شەرقىي تۈركىستان خەلقى
تونۇشتۇرۇش
East Turkistan is home to the Uyghurs, as well as other Central Asian Indo-European and Turkic peoples, such as the Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and Uzbeks. Since occupying East Turkistan in late 1949, the Chinese government has attempted to change the East Turkistani people’s identity and history by fabricating a false narrative to support its unlawful occupation of East Turkistan.
The Chinese government further falsely claims that the people of East Turkistan are “part of the Zhonghua Minuzu [Chinese Nation]” and that its Turkic people, particularly the Uyghurs, East Turkistan’s largest ethnic group, are not Turks. China’s blatant lies regarding East Turkistan and its people are not only ludicrous but also devoid of any factual basis. Simply stated, the people of East Turkistan are not “Chinese” in any way, and they have no cultural, ethnic, linguistic, or historical links to the Chinese whatsoever.
The names and origins of the peoples of East Turkistan provide strong insight into the land, culture, and history of East Turkistan. Between the 9th and 13th centuries, the native Indo-European peoples of East Turkistan were gradually absorbed by the Turkic Qarakhanid/Uyghur peoples of East Turkistan, resulting in a Turkic-speaking hybrid people. In truth, Turkic (Hun, Kök Turk, Uyghur, Qarakhanid, etc.) and Indo-European peoples (Saka/Scythian, Tokharian/Yuezhi, Uysun/Wusun) intermixtures had been going on for thousands of years in East Turkistan. Throughout history, East Turkistan’s people have been known by a variety of names but were more commonly collectively referred to as Türk [Türük/Törük], meaning “strong” in the Turkic languages, from the 5th century CE and onwards.
The Turkic names of the people of East Turkistan speak of strength, unity, freedom, their ancestors, and self-rule. The Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and Uzbeks are the most populous Indo-European and Turkic peoples of East Turkistan.
ئۇيغۇرلار
The Uyghurs (also spelled: Uighur, Uygur, and Uigur, and historically even “Eygur”) are the most dominant ethnic group who live in all parts of East Turkistan and account for an estimated 85% of the total Indo-European and Turkic population of East Turkistan. The Uyghurs are predominantly Muslim and speak ‘Eastern Turki’ or ‘Chaghatay,’ which is now most commonly known as Uyghur. The term Uyghur means “united” or “allied” in Turkic. The Chinese have historically referred to the Uyghurs as “Tiele,” “Goache [“High Carts”],” “Dingling,”, “Huihe,” “Huihu,” and more recently “Weiwur.” Up until the 1930s, the Uyghurs in East Turkistan spoke of themselves as historically as ‘Turk,’ ‘East Turkistani,’ or ‘Musulman [Muslim].’ They also referred to themselves by yerlik or “local” oases-based autonyms such as ‘Qeshqerliq,’ ‘Khotenlik,’ ‘Turpanlik, ‘Aqsuluq, ‘Ghuljaluq,’, ‘Qumuluq,’ etc. Prior to 1921, the Russians used to call them ‘Turk,’ “Sart” and “Taranchi’; it was in 1921 at the Tashkent conference that the ethnonym ‘Uyghur’ was revived and used as an umbrella term to refer to all the non-nomadic Turkic-speaking peoples living in East Turkistan.
In recent decades, the PRC has fabricated a false narrative to separate the ethnic origins of the Uyghurs from East Turkistan and connect them to Mongolia in a deliberate attempt to disconnect Uyghurs from their continued presence in their homeland. While most Chinese scholars echoed the official narrative of the Chinese government, some Chinese historians rejected the PRC government’s false narrative and pointed to the fact that the majority of the ancient Uyghur population lived in East Turkistan long before the arrival of some Uyghur tribes from Mongolia. Uyghur historians also rejected the Chinese government’s false narrative and traced the ancestry of modern Uyghurs to the Indo-European Saka, Tocharian/ “Yuezhi,” Uysun / “Wusun,” Huns (“Xiongnu”) as well as the Kök Turk, Uyghur (Toquz Oghuz), and Qara-Khanid asserting that Uyghurs have a history of over 6400 to 9000 years in East Turkistan. Many contemporary western experts believe that the modern peoples of East Turkistan are descended from a number of people that lived in East Turkistan and throughout Central Asia, such as the Indo-European Sakas (Scythians), Tokharians, Huns, Turks, Uyghurs (Toquz Oghuz), Qarakhanids, and Chaghatay.
قازاقلار
The Kazakhs (also spelled: Qazaq or Kazak) are the second-largest Turkic ethnic group in East Turkistan, after the Uyghurs. They live alongside Uyghurs mostly in the northern portion of East Turkistan, as well as parts of East Turkistan’s Kengsu region, where they have been nomads for centuries. The Kazakhs also trace their roots to the ancient Uysun / “Wusun,” Hun, and Kök Turk people who lived in East Turkistan and the greater Central Asian region. Today, most Kazakhs live in the neighboring independent Republic of Kazakhstan, where many East Turkistani Kazakhs have resettled post-1991. Like their fellow Turkic brethren, the Uyghurs, the Kazakhs are also Turkic and predominantly Muslim people. In East Turkistan, most of the Kazakhs also speak Uyghur, whereas most Uyghurs don’t speak Kazakh. Historians trace the ancestors of the Kazakh to Uysun people who were believed to be of Hunnic and Indo-European admixture. The ethnonym Kazakh means “Free” in the Turkic language.
