dogu-turkistan-sempozyumu

FREEEAST TURKISTAN SYMPOSIUMthat might be brewing in the region. Indeed, China should be congratulated forthe enormous economic and social transformation of the region over the past twodecades, but at the same time should be encouraged to find ways to preserve andpromote the vibrant and extraordinary Central Asian civilization that Uighurculture represents.In 1997, bombs exploded in a city park in Beijing on 13 May (killing one)and on two buses on 7 March (killing 2), as well as in the northwestern bordercity of Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, on25 February (killing 9), with over 30 other bombings in 1998, and 6 in Tibetthat year as well. Most of these are thought to have been related to demandsby Muslim and Tibetan separatists. Numerous members of the Uighur Muslimminority have been executed since these events in the late 1990s, with hundredsarrested on suspicion of taking part in ethnic riots and engaging in separatistactivities. Though sporadically reported since the early 1980s, such incidents wererather frequent in the late 1990s, and harsh treatment of the suspects involved inthose incidents was documented in a scathing report by Amnesty Internationalon the policy of the Chinese government in the region. 5 The Wall Street Journalreported the arrest on 11 August 1999 of Rabia Kadir, a well known Uighurbusinesswoman, once sent to represent the Xinjiang region at the InternationalWomen’s Conference in Beijing, during a visit by the United States CongressionalResearch Service delegation to the region; this was an indication of China’s strongresponse to these tensions. 6 Amnesty International labeled Rabia a “prisoner ofconscience”, as her only tangible offense was an unsuccessful attempt to meetwith the USCRS. 7 Her release to the US in 2005 and her active role in promotinga “Global Uighur Movement” has led to her assuming a prominent positionamong the Uighur exile community both in the US and elsewhere; she has twicebeen elected as president of the World Uyghur Congress and nominated on fourseparate occasions for the Nobel Peace Prize.It is important to note that these arrests and Uighur protests have rarelybeen connected to freedom of religion issues, but rather to a range of “indigenousrights” issues, of which religion is only one concern. Chinese officials argue that“splittests” violate the law and that full freedom of religion is allowed under Article36 of the constitution. 8 An earlier White Paper on nationalities policy in China,458