dogu-turkistan-sempozyumu

FREEEAST TURKISTAN SYMPOSIUMaware of these violations or the humanitarian tragedy in East Turkistan, eventhough we live in an age of communication and information.Muslim-Turks in East Turkistan have been deprived of their most fundamentalrights and liberties by the Chinese administration; for example, they are denied theright to use their native tongue in their daily lives, to carry out their religious dutiesaccording to their faith, to enjoy and pass on their culture to future generations,to receive a decent education and health care, and to have children. Moreover, theChinese administration has restricted communication facilities in East Turkistan,thus severing the region off from other parts of the world; by doing this theyhave turned the region into a restricted zone and prevented the world from beinginformed of the human rights violations and the humanitarian tragedy that is occurringin the region. The Chinese administration has thus been able to deceivethe international public opinion concerning the East Turkistan issue, hiding whatis happening in the region through false declarations and reports.I would like to highlight some of these violations.I. Violations in family-planningIt is a belief in China that human beings are nothing more than a sophisticatedanimal; as a result, China has an extremely bad humanitarian record concerningthe value attached to human life. The birth restrictions have been in effect in EastTurkistan for years as part of the Chinese assimilation policy. In addition to suchunfair regulations, their implementation is brutal and such practices have becomesavage in this regime which does not fear God, or religious or spiritual values.Muslim-Turks in East Turkistan cannot have more than two children. Awoman who is expecting her third child is taken from her home and forced toabort the foetus, even if she is in the eighth or ninth month of pregnancy. Chineseofficers inspect villages and towns to find women who have had or are expecting“illegal” children, shove them onto trucks and drive them away; it is not only thebabies, but also the mothers who often lose their lives as a result of these abortions,which are carried out under primitive conditions.For instance, the following is a tragedy that occurred for a woman calledColpanhan in the Toksu town of East Turkistan: Colpanhan was forced to have396