قىرغىزلار
The Kyrgyz (also spelled: Qirghiz, Kirghiz, Kirgiz) are another historically nomadic predominantly Muslim Turkic people. Their language is like the Kazakh language; the two ethnic groups are often described as being close cousins. The ethnonym Kyrgyz refers to “forty maidens,” or qiriq qiz. They used to be called the Kara-Kyrgyz or True Kyrgyz, to differentiate them from the Otez Oghul, or the “Kyrgyz-Kazakh,” who are the present-day Kazakhs. The Kyrgyz people of East Turkistan live in the southwest of East Turkistan, herding in the Pamir Mountain regions; whereas the majority of them live in the independent Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzstan). Their historical ancestors trace back to the ancient Yenisei Kyrgyz.
ئۆزبەكلەر
The Uzbeks (also spelled: O’zbek), like the Uyghurs, are a sedentary group of Indo-European and Turkic-speaking Muslims. They live mostly in the urban areas of East Turkistan, often residing amongst the Uyghurs. The overwhelming majority of Uzbeks, however, live in the independent Republic of Uzbekistan. The Uzbeks are culturally and linguistically the closest ethnic group to the Uyghurs. The term Uzbek comes from two words: O’z meaning “self” and Bek or Beg meaning “ruler” or “governor.” In other words, the Uzbeks are their own rulers. It’s believed by historians that the Uzbeks are an admixture of the Indo-European peoples and nomadic Turkic peoples of Central Asia, tracing their origins to both the Sakas, Sogdians, Khwarezmians, Kushans, Bactrians as well as the Kök Turks and Qarakhanids, and Chaghatay.
موڭغۇللار
The Oirat Mongols, distinct among the groups in East Turkistan, have resided in its northern regions since the 15th century. Renowned for establishing the Dzungar Khanate, they ruled much of Northern East Turkistan from the 16th to 18th century. The Oirats, primarily Mongolic speakers, maintained a semi-nomadic lifestyle, deeply rooted in the traditions and skills of the Central Asian steppes. Their influence in the region, both politically and culturally, was significant during their reign, leaving an enduring impact on the historical tapestry of East Turkistan.
شەرقىي تۈركىستاندىكى باشقا مىللەتلەر
At present, East Turkistan is also home to many Tajiks, Tatars, Salars, and Turkmens. East Turkistan also has a small Sibe (Xibe) community descended from the Manchus that were sent to occupy East Turkistan in the late 18th century. As a result of the systematic Chinese campaign of colonization, genocide, and occupation, there is a very large population of Chinese Han and Hui (Chinese Muslim) colonists, the vast majority of whom were transferred to colonize the country following the PRC’s occupation of East Turkistan in late 1949.
شەرقىي تۈركىستاننىڭ نوپۇسى
East Turkistan’s demographic structure has undergone significant changes since the Chinese occupation in late 1949, particularly since the 1980s. However, the exact population of East Turkistan remains heavily contested due to the Chinese government’s manipulation of statistics as a tool of control. The Chinese government frequently understates the true size of East Turkistan’s Uyghur and other Turkic populations, making it challenging to obtain accurate figures through official channels.
In 2020, Chinese state media reported that the Uyghur population numbered 12,718,400 in 2018. However, the Chinese government released a white paper in 2021, falsely claiming that the total population of East Turkistan in 2020 was 25.85 million people, with 13.5 million being Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and Kyrgyz, and Uyghurs making up 11,678,600 people. According to these official figures, there were 11.09 million Chinese colonists (Han and Hui) and half a million people belonging to smaller ethnic groups such as Mongols, Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Tatars in East Turkistan in 2020. This marked a substantial increase in the Chinese colonist population, as the Xinjiang Statistical Yearbook 2019 had put their number at 8.8 million just one year earlier. Simultaneously, there was a significant decrease in the Uyghur population, with over 1 million Uyghurs suddenly disappearing from the statistics between 2018 and 2019.
Due to the Chinese government’s deliberate manipulation of statistics and its habit of underestimating the population of non-Chinese peoples in East Turkistan, the East Turkistani people reject “official” Chinese figures. Many Uyghur scholars, writers, and activists in the diaspora estimate that the Turkic population of East Turkistan ranges from 25 to 35 million. The East Turkistan Government in Exile, based on historical population figures and other data, believes that East Turkistan’s overall Turkic population may have exceeded 40 million people before the formal start of China’s genocide against Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in 2014. It’s evident that the Chinese authorities launched the ongoing genocide to reduce the East Turkistani population to a “more manageable” proportion, as reflected in the 13.5 million figures being officially pushed.
