dogu-turkistan-sempozyumu

FREEEAST TURKISTAN SYMPOSIUMcentury, translated the Altın Yaruk from Chinese into Uyghur, he used the expressionthe “Turkish Language” or the “Turkish-Uyghur Language” to describe thelanguage of the Uyghur people. 4 There are many statements in the famous DivanüLügati’t-Türk by Mahmud of Kashgar which state that the Uyghur people areTurkic. However, the Chinese have never recognized this historical and scientificfact, and even today claim that there is no “Turkic Nation” or “Turk” in the world,in the contemporary sense. They argue that the Turks left the scene of historyduring the late period of the Tang Dynasty and that concepts such as “Turk” or“Turkic Nation” have been manipulated to serve some Pan-Turkic circles. 5 In thesame way that the Chinese deny the Turkic identity of the Uyghur people, theyalso refuse to recognize the geographical name “East Turkistan”. Such a positionand attitude by the Chinese is completely political, but this can never change thetruth.3. East Turkistan as the cradle of civilizationsIn the pre-Islamic period, East Turkistan, which is on the route of thehistorical Silk Road, was a meeting point for the Shaman civilization, the Indiancivilization and the Hellenic civilization. Due to the fact that the Uyghur Turkshad converted to Islam in the 10th century, this became a region in which Islamiccivilization, Buddhist civilization and Western Christian civilization merged.Under the influence of such a cultural environment, the Uyghur Turks createdan exclusive culture for themselves in these lands, and East Turkistan became thecentre of Turkic national culture in terms of language, religion, literature and arts.This cultural environment resulted in the first written literature, the first writtenlaw and the first book-printing technique in Turkic culture; it also became a venuefor education of prominent people such as Mahmud of Kashgar, Yusuf Has Hacib,Hodja Ahmet Yesevi, 6 as well as the composition of musical masterpieces, such as12 musical modes. The qariz culture -the underground water galleries- which isconsidered to be a wonder of human history, was constructed in this region.During the 1,000-year historical period in which the Uyghur Turks enjoyedan established culture in place of their traditional nomadic one, they producedan unprecedented civilization of tolerance, never regarding any foreign cultureas different. Throughout their history they adhered to the Shaman belief, the274