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Commemoration of fourth anniversary of the Ghulja uprising
From: Uyghurs@aol.com
1. In the commemoration of fourth anniversary of
the Ghulja uprising
Today is the fourth anniversary of an uprising against the
communist Chinese authorities that took place in Ghulja
city of East Turkestan on February 5, 1997. That day hundreds of Uighur
youths took to the
streets of Ghulja peacefully demanding their liberties and freedoms from
the Chinese authorities. The Chinese army and police brutally
suppressed the demonstrators and spilt blood of innocent young
people. The event has become an another example of
the cruel repression of Uighurs by the despotic Chinese government.
It has also become a new
symbol of a fair struggle of the Uighur people against colonialism,
despotism, and oppression. Despite the suppression by
the Chinese authorities, the people of
Ghulja continuous to demonstrate its steadfast and brave spirit to the world.
We express our respect to the people of Ili and wish firmness and endurance to
family members of the fallen heroes and to our
brothers and sisters who is suffering in Chinese
prisons. The Uighur people both in our
motherland and abroad will never forget its heroes, those who sacrificed
their lives and those who continue the struggle for liberation from the Chinese
yoke and for the freedom
and independence of East Turkestan.
Allah, help those who suffer. Eastern Turkestan Information
Center, Editorial Board of "Uchkun" newspaper, Editorial Board
of The Uighur Voice online radio station February 5, 2001
2. A protest rally against China in connection with the Ghulja uprising On
February 5, 2001, Uighur organizations and communities around the world
commemorated the fourth anniversary of the Ghulja uprising with anti-Chinese
demonstrations, meetings, and other activities. In particular, Uighurs in
Germany held a picket in front of the
Consulate of PRC in Munich protesting killings and arrests of Uighur
residents of Ghulja by the Chinese communist authorities. The
demonstrators distributed leaflets, shouted anti-Chinese-government slogans, and
displayed memorial pictures of the tragic events in Ghulja.
Along with the incident of Barin in 1990, the events in Ghulja in 1997
attracted the attention of the world community to the anti-colonial
struggle of the Uighur people of East Turkestan and received a
relatively wide coverage in world media.
3. A serious danger to the Uighur language education
According to East Turkestan Information Center, the Chinese government
promulgated a special instruction to all higher education institutions in
Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region which requests from "minority"
professors to be able to deliver lectures in Chinese language beginning next
academic semester. The instruction says that
"minority" professors who can not deliver
lectures in Chinese must be dismissed from their positions, moved to other
non-teaching positions, or retire.
The instruction caused confusion among many "minority" professors and
students who do not know what is going to happen next.
Apparently, this action is not limited to higher education institutions only,
and it is going to be put forward in some secondary Uighur schools as
well. According to the report, the Chinese government plans by the year 2010 to
transfer all Uighur elementary schools in Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous
Region into schools where science classes will be lectured in Chinese. A few
experimental groups have been established in some Uighur schools to see
possible results
of such action. For example, last year a special experimental
group of Uighur students was set up in the city of Kashgar's secondary
school #1, in which
science classes were lectured in Chinese. Chinese teachers were
invited from inner regions of China to replace some Uighur teachers since these
"Uighur teachers do not speak Chinese". Although some of
the Chinese teachers spoke only their own Chinese dialects and could not speak
the Beijing dialect, most of the Uighur students could not understand them; but,
this was of a little concern by the Chinese
teachers. Besides the Chinese authorities plan to
adopt educational plans for Uighur schools similar to those in Chinese schools
and to replace educational materials in Uighur by those written in
Chinese. As a part of the experiment, last year the
Chinese authorities opened "Xinjiang groups" at some schools in
inner Chinese provinces and put Uighur students in those groups.
The new "minority" education measures by the Chinese authorities
explicitly violate the articles on "minorities" of the Constitution
of PRC and the Law on a National Territorial Autonomy. Under
the
pretext of improving the education of "minorities", the measures will
further diminish the role of the Uighur language in the Xinjiang-Uighur
Autonomous Region. Moreover, they threaten the future of thousands of
Uighur teachers and professors and will affect millions of Uighur children and
youths.
