The following statement is attributed to the East Turkistan Government in Exile’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Security
The East Turkistan Government-in-Exile (ETGE) unequivocally rejects the proposal put forth by Prof. Dr. Erhan Afyoncu, the President of Türkiye’s National Defense University, to facilitate the mass migration of Uyghurs from occupied East Turkistan to Türkiye. While we acknowledge concerns regarding Türkiye’s declining birth rates, we must emphasize that this proposal ultimately serves China’s agenda of genocide, colonization, and occupation. It aids China’s objective of ethnically cleansing East Turkistan— the cradle of Turkic civilization and the sacred homeland of the Turkic people— by depopulating it of its native Uyghur population and replacing them with Chinese colonial settlers.
If Türkiye aims to increase its population, the most effective approach is to implement policies that encourage higher birth rates among its own citizens. The Turkish government should introduce financial and social incentives for families with two or more children, including tax reductions, housing assistance, and childcare support, thereby enhancing economic and social well-being. Such policies would provide a sustainable and long-term solution.
If migration is still considered necessary, Türkiye should first prioritize the return of millions of Turkish citizens residing in Europe and other parts of the world by offering them improved economic, social, and financial opportunities to encourage their resettlement. Should this prove insufficient, the resettlement of ethnic Turks from Syria and Iraq should take precedence, as these communities share the closest historical, cultural, and linguistic ties with Türkiye and are direct neighbors. If further migration is required, Türkiye could collaborate with independent Turkic states such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan within the framework of controlled migration policies to maintain population balances.
Uprooting the Uyghurs from their homeland would only serve China’s long-term strategy to permanently erase the native population of East Turkistan and extinguish the East Turkistan cause altogether. We cannot allow this to happen. If Türkiye genuinely cares about the survival and well-being of the Uyghurs, it must provide political and strategic support against China’s policies of occupation, colonization, and genocide. Just as it extends support to non-Turkic populations such as the Palestinians, Türkiye should extend the same support to the people of East Turkistan and assist them in restoring their legitimate independence.
The survival of the Uyghurs lies not in their displacement, but in the re-establishment of an independent East Turkistan Republic on their own land!
