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Eastern Turkistan National Freedom Center, June 4, 1999, Washington /
Anwar Yusuf, president of the Eastern Turkistan National Freedom Center (ETNFC), met with the President of the United States of America, June 4, 1999, at the National Democratic Club, Washington, DC. Yusuf, who was invited by several members of Congress to join a reception to honor Congressman Nick Rahall and to celebrate his 50th birthday with President Clinton at the club, took the opportunity to raise the cause of freedom and independence of Eastern Turkistan on behalf of more than 25 million Eastern Turkistanis.Yusuf told the President, "Mr. President, I'm honored to meet with you on behalf my oppressed nation. I'm a Uyghur from Eastern Turkistan which is under illegal occupation of the People's Republic of China since 1949. My country is known to Chinese as Xinjiang Province or Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. My story is long, but I know that you do not have time. Therefore, at this meeting I would like to present you this open letter, and this video tape of Chinese massacre in my country, and this 92-page report by Amnesty International about China's gross human rights violation in Eastern Turkistan."In his open letter to President Clinton, Yusuf briefly stated the history, culture, and current political situation in Eastern Turkistan. The video tape shows China's brutal crackdown of innocent Uyghurs who peacefully demonstrated against the Chinese oppression in Khotan and Ili regions of Eastern Turkistan in 1995 and 1997, and China's nuclear-weapon testing catastrophe in Eastern Turkistan. President Clinton accepted the letter and video offered by Yusuf, stating: "I will see them." After the exchange between Clinton and Yusuf, their picture was taken with Congressman Rahall and Gulzighre Abdushukur, Yusuf's wife.
Update on Eastern Turkistan is
published by the Eastern Turkistan National Freedom Center,
P.O. Box 76488, Washington DC 20013.
Tel.: 703/918-9560
Fax: 703/288-1720
Email: ayusuf7454@aol.com