dogu-turkistan-sempozyumu

East Turkistan After July 5/ Seyit Tumturkpolitical purposes by China, the main party responsible for the events, are notacceptable. 42· Immediately after the Urumchi incidents on July 5, Chinese authoritiesdecided to demolish three buildings that had been constructed in Urumchiby the Uyghur leader Rabia Kadir, who is now in exile. Chinese authoritiesclaimed that these three buildings had many cracks and were therefore notstrong enough. 43 However, it is worth noting that the decision was made onlyafter the incidents.· The Chinese administration has started to bulldoze and demolish theOld Town in Kashgar, which is a trade point on the Silk Road, in order todisconnect the Muslim-Uyghur Turks from their past and culture in EastTurkistan, a country under Chinese occupation. It is stated that the plan is todemolish 85% of the historical city of Kashgar, which is located on the oasisat which the northern and southern branches the Silk Road meet. Kashgaris on the western edge of the Taklimakan Desert. Historically, merchantscoming from Delhi and Samarqand would pass through the most challengingmountainous road in the world and arrive at Kashgar to unload; they wouldsell saffron and other commercial goods on the streets of the city. Likewise,Chinese merchants would also bring their silk and porcelain to the city.Now the historical merchants have been replaced by tourists. They take tripsin carriages to visit the valleys and houses made of soil. Kashgar was alsodestroyed and demolished by Genghis Khan. Many years later, the city ofKashgar is once again being destroyed, but this time it is by the Chinese. 44According to The New York Times, 900 Muslim families have already migratedfrom Kashgar to date because of the demolition of the historical parts of the city.George Michell, an architect and historian, defined Kashgar in his book “Kashgar:the Oasis on the Ancient Silk Road” as “the best-preserved example of traditionalMuslim cities in Central Asia”. Now, the occupying Chinese administration istrying to erase this best-preserved traditional Muslim city in Central Asia fromthe pages of history. 45 China gives the usual reason for destroying Kashgar: ‘We aredemolishing the city for public safety!’ As part of the plan to destroy the old part ofKashgar -the monumental city of history, culture and arts in East Turkistan- in theurban transformation project, the Chinese government has recently prepared an363