A. Birlik
06-09-09, 03:55
6. What has been the condition of the Chinese Muslims prior to this and
how has that changed since?
The problem with the perception of the Chinese Muslims by rest of the world is that, Uyhurs are not Chinese. Uyghurs are native people of East Turkistan for thousands of years and throughout our history, we had established an empire, kingdom, as well as a short lived Republic.
East Turkistan has been Uyghur’s land for thousands of years but in 1877, the Manchurians invaded the Uyghur land, and was given the name of Xin Jiang (meaning ‘new territory’ or ‘new land’) in 1884. In 1912, the Nationalist Chinese GMT invaded the land, and in 1949, the Communist Chinese Army invaded the East Turkistan Republic and establishes the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in 1955, as part of Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward and western expansion.
The big difference between Uyghurs and Chinese Muslims is that the Chinese Muslims are another so called minority people, called the Hui people, or Huizu in Chinese, who has practiced Islam in China for centuries. The Uyghur people are Turkic, and have our own language, rich culture, traditions, and religion. This is a very important issue to bring to people’s attention about the differences of the Uyghurs and Chinese Muslims.
Uyghur people have nothing to do with the Hui people in China (since they are situated more to Central China) and the Uyghurs live in Far Northwestern part of China, right above Tibet. The Uyghur issue is not an issue of “Chinese Muslims’ but rather the Uyghur race and the struggle to keep our identity, language, culture, religion, and in hopes of one day, independence.
The Chinese Muslims (Hui) enjoy their lives very much and the Chinese government do not consider the Hui people as a threat, who are often on the Chinese side to cover the real problem of China’s so called Autonomous policy. Also China uses the Chinese Muslim card and uses it as propaganda to fool the Islamic world and downplay the Uyghur issue.
7. How do you feel this occurrence and the repercussions have spoken to
the Muslim community?
The Muslim community as a whole still have not comprehended our issue to the point to take a stance, and since the event, only the Turkish government and the people of Turkey has had a strong reaction to the Chinese brutality by condemning their acts towards our people when around the world, no other government, or Islamic government for that fact, have stepped up. But the Muslim world can help the Uyghur people a lot if they take a stance. This will be tough since most of the oil producing countries are Muslim or Arabic and rely on China as a top business partner due to the fact they will surpass U.S. in oil consumption, if they haven’t done so already.
8. Are there organizations set up to protect human rights or see that the
People get punished for what happened?
No, there are no organizations set up to see the People get punished for what has happened. If the world was to take a stance and do something meaningful for human rights, especially for the Uyghur people, it has to send independent organization to monitor the situation and set up investigation there soon. However, there are Uyghurs rights associations set up, such as the Uyghur American Association based in Washington D.C.
9. Are there any further statements you would like to contribute?
I just want to emphasize the point that Uyghurs, although traditionally Muslim, are not Chinese at all. We are Turkic, descendent from the Hun people and the originals Turks. We have our culture, language, and traditions that set us apart from the Han Chinese, the dominant race in China.
Also the sad thing is, we have become the minority in our own land, as the Han Chinese moved in by the millions as part of the Chinese Government’s westward expansion and subject to racial profiling when it comes to not only high paying jobs, but almost all jobs, as the Uyghurs, being the minority in our land, have become the majority in poverty. Similarly, our land is rich in natural resources, especially petroleum, natural gases, gold, coal, etc. but none of our people see the benefit and have been taking advantage of by the government.
Relating the event about the Shao Guan massacre in Guang Dong Province, in question 1, it was started when a Chinese worker, who quit his toy factory job, was angered when he could not get his job back and through his anger, he fabricated a story of two Uyghur men of the factory raping a Chinese woman, which led to a Chinese mob storming in to the Uyghur worker dormitories in which they proceeded to kill 54 Uyghurs, mostly women. The official count by the police was that only two men were beaten to death but they did confirm the Chinese man of fabricating the story that led to the massacre. Another thing people don’t know is that young women and men are forcefully taken from the country side in our land and forced in to factory labor in China’s southern provinces such as Guang Dong, a modern day slave trade.
Since the demonstrations started on July 5th in Urumqi (the city where I was born), Chinese media has reported over 200 dead from riots between the ethnic races from both sides, but in reality, about thirty thousand young Uyghur men have been arrested around East Turkistan (mass arrested in Urumqi, and also in Turpan, Ghulja, Kucha, Aksu, Artush, Kashgar, and Hoten), over 2000 murdered by the Chinese mob and military forces, and hundreds still missing and executed in Chinese prisons/camps. But every media outlet is controlled by the government and under strong Chinese propaganda so the world is denied the truth of the massacres. As a member of the Uyghur people, who have been under brutal control of Chinese colonization for over 60 years, I would suggest the western world, Turkic world, Islamic world, and the U.N. body to take steps to be involved in the Uyghur issue by applying their international and human rights law and to investigate in to events that took place in Urumqi and the region (East Turkistan) as a whole.
how has that changed since?
