dogu-turkistan-sempozyumu

FREEEAST TURKISTAN SYMPOSIUMEast Turkistan has a rich history and a diverse geography. It has grand deserts,magnificent mountains, and beautiful rivers, grasslands and forests. More than 43percent of East Turkistan is covered by deserts and another 40 percent is coveredby mountain ranges.The main characteristics of East Turkistan the landThe main characteristic of this huge land is two basins surrounded by threemountain ranges. The two basins are the Tarim Basin in the south, which measures530,000 square kilometres, and the Junggar Basin in the north, which covers anarea of 304,200 square kilometres. The Tarim Basin contains one of the largestdeserts in the world -the Taklimakan Desert. The Junggar basin contains theKurbantunggut Desert.MountainsThe Tengritagh Mountain (Heavenly Mountain) crosses the central partof East Turkistan, dividing the country into the southern and northern regions.Within East Turkistan, the Tengritagh Mountain stands 1,700 kilometres highand 250-300 kilometres wide. To the north, the Altay Mountain forms the borderbetween East Turkistan, Mongolia, Russia and Kazakhstan. The section that iswithin East Turkistan measures 400 kilometres high. The Kunlun Mountainstands on the southern border, between East Turkistan and Tibet.WaterEast Turkistan is rich in water resources; there is surface water, undergroundreserves, and water attained from snow and ice. The most important rivers arethe Tarim River (2137 km long), which flows along nearly the entire length ofthe southern part of East Turkistan and empties into the desert, and the Ili River,which flows west into Kazakhstan, eventually emptying into Lake Balqash. TheIrtish River flows northwest out of East Turkistan into the Arctic Ocean, whilethe Karashaar River flows east from central Tengritagh into Lake Baghrash; theKonche River, which starts from Lake Baghrash, originally emptied into LopnurLake, but now disappears in the desert long before reaching this destination. TheYorungkash River in Hotan is famous for its precious jade; this is today one of themain sources of income for many local people.418