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Communist China's Policy of Oppression in East Turkestan

Communist China's Policy of Oppression in East Turkestan

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Tajikistan<br />

Pakistan<br />

India<br />

Kazakhstan<br />

Kyrgyzstan<br />

Kashmir<br />

<strong>East</strong> <strong>Turkestan</strong><br />

Nepal<br />

Russia<br />

108<br />

Ch<strong>in</strong>a<br />

Mongolia<br />

Bhutan<br />

Bangladesh<br />

the region was to elim<strong>in</strong>ate Islam entirely. Throughout this period, a<br />

number <strong>of</strong> sanctions were employed <strong>in</strong> an attempt to destroy the Turks'<br />

national cultures; mosques and places <strong>of</strong>fer<strong>in</strong>g religious <strong>in</strong>struction<br />

were closed down and religion was entirely divorced from social life.<br />

Crimean Turks were rounded up and exiled to Siberia <strong>in</strong> the course <strong>of</strong> a<br />

s<strong>in</strong>gle night, and Russians were brought <strong>in</strong> to occupy their homes and<br />

lands. Furthermore, artificial ethnic conflicts were <strong>in</strong>cited between the<br />

nations <strong>of</strong> Central Asia. Another <strong>of</strong> the Soviet regime's measures aimed<br />

at assimilat<strong>in</strong>g the Turks was to develop a second language alongside<br />

the mother tongues <strong>of</strong> the Muslims <strong>of</strong> the Caucasus and Central Asia. It<br />

is for this reason that Russian is now preferred to Turkish as a means <strong>of</strong><br />

communication between the communities <strong>in</strong> question.<br />

<strong>East</strong> <strong>Turkestan</strong> suffered similar oppression to that experienced <strong>in</strong><br />

West <strong>Turkestan</strong>, but <strong>in</strong> an even more violent form. In the middle <strong>of</strong> the<br />

1700s, <strong>East</strong> <strong>Turkestan</strong> was <strong>in</strong>vaded by the Ch<strong>in</strong>ese. The political<br />

<strong>Communist</strong> Ch<strong>in</strong>a’s <strong>Policy</strong><br />

<strong>of</strong> <strong>Oppression</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>East</strong> <strong>Turkestan</strong>

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