4. A human rights report by East Turkestan Information Center stirred
comments in the Chinese mass media
Last year, East Turkestan Information Center issued a report on violation
of human rights in East Turkestan written by Perhat Yurungkash, the Chief Editor
of the newspaper Uchkun. The report, which was translated and
distributed in English, Chinese, Turkish, and German, was based on
the information obtained directly from East Turkestan and official secret
Chinese documents. The report stirred some comments in
the Chinese mass media. A Hong Kong based journal
"Kaifang" published first the full text of the report.
Then, a few US based Chinese web sites informed their audiences on this report.
The report was also mentioned and criticized by Xinhua news agency.
5. Chinese authorities launch a new political campaign in villages of East
Turkestan On January 11, 2001, "Xinjiang daily" newspaper
reported that,
following the order from the Central Committee of the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP), the CCP Committee of the Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous
Region (XUAR) launched a new two year long political campaign in villages
of East Turkestan. The goal of the campaign is
to prevent the "spread of separatist ideas and activities in villages
of the region". The strategy of the new campaign was worked out at
a special meeting held in the regional capital Urumchi on January 3 -
5 under the chairmanship of Wang Lequan, the First Secretary of the
XUAR
CCP Committee. Addressing the gathered, Wang Lequan said that
"the cadres in the Region understand the strategic importance of
Xinjiang and they must resolve the very hard task of fighting against
separatism and to defend the unity of the country". Uighur farmers
are increasingly becoming the object of attacks of the Chinese communist
authorities who want to strengthen their political control in villages of East
Turkestan. The authorities are afraid that
villages in East Turkestan serve as bases for the members of the Uighur
liberation movement. According to the confidential governmental documents,
the resistance to Chinese authorities has already risen to
a level of a general movement in regions with dense Uighur population such as
Kashgar, Hotan, and Aksu. The Chinese authorities are also concerned
about "minority" cadres who keep close relations with local people
because of some incidents of collaboration with the Uighur liberation
movement.
6. Is there law in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region for the Uighurs?
The Chinese authorities declare that they govern the
Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region in accordance with the state law. But, in
reality,=20 the authorities apply double standards to the Han people and the=20
Uighur people.
Xinjiang Juridical Newspaper in its issue from January 4, 2001, informs that,
after the investigation, the Office of Control of the Implementation of the Law
ordered the Ili District Court to conduct a second trial of a Han person who was
previously sentenced by the local court for committing an economic crime. The
local court officers were punished for violating legal rights of the
defendant. The newspaper says:
"Having considered the case of Liu Cheng-Chen, a Bingtuan worker, the
Ili branch of the Autonomous Region's Court ruled in favor of the defendant and
decreed that Liu Cheng-chen's lawful rights were violated. This case was
selected for the revision in 1998. By the order of the Supreme People's
Court, a legal specialist was sent to examine the case of Liu Cheng-chen.
In the result, the case was retried by the Court, and the sentence was changed
in favor of Liu Cheng-chen. This is an example when an unfair decision of
a local
court has been reversed." In the last two years, tens of thousand of
Uighurs have arbitrarily been arrested in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region
falsely accused in participating in the Hotan incident, the Ghulja
incident, and bus
explosions in Urumchi. Many of the arrested were sentenced to death
or were given long term prison sentences without sufficient proof of guilt.
In the course of investigations, many of the arrested Uighurs appealed to the
Supreme Court of the Autonomous Region with request to retry their cases, but
their appeals were rejected. In the case discussed above, the Supreme Court
demonstrated an absolutely different treatment of a case with a Han Bingtuan
member. This example shows how the "justice" is practiced in the
Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. The Chinese law applies only to the Han
people. To the Uighur people, the authorities apply the directives of the
Chinese communist
party. The Chinese justice is a justice with double standards. 7. Meeting of
Uighur representatives with members of 20 Parliament of European Union On
January 1, 2001, Askarjan, General Secretary of East Turkestan (Uighurstan)
National Congress and Umit Agahi, Chairman of Youth Committee of the National
Congress, submitted a special report on the situation in East Turkestan to EU
Parliament in the capital of Belgium, Brussels. The report was submitted
following the request from members of the EU Parliament.
The report was presented at a special meeting attended by 43 members of
the EU Parliament and the Deputy Speaker of Parliament of Belgium. The
meeting was organized by Green Peace and the Belgian branch of Amnesty
International. Ms. Dominik Demes, the head of the Belgian Branch of
Amnesty International, opened the meeting with the information on violations
of human rights in East Turkestan, on the situation in Chinese jails, and on
Mrs. Rabiye Kadir, an Uighur woman jailed by the Chinese authorities.
