dogu-turkistan-sempozyumu

Ethnic and Religious Discrimination in East Turkistan / Ahmet Faruk Unsalmovement in Muslim-populated East Turkistan a terrorist movement. Theyare attempting to define the Uyghur people as terrorists, to qualify the Uyghurstruggle to preserve their fundamental rights and liberties, including religiousfaith, as terrorist actions, and their groups and organizations as terrorist groups;in this way the Chinese administration has tried to legitimize themselves vis-à-visinternational criticism.Having divided the movements to regain fundamental rights and liberties inthe Autonomous Uyghur Region into two groups, those of “Political Separatism”and “Radical Pan-Islamism”, before September 11, China now has started toregard both as the one and the same thing. Uyghur people who are pursuingtheir rights and liberties in East Turkistan are no longer classified as victims,but as “Terrorist Islamist Separatists”. China, using “terrorism” as an excuse toincrease her power in the region, has voluntarily joined the US operation againstinternational terrorism, and has found legitimate grounds for her political interestsand the goal of preserving “the Great China”; the result of this is that she hasincreased oppression and violence in order to eliminate the so-called terroristobstacles. The wide area of maneuverability that has been legitimized by the waragainst terrorism has been seen as an opportunity by China to clear herself ofany criticism. The Chinese Government, now recognized as “a country that isfighting against terrorism” in the international arena, has turned a deaf ear toany criticism concerning human rights violations in East Turkistan. The Chineseadministration has begun to claim that they are fighting against “extremist” and“separatist” movements in order to prevent a September 11-like attack in theirown country.The People’s Republic of China not only blacklists the Uyghur peoplewithin the country, but also tries to silence the Uyghur people or people fromother ethnic origins who try to inform the international arena of the “oppressiveatmosphere in East Turkistan”, as well as preparing propaganda material to justifysuch acts. For instance, the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of Chinain Istanbul issued successive handouts concerning terror attacks after the eventsof 9/11, and distributed brochures, documentaries, CDs and other material thatpresented the movements in East Turkistan as terrorist actions. The main themeof such handouts is “There are terrorist groups in East Turkistan and we areright in fighting against terrorism. They use violence. They should be caught439