East Turkistan Government-in-Exile

The East Turkistan Government-in-Exile (Uyghur: شەرقىي تۈركىستان سۈرگۈندى ھۆكۈمىتى‎‎, ULY: Sherqiy Türkistan Sürgündi Hökümiti ; abbreviated ETGE) is an exile government setup by Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other peoples from East Turkistan and claims to be the sole organ authorized to represent East Turkistan and its people until East Turkistan has been liberated from Chinese rule.[1] The East Turkistan Government in Exile has not been recognized by the People's Republic of China, which has sternly opposed it since its creation in September 2004.[2]

East Turkistan Government in Exile

شەرقىي تۈركىستان سۈرگۈندى ھۆكۈمىتى
Sherqiy Türkistan Sürgündi Hökümiti
Flag
Logo
Motto: تارىختىن ئەۋۋەل بىز ئىدۇق، تارىختىن كىيىن يەنە بىز
We existed before history and we will exist after history
Xinjiang, the Chinese autonomous region over which the Government in Exile claims sovereignty
StatusGovernment in Exile
HeadquartersWashington, District of Columbia, United States
Official languagesUyghur; Kazakh and Kyrgyz are also among recognized national languages
Religion
Islam, the ETGE also protects and guarantees religious freedom
TypeGovernment in exile
Government
• President
Ghulam Osman Yaghma
• Prime Minister
Salih Hudayar
• Speaker of Parliament
Osmanjan Tursun
LegislatureParliament in Exile
Establishment14 September 2004
• claimed exile
22 December 1949
CurrencyDollar (de facto) (USD)

Position on East Turkistan / Xinjiang

The territory of East Turkistan is administered by the People's Republic of China as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, a situation that the East Turkistan Government in Exile considers an illegitimate military occupation. The position of the ETGE is that East Turkistan is a distinct nation with a long history of independence.[3] The ETGE does not consider themselves as "separatists" because they believe that, "you can't separate from something you don't belong to."[4] The position of the People's Republic of China holds that the integration of Xinjiang into the Chinese state in 1949 was a "Peaceful Liberation", and furthermore that East Turkistan / Xinjiang has long been a part of China, that East Turkistan has not been properly independent, but rather that its de facto independence as the First and East Turkistan Republics between 1933 and 1949 was a result of "hostile forces in and outside China, especially separatists, religious extremists and terrorists, who have tried to split China and break it apart by distorting history and facts."[5]

Formation

The East Turkistan Government in Exile was formally declared on September 14, 2004 in room HC-6 of the US Capitol in Washington DC by members of the global East Turkistani / Uyghur community. Ahmat Igambardi, who had previously been the Chairman of the first East Turkistan International Congress created in 1992, was elected as president and Anwar Yusuf Turani was elected as Prime Minister.[1]

Objectives

The East Turkistan Government in Exile describes itself as an exile government that seeks to end China's occupation and colonization of East Turkistan, currently known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, and seeks to establish an independent state in East Turkistan which would take the form of a democratic parliamentary republic with protections for civil liberties for all people groups of the region.[6] The East Turkistan Government in Exile has convened 8 General Assemblies since its creation in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2019. The organization itself is based primarily in Washington DC, where a large Uyghur diaspora lives, but has members in over a dozen countries. Although China protested the establishment of the East Turkistan Government in Exile and considers a number of "Uighur separatists", who refer to their homeland as East Turkistan, as "terrorists," there are no links between the ETGE and the East Turkestan Islamic Movement.[7]

Leadership

Government Leadership
Opening of the ETGE's 8th General Assembly in Washington, DC on November 10, 2019

As the Government in Exile is made up of a number of East Turkistan and Uyghur groups internationally, its leaders are based in a number of countries. The present leadership was announced on November 11, 2019 following elections at the ETGE's 8th General Assembly in Washington, DC.[8]

Position Name Location
President Ghulam Osman Yaghma Canada
Prime Minister Salih Hudayar USA
Vice President Abdulahat Nur Canada
Deputy Prime Ministers Haji Mahmut
Mirqedir Mirzat		 Canada
France
Interior Minister Nurahmet Kurban Switzerland
Foreign Minister Adil Abbas Canada
Finance Minister Dr. Anwar Yasin Japan
Minister of Education & Culture Professor Memet Litip Japan
Minister of Information & Communications Hashimjan Turak Canada
Minister of Religion & Interfaith Harmony Abdullah Khodja France

Parliamentary Leadership

The Parliament is the legislative branch of the Government in Exile. As the Government in Exile's Parliament is made up of a number of members internationally, its leaders are based in a number of countries. The present leadership was announced on November 11, 2019 following elections at the ETGE's 8th General Assembly in Washington, DC. The Parliament is also made up of six committees that help oversee the government's different ministries.[9][10]

Position Name Location
Speaker (Chairman) of the Parliament Osmanjan Tursun Germany
Deputy Speaker (Co-Chairman) of the Parliament Yarmemet Barat USA
Parliamentary Secretary Tursun Shamseddin Norway

President

Ghulam Osman Yaghma, a Uyghur writer, poet, and veteran East Turkistan Independence leader,[11] was elected as the President of the East Turkistan Government in Exile during the ETGE's 8th General Assembly in Washington, DC in November 2019 [12] He authored numerous books, novels, articles, and poems in a bid to awaken the East Turkistani people in their struggle for restoring East Turkistan's independence. Lost Treasure, He Is Still in Battle, Sigh, and Reflection are among the most read fiction novels written by him. He wrote numerous political orientated books include Exploring on the Path of East Turkistan Liberation (3 volumes), Mirror, and Tears of East Turkistan among others. He was barred from getting a higher education because at the age of 16 he had participated in creating an organization to liberate East Turkistan from Chinese occupation. After enduring persecution from the Chinese government, Yaghma fled East Turkistan in 1996 and later sought asylum in Canada in 2002.[13]

Prime Minister

Salih Hudayar is a young East Turkistan independence leader, political activist, business consultant, and graduate student. He founded the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement, a political party, in June 2017 and launched a global movement to openly advocate for the restoration of East Turkistan's independence. Hudayar fled East Turkistan with his family in 20000 and grew up in Oklahoma.[14]

Previous Prime Ministers of the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile were Abdulahat Nur, Ismail Cengiz, and Anwar Yusuf Turani.

Activities

The ETGE engages in a wide range of awareness raising and advocacy campaigns about the human rights situation for Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic peoples in East Turkistan . It explicitly advocates for the restoration of East Turkistan's independence[15] concentrating on the United States Congress in Washington, the Canadian Government, EU member states, NATO, Japan, and India.[16] In March 2020, members of the East Turkistan Government in Exile and the East Turkistani community, led by newly elected Prime Minister Salih Hudayar, met with Representative Ted Yoho[17] and asked him to deliver a speech on East Turkistan at the US House of Representatives. Congressman Ted Yoho described East Turkistan as an "occupied country" and condemned China for its genocide of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic peoples.[18][19]

Although the East Turkistan Government in Exile claims to be politically neutral, they have close links with the Republican Party,[17] and the Prime Minister makes semi-regular appearances on conservative media,[20][21][22] including a guest appearance on Steve Bannon's War Room,[23] and its overall nationalistic rhetoric pushing for the independence of East Turkistan. In November 2019, retired US Air Force Brigadier General Robert Spalding, the former Director of Strategic Planning, at the US National Security Council and Joseph Bosco, the former China Director at the US Department of Defense along with other American analysts had attended and gave speeches at the ETGE's 8th General Assembly in Washington, DC.[24]

In June 2020, the East Turkistan Government in Exile spearheaded an effort by pro-independence Uyghur, Manchu, and Tibetan groups to oppose "Chinese imperialism in all forms" and sent a joint letter to the US State Department, the Council of the European Union, and the Foreign Ministries of the India, Japan, and the UK rejecting "Chinese occupation," and calling on the "international community to help bring about a democratic resolution that gives complete national independence for East Turkistan, Manchura, South Mongolia, and Tibet."[25]

The East Turkistan Government in Exile praised the passage of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act[26], a law that requires various US government agencies to report on human rights abuses in Xinjiang, and thanked United States President Donald Trump and the United States Congress. The ETGE stated that "we hope this will the first step towards restoring freedom and independence to East Turkistan.”[27]

On July 14, 2020, the East Turkistan Government in Exile signed onto a joint letter by 64 Canadian MPs and 20 organizations urging Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his deputy Chrystia Freeland and Global Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne to sanction Chinese and Hong Kong officials “directly responsible for the human rights atrocities happening in Tibet, occupied East Turkestan (Xinjiang), and Hong Kong.”[28]

ICC Case

On July 6, 2020, the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported that the East Turkistan Government in Exile and the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement filed a complaint urging the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate and prosecute Chinese officials for genocide and other crimes against humanity.[29][30] The complaint is the first attempt to use an international legal forum to challenge China over allegations of extensive human rights abuses against Muslim Turkic people in East Turkistan.[31][32] The 80-page complaint included a list of more than 30 senior Chinese officials, including Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping, whom the Uyghurs hold responsible.[33][34] The next day, East Turkistan Government in Exile and the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement held an online press conference in Washington, DC and The Hague.[35] The ETGE's Prime Minister, Salih Hudayar, told Radio Free Asia's Chinese service that "for too long we have been oppressed by China and its Communist Party and we have suffered so much that the genocide of our people can be no longer ignored."[36] On July 9, 2020, the US Government sanctioned 3 senior Chinese officials including Xinjiang Communist Party Secretary Chen Quanguo and Zhu Hailun, who were among the 30 officials mentioned in the complaint to the ICC.[37] ETGE Prime Minister Salih Hudayar told Radio Free Asia that the East Turkistan Government in Exile welcomed the sanctions and that Uyghurs wanted real justice. He stated that the Chinese officials should be tried for human rights abuses by an international court, citing the example the Nuremberg Trials of high-ranking Nazi Party officials after World War II.[38]

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References
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  3. "Uyghurs urge US Congress to recognize East Turkistan as an Occupied Country". East Turkistan Government in Exile. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  4. Fink, Kathryn (23 December 2019). "'For Their Own Good': The Detention Of Muslim Ethnic Groups In China". National Public Radio. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
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  6. "Government Policy Statement". East Turkistan Government in Exile. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
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  8. "Government Leadership". East Turkistan Government in Exile. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  9. "Parliament Composition". East Turkistan Government in Exile. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  10. "Parliamentary Leadership". East Turkistan Government in Exile. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  11. "President". East Turkistan Government in Exile. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
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  13. "Ghulam Osman Yaghma". East Turkistan Government in Exile. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
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  17. Ted, Yoho. "Congressman Yoho Tweet". Twitter. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
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  32. Smith, Samuel (10 July 2020). "ICC urged to investigate Chinese leaders for genocide abuses against Uighur Muslims". The Christian Post. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  33. Bajwa, Muzaffar Ahmad Noori (7 July 2020). "Uyghur Muslims finally dragged Chinese Communist Party to ICC for their crimes against humanity". The Eastern Herald. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  34. "Exiled Uighurs approach International Criminal Court seeking justice against China". ANI. The New Indian Express. 7 July 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
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  37. Riechmann, Deb (9 July 2020). "US sanctions Chinese officials over repression of minorities". AP. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  38. 唐家婕 (10 July 2020). "美制裁四新疆官员后 中国外交部要对等反击". Radio Free Asia - Chinese Service. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
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