dogu-turkistan-sempozyumu

East Turkistan After July 5/ Seyit Tumturkwhen security forces opened fire against people from East Turkistan who wereconducting a demonstration in protest to the events and killed many people inUrumchi on July 5 -are still ongoing. 35· The official news agencies of China always use pictures and videos of Chinesepeople in their broadcasts concerning the incidents, and have not exhibitedany video-sources that are connected to the real nature of the incidents. Theyuse pictures of burnt-out cars and offices. They have attempted to misleadpublic opinion with pictures of two injured Chinese girls. According to oursources in Urumchi, the Chinese authorities declared that the death toll was146 for a long time, even though the real figure was more than 2,000. However,the pictures and videos that we obtained reveal the magnitude of the atrocitiesand violence. The death toll and casualties declared by the Chinese sourcesas being 184 and 1,680, respectively is far less than the true figures. Chinablames the Uyghur people in the Diaspora for exaggerating the figures. Thefigures that we have produced are those that we have obtained from eyewitnessesof the incidents.· The Chinese government has demanded that the members of the foreignpress and all foreign citizens leave many cities, including Kashgar, stating thatthey cannot guarantee security. Such demands from the Chinese, who wereconcerned over the climbing tension in Kashgar, where the demonstrationsand conflicts first took place, signaled that another massacre was to take placein the city.· After Wang Lequan, the special governor appointed to East Turkistan byChina, reiterated that those who were responsible for the incidents wouldbe executed on July 12, 2009 and reported that the necessary changes for theexecutions had been completed, incidents broke out once again in Urumchion the July 13. In contrast to the information provided by the Chinesesources, 6,000 relatives and friends of people who were under arrest protestedthis decision. Two people from East Turkistan were also killed by the policeduring these demonstrations. The people of East Turkistan, who are familiarwith the earlier practices of China, were concerned that the massacre wouldbe continued in the form of executions. After September 11, China haddeclared all the people in East Turkistan to be terrorists, and had executed361