Press Release – For Immediate Release
12 November 2022
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Dozens of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, and American supporters of East Turkistan rallied in front of the White House in Washington, DC, to celebrate East Turkistan’s Independence Day and the 89th and 78th anniversaries of the First East Turkistan Republic (1933-1934) and Second East Turkistan Republic (1944-1949).
The East Turkistan National Movement (ETNM) and the East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGE) organized the event. Participants also urged the international community to intervene and stop China’s ongoing colonization, genocide, and occupation campaigns.
In 1884, the Manchu Qing Dynasty annexed East Turkistan and renamed it “Xinjiang (New Territory)”. On November 12, 1933, East Turkistan regained its independence as the East Turkistan Republic. Since then, the people of East Turkistan have celebrated this day as the country’s independence day. Although the first East Turkistan Republic was short-lived, falling to Soviet and Chinese invasion on April 16, 1934, it inspired the East Turkistani people to resist Chinese colonialism and declare their independence once more on November 12, 1944 as the East Turkistan Republic.
East Turkistan was invaded by the People’s Republic of China on October 12, 1949, and the independent East Turkistan Republic was forcibly overthrown on December 22, 1949, following the assassination of the East Turkistan Republic’s leadership in late 1949 in what historians have described as a “mysterious plane crash.”
Dr. Aziz Sulayman, the Acting Foreign Minister of the East Turkistan Government in Exile, stated, “Since China violated our sovereignty and invaded our country in late 1949, the people of East Turkistan have been subjected to an ongoing campaign of colonization, genocide, and occupation. For the past 73 years.”
Since 2014, the Chinese government has engaged in a genocide campaign that has resulted in the internment of millions of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic peoples in concentration camps, prisons, and labor camps. Recent UN findings show that Uyghur and other Turkic detainees were subjected to forced indoctrination, torture, rape and sexual abuse, as well as organ harvesting, all of which constitute crimes against humanity.
Since 2021, the U.S. Government and more than a dozen European Parliament have designated China’s atrocities against the Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples as genocide and crimes against humanity. China continues its colonization and genocide in East Turkistan with complete impunity, despite multiple condemnations, recognitions, and low-level sanctions.
The East Turkistan Government in Exile is calling on G20 leaders from democratic nations such as the United States, Europe, India, and Japan to intervene to stop China’s ongoing colonization and genocide in occupied East Turkistan.
“We call on President Biden, Prime Minister Modi, and all democratic leaders at the G20 to make it clear to Xi and the racist Chinese government that the free world will no longer tolerate China’s imperialism and colonialism,” said Prime Minister Salih Hudayar of the East Turkistan Government in Exile. “We plead with the international community to intervene and act swiftly to end China’s Holocaust-like genocide in East Turkistan before it’s too late,” he added.
For the past 73 years, Uyghurs and other Turkic people have consistently rose up against Chinese rule demanding the restoration of East Turkistan ’s independence. Uyghurs and American supporters at the event also urged the U.S. Government and Congress to support the independence of East Turkistan by recognizing East Turkistan as an Occupied Country.
Ben Lowsen, a former U.S. Army Attache in Beijing, stated, “I believe that if we continue to demand action from the [U.S.] President and [U.S.] Congress, we will soon see a free and independent East Turkistan.”