تارىختا شەرقىي تۈركىستاننىڭ نوپۇسى
Throughout its history, East Turkistan’s population has been divided into two main racial groups: Indo-European peoples and Hun-Turkic peoples. According to archeological and DNA research, the ancient Tarim mummies of East Turkistan belong to an isolated gene pool of ancient Indo-European origins that can be traced all the way back to the early Holocene 9,000 years ago, well before Bronze Age farming communities emerged. However historical records show that East Turkistan’s native population around 700 BCE consisted of Sakha and Indo-European peoples in the east and south, along with proto-Hunnic ethnic groups in the north. By the 2nd century BCE, the Huns (“Xiongnu”), Uysun (“Wusun”), and other proto-Turkic peoples began to setup polities in the northern half of East Turkistan.
The Turkic peoples, who are believed to be an admixture of the Indo-European and Hun populations, gradually extended their influence over northern and western regions of East Turkistan with the rise of the Kök Turks in the 6th century CE, while the pre-existing demographic structure remained largely intact. The establishment of the Turkic Qarakhanid and Idiqut Uyghur Kingdoms in East Turkistan in the 9th century further facilitated the gradual absorption of Indo-European peoples of the south by Hun-Turkic neighbors in the north.
By the end of the 16th century, the Indo-European and Turkic peoples of East Turkistan had largely unified their cultures, resulting in the mixed Turkic-Indo European society of today. During this period, the Oirat Mongols (Junggars) arrived in northern East Turkistan, displacing some local Uyghur and Kazakh tribes to the south and west.
The Manchu invasion in the late 18th century led to the resettlement of Sibe (Xibe) colonists and later Chinese colonists (Han and Hui) in East Turkistan, marking the beginning of Chinese colonization. However, Chinese colonization was limited due to numerous uprisings and resistance by the native peoples of East Turkistan. Chinese colonization only succeeded after the People’s Republic of China occupied East Turkistan in late 1949.
تارىخى نوپۇس سانلىق مەلۇماتلىرى (1910-1953)
Historical population figures contradict the Chinese government’s revisionist statistics regarding East Turkistan’s Turkic population. Estimates from the early 20th century by journalists and researchers such as Abdurreshid Ibrahim in 1910 and Ahmet Kemal in 1915 suggested a Turkic population of approximately 10-12 million. Chinese warlord Yang Zexin estimated a population of 5 million in 1922.
In the 1930s and 1940s, population estimates varied, with figures ranging from 6 million to 8 million. Notably, a memorandum prepared for the Communist International (Comintern) in 1934 estimated the population to be between 14 and 15 million, with Turkic peoples comprising over 90% of the population.
After the Chinese Communist Party’s takeover in 1949, Mao Zedong declared a population of 9 million Turkic people in East Turkistan. However, by 1953, the Chinese government cutt Mao’s assertions in half and claimed a population of only 4,874,000, with Uyghurs accounting for 75% of the population.
شەرقىي تۈركىستاندىكى تۈركى خەلقلەر نوپۇسىنىڭ ھەقىقىي كۆلىمىنى باھالاش
Despite the difficulty of obtaining precise population data, it is clear that the Chinese government has consistently understated the Turkic population of East Turkistan. Prior to the official launch of the genocide campaign in 2014, the Turkic population had a relatively high natural growth rate. Some estimates suggest that, if left unchecked, the Turkic-speaking Muslim population in East Turkistan could have doubled in less than 30 years.
From the 1960s to the 1990s, the Turkic population’s mean growth rate was approximately 2.7%, dropping to about 2.5% at the turn of the 21st century. However, from 2010 to 2016, the population growth rate surged to 10.95%. The Chinese government’s claim of a 1.6% annual growth rate for Uyghurs over the last two decades contradicts the high birth rate observed in some areas.
In an attempt to estimate the true Turkic population of East Turkistan in 2015, calculations based on historical figures suggest it could have been between 39.4 million and 44.8 million people. This discrepancy between official Chinese figures and historical estimates highlights the Chinese government’s deliberate distortion of demographic data.
خۇلاسە
East Turkistan has been the historical homeland of Indo-European and Turkic peoples for thousands of years. However, due to a systematic campaign of colonization, genocide, and occupation by the Chinese government, East Turkistan’s native Turkic populations face the alarming prospect of becoming a minority in their own land within the next decade. The Chinese government’s manipulation of statistics and the ongoing genocide campaign contribute to this demographic shift.
The discrepancy between official Chinese figures and historical estimates is due to a deliberate Chinese government effort to understate the true size of East Turkistan’s Turkic population. It is clear that the Chinese government is working to alter the demographics of East Turkistan and suppress the natural growth of the Turkic population, with potentially devastating consequences. The international community must address these alarming developments and take action to prevent further atrocities in East Turkistan.
Page Last Updated: December 2023