Taiwan Parliament Group for Uyghur & Taiwan East Turkestan Association

 

 

East Turkistan (the so-called "Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region") was never historically a part of China! After Qing Dynasty General Tso Tsung-tang massacred over a million Uyghurs, "Xinjiang" was made a province on November 19, 1884 — exactly 140 years ago. During the Republic of China era, East Turkistan declared independence twice, in 1933 and again on November 12, 1944, under the names the Turkic Islamic Republic of East Turkistan and the East Turkistan Republic, respectively. The East Turkistan Republic, established 80 years ago on November 12, 1944, had its own government, military, official language, and currency but was short-lived. Under joint Chinese and Soviet oppression, it collapsed within a few years, and its leadership died in a plane crash in August 1949, as the entire region fell under the control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

 

Since the Ürümchi massacre on July 5, 2009, and from 2017 to the present, two million Uyghurs have been sent to re-education camps, subjected to forced labour and sterilisation. The U.S. Department of State and over ten national parliaments (including Taiwan)have passed resolutions recognising China's actions in East Turkistan as genocide, with the Uyghur Tribunal affirming this in 2021. On August 31, 2022, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a report on the human rights situation in Xinjiang and found that China's actions against the Uyghur people constitute crimes against humanity. On this anniversary of the founding of the East Turkistan Republic, we condemn the CCP's ongoing atrocities and stand in solidarity with the Uyghur people's right to self-determination, in the hopes that they will one day achieve independence. It is only when they are truly sovereign that human rights can be safeguarded, allowing them to escape China's grasp and return to their former glory!

 

Nov 12 2024 Taiwan East Turkistan Association