The problem with the perception of the Chinese Muslims by rest of the world is that, Uyhurs are not Chinese. Uyghurs are native people of East Turkistan for thousands of years and throughout our history, we had established an empire, kingdom, as well as a short lived Republic.
East Turkistan has been Uyghur’s land for thousands of years but in 1877, the Manchurians invaded the Uyghur land, and was given the name of Xin Jiang (meaning ‘new territory’ or ‘new land’) in 1884. In 1912, the Nationalist Chinese GMT invaded the land, and in 1949, the Communist Chinese Army invaded the East Turkistan Republic and establishes the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in 1955, as part of Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward and western expansion.
The big difference between Uyghurs and Chinese Muslims is that the Chinese Muslims are another so called minority people, called the Hui people, or Huizu in Chinese, who has practiced Islam in China for centuries. The Uyghur people are Turkic, and have our own language, rich culture, traditions, and religion. This is a very important issue to bring to people’s attention about the differences of the Uyghurs and Chinese Muslims.
Uyghur people have nothing to do with the Hui people in China (since they are situated more to Central China) and the Uyghurs live in Far Northwestern part of China, right above Tibet. The Uyghur issue is not an issue of “Chinese Muslims’ but rather the Uyghur race and the struggle to keep our identity, language, culture, religion, and in hopes of one day, independence.
The Chinese Muslims (Hui) enjoy their lives very much and the Chinese government do not consider the Hui people as a threat, who are often on the Chinese side to cover the real problem of China’s so called Autonomous policy. Also China uses the Chinese Muslim card and uses it as propaganda to fool the Islamic world and downplay the Uyghur issue.
7. How do you feel this occurrence and the repercussions have spoken to
the Muslim community?
The Muslim community as a whole still have not comprehended our issue to the point to take a stance, and since the event, only the Turkish government and the people of Turkey has had a strong reaction to the Chinese brutality by condemning their acts towards our people when around the world, no other government, or Islamic government for that fact, have stepped up. But the Muslim world can help the Uyghur people a lot if they take a stance. This will be tough since most of the oil producing countries are Muslim or Arabic and rely on China as a top business partner due to the fact they will surpass U.S. in oil consumption, if they haven’t done so already.
8. Are there organizations set up to protect human rights or see that the
People get punished for what happened?
No, there are no organizations set up to see the People get punished for what has happened. If the world was to take a stance and do something meaningful for human rights, especially for the Uyghur people, it has to send independent organization to monitor the situation and set up investigation there soon. However, there are Uyghurs rights associations set up, such as the Uyghur American Association based in Washington D.C.
9. Are there any further statements you would like to contribute?
I just want to emphasize the point that Uyghurs, although traditionally Muslim, are not Chinese at all. We are Turkic, descendent from the Hun people and the originals Turks. We have our culture, language, and traditions that set us apart from the Han Chinese, the dominant race in China.
Also the sad thing is, we have become the minority in our own land, as the Han Chinese moved in by the millions as part of the Chinese Government’s westward expansion and subject to racial profiling when it comes to not only high paying jobs, but almost all jobs, as the Uyghurs, being the minority in our land, have become the majority in poverty. Similarly, our land is rich in natural resources, especially petroleum, natural gases, gold, coal, etc. but none of our people see the benefit and have been taking advantage of by the government.
Relating the event about the Shao Guan massacre in Guang Dong Province, in question 1, it was started when a Chinese worker, who quit his toy factory job, was angered when he could not get his job back and through his anger, he fabricated a story of two Uyghur men of the factory raping a Chinese woman, which led to a Chinese mob storming in to the Uyghur worker dormitories in which they proceeded to kill 54 Uyghurs, mostly women. The official count by the police was that only two men were beaten to death but they did confirm the Chinese man of fabricating the story that led to the massacre. Another thing people don’t know is that young women and men are forcefully taken from the country side in our land and forced in to factory labor in China’s southern provinces such as Guang Dong, a modern day slave trade.
Since the demonstrations started on July 5th in Urumqi (the city where I was born), Chinese media has reported over 200 dead from riots between the ethnic races from both sides, but in reality, about thirty thousand young Uyghur men have been arrested around East Turkistan (mass arrested in Urumqi, and also in Turpan, Ghulja, Kucha, Aksu, Artush, Kashgar, and Hoten), over 2000 murdered by the Chinese mob and military forces, and hundreds still missing and executed in Chinese prisons/camps. But every media outlet is controlled by the government and under strong Chinese propaganda so the world is denied the truth of the massacres. As a member of the Uyghur people, who have been under brutal control of Chinese colonization for over 60 years, I would suggest the western world, Turkic world, Islamic world, and the U.N. body to take steps to be involved in the Uyghur issue by applying their international and human rights law and to investigate in to events that took place in Urumqi and the region (East Turkistan) as a whole.