East Turkistan National Awakening Movement

The East Turkistan National Awakening Movement (ETNAM) (Uyghur: شەرقىي تۈركىستان مىللىي ئويغۇنۇش ھەرىكىتى) is a Washington D.C. based non-profit human rights and political rights' group which was established in June 2017.[1] The group supports the East Turkestan independence movement. Salih Hudayar, an Uyghur American consultant[2] and graduate student founded the group after pre-existing Uyghur organizations failed to effectively call for East Turkestan's independence deeming it "controversial".[3]

East Turkistan
National Awakening Movement
AbbreviationETNAM
FounderSalih Hudayar
FoundedJune 4, 2017 (2017-06-04)
Headquarters1325 G Street NW, Suite 500 Washington, DC 20005
IdeologySecularism
Liberal democracy
Anti-communism
Uyghur nationalism
Political positionCentre-right
Website
nationalawakening.org
www.facebook.com/ETAwakening
twitter.com/ETAwakening

Advocacy

According to ETNAM, it seeks to establish unity, democratic values and compassion amongst the people of East Turkistan (known as "Xinjiang" by China) in order to restore the state of East Turkestan in accordance with international laws.[4] It strives to promote the national interest and rights of all the peoples of East Turkistan ("Xinjiang").

ETNAM strongly believes that the East Turkestan National Movement is not exclusive to the Uyghurs but all Turkic peoples of East Turkistan including Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Tatars, and others.[5] The group advocates for "the end of China's colonization and occupation of East Turkistan and actively strives to restore the independence of East Turkestan."[6] ETNAM is the first Uyghur organization to not portray the Uyghur and