General Secretary Askarjan informed the EU Parliament
members on the history of the Uighurs, the present economic and social situation
in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, and on some serious problems facing
the Uighurs in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Mr. Weronik, the head of Belgian Society for Protecting Tibet, spoke about the
situation of Uighur refugees from Kazakhstan in Belgium. About 500 Uighurs
from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and other Central Asian countries are
currently seeking political asylum in
Belgium and might face deportation by the Belgian authorities. Last year,
the Belgian authorities sent twice their officers to Kazakhstan to study the
situation with the Uighurs in Kazakhstan. Mr. Umit Agahi presented a
report on the educational system and the student movement in East Turkestan.
At the end of the meeting, a
member of EU Parliament from Green Peace Party who was previously observing the
situation with the Uighurs shared his views on the situation in East Turkestan.
The members of EU Parliament received the reports with great interest.
After the meeting, the organizers of the event gave a
press-conference on the situation of the Uighurs in East Turkestan.
The meeting with the EU Parliament members was made possible as a result of a
close cooperation between East Turkestan (Uighurstan) National Congress
and the Belgian Branch of Amnesty International. Last year these two
organizations held a joint meeting and a press-conference in
Brussels. Also last year the Belgian Branch of Amnesty International set
up two special groups studying the Uighurs and gathering materials on Uighur
political prisoners. Back in October of 1999, General Secretary
Askarjan presented a
similar report to the European Parliament together with representatives of
Tibet, Inner Mongolia, and the Chinese democratic movement. This time the
meeting with the members of the EU Parliament was devoted solely to human rights
violations in East Turkestan. General Secretary Askarjan, the head of the
propaganda section of the National Congress Perhat Yurungkash, and the
head of the Youth Committee of the National Congress Umit Agahi informed the
Belgian Branch of Amnesty International and the the Immigration Department
of Belgium on the present situation in East Turkestan and Uighur
political prisoners in China. Last July and September, they visited
Belgium and met with the representatives of the Belgian Branch of Amnesty
International and the Belgian Society of protecting Tibet.
General Secretary Askarjan told to our correspondent: "We want
to inform the world community and the Belgian public on the situation in
East Turkestan and with the Uighurs in Central Asian countries. After its
second convention, East Turkestan (Uighurstan) National Congress started
to pay a special attention to relations with international human rights
organizations and, in particular, with
organizations located in Belgium. To this end, I visited Belgium
three times within the last year to establish relations with representatives of
some Belgian and international human rights organizations. In the result
of these contacts, we had this
successful meeting with members of EU Parliament, and I believe we will
see more positive developments in the future."
8. News in brief (By Bughda, East Turkestan Information Center,
January 23, 2001) Internet cafes in Ili region are under police
control During the last two years, several Internet cafes opened in the
Ili region of East Turkestan. The cafes attracted many young Uighurs
who wanted to learn about computers and obtain some information.
These days,
the Internet cafes operated by Uighurs are being closed one after 20 another by
the Chinese security service. It turned out that the Uighurs 20 are not
permitted to use the Internet. Recently two Uighur youths were
arrested by the security officers in an Internet cafe operated by an Uighur.
The security officers warned that, if the cafe continues to have 20 the
Internet access, it will be closed and the owner will be arrested.
20 At the same time, the Internet cafes opened by the Han Chinese do not
have 20 any problems; but the Uighurs are not welcome in those places.
Strike of Urumchi taxi drivers The city of Urumchi taxi drivers held
a strike in many parts of the city. Several days ago a taxi driver
was robbed and killed in Urumchi. Taxi drivers organized this strike
to show their discontent with the Chinese authorities that are not able to
guarantee their
security.
THE END
The
views and opinions expressed in the newsletter do not necessarily
represent those of the East Turkistan Information Center. Credits must
be given to all sources cited.
Editors: Dr. Abdurehim Heyt info@uygur.com
For more information on East Turkistan visit http://www.uygur.org
EASTERN TURKISTAN INFORMATION CENTER
President: Abduljelil Karakash
Lindwurmstr 99, 80337 Munich, Germany
http://www.uygur.org E-mail: etic@uygur.com
Fax: 49-89-54 45 63 30 Phone: 49-89-54 45 63 31
