dogu-turkistan-sempozyumu

The Struggle in East Turkistan and Non-Governmental Organizations / Atty Gulden SonmezCongress was formed with the merging of the East Turkistan National Congressand the World Uyghur Youth Congress in Munich (Germany) on April 16, 2004.The objective of the World Uyghur Congress is to encourage the determinationof the political future of the Uyghur people in East Turkistan in a violence-free,peaceful and democratic manner. The WUC is a democratic organization. TheWUC leaders are chosen from among the general board in a democratic manner.Each cabinet serves for 3 (three) years.The first general assembly of the WUC was held in 2004 and Erkin Alptekinwas elected to as chairman. He parted ways with the WUC at the second generalassembly, also held in 2004. The second general assembly of the WUC hasheld in Munich (Germany) from November 24 to 27, 2006 and all delegatesunanimously selected Mrs. Rabiye Kadir to be the chairman of the WUC. Thethird general assembly of the WUC was organized in Washington DC fromMay 21 to 25, 2009. Delegates and observers attended from Australia, Belgium,Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,Norway, Sweden, Turkey and the United States of America. Mrs Rabiye Kadir,the leader of the Uyghur international human rights and democracy movement,was once again elected as chairperson of the WUC by a unanimous vote.Major non-governmental organizations that work on the East Turkistanissue in various parts of the world are listed in the table at the end of this paper.Detailed information can be obtained about the activities of these organizationsby visiting their websites given in the table.NGOs working for the East Turkistan issue in TurkeyUpon the invasion of East Turkistan in 1949, the Uyghur Turks in theDiaspora migrated to Turkey through India, Pakistan and Afghanistan; theyhave continued their struggle by organizing in this country. 10 The followingsection includes general information about the NGOs that deal with the EastTurkistan issue in Turkey. The youth movement started to accelerate, particularlyafter the arrival of East Turkistan students in Turkey in 1987. The World UyghurYouth Assembly was held in Kazakhstan in order to turn this movement into aninternational organization. When the world began to focus on East Turkistanwith the Gulca case in 1997, representatives from 26 East Turkistan foundations531