dogu-turkistan-sempozyumu

FREEEAST TURKISTAN SYMPOSIUMmost apparent application of this campaign, according to what has been reportedby Turkistan and foreign sources, 16 was aimed at Muslims, women and youngpeople working in Chinese national institutions. They were forbidden to fast,to go to mosques or to attend Islamic education. The most famous reaction tothis restriction was during the usufruct in city of Gulce on the 27th night ofRamadan month, in the year 1417 of the hegira (1997). When the gendarme,intelligence and police forces guarded the doors of mosques, preventing womenand young people who had came for the tarawih and night prayer, clashes occurredbetween Muslims and these forces; a violent riot ensued. The incident endedwith intervention of the Chinese army. As a result, 300 Muslim lost their livesand 10 thousand Muslim was arrested. Later, according to the Communist Partygeneral secretary, Wang Lequan, who made a statement in the official gazette,dated 11.7.1997, this campaign has continued: “The Chinese authorities arrested17,000 people, sending them to the People’s Liberation Army construction andwork camps.” The same gazette reports this in its 21.6.1997 issue: “The Chineseauthorities demolished 133 mosques and closed 105 Islamic schools in theKarakas town of Hoten province alone.”B) International controlWith a series of oppressive laws and its activities to suppress the people, themethods used by the Chinese government have been disclosed, one by one, withthe efforts of international research centers and global human rights associations.For example, Dr. Paul George, who is from Turkistan and an independentresearcher on political progress and global safety subjects, gave the followingquote in his paper, entitled: “The Problems of Islam in Xinjiang,” which waspublished in issue No 73 of the Canadian Security Intelligence Bureau in thespring 1998: “In the name of protecting national unity and stability Beijing istrying to systematically control all religious activities throughout China. However,it can be seen that Islam has penetrated deeply into the national identity and localculture in Xinjiang. For this reason, Beijing perceives Islam as a direct threat toits sovereignty, and perceives mosques and religious schools as gathering placeswhere those who are dissatisfied with the government meet. Therefore, from timeto time, religious functionaries are arrested and violently punished.” 17Whether the Chinese authorities deny or accept such eyewitness reports322