the right of the East Turkistani people to decolonization, national self-determination, and the restoration of their independence and sovereignty.

This effort will continue.

To the international community, we state clearly:

East Turkistan is not merely a region under Chinese administration. It is an occupied country and a colonized nation whose people possess an inherent and inalienable right to determine their own political future.

The world cannot continue to recognize the genocide of our people while refusing to confront the occupation and colonial system that have enabled it.

We therefore call upon all states and international institutions to support the decolonization of East Turkistan, uphold the right of the East Turkistani people to national self-determination and independence, hold the People’s Republic of China accountable for genocide and crimes against humanity, and support the restoration of East Turkistan’s national independence and sovereignty.

Recognition of these crimes must be followed by action.

The international community must move beyond managing the consequences of China’s occupation and begin addressing its root cause.

To my fellow East Turkistanis:

Twenty-two years ago, this Government was established to preserve our national political continuity and carry the cause of East Turkistan before the world.

Today, that responsibility remains unchanged.

Despite decades of occupation, colonial subjugation, genocide, and systematic efforts to destroy our nation, the East Turkistani people remain determined to reclaim their freedom, restore their sovereignty, and reestablish an independent East Turkistan.

We will continue to pursue this cause through, diplomatic, political, and other means as allowed by international law.

We will continue to press our case before governments, international institutions, legal bodies, and every appropriate forum until the occupation ends and East Turkistan’s national independence is restored.

The restoration of East Turkistan’s sovereignty is not a concession to be granted by China or any other power. It is the inherent right of the East Turkistani nation.

We will not renounce that right.

We will not surrender our national cause.

And we will not cease our struggle until East Turkistan is once again free, independent, and sovereign.

May Almighty God grant our people unity, strength, liberation, victory, and the restoration of our national independence and sovereignty.

Long live East Turkistan!

Dr. Mamtimin Ala
President
East Turkistan Government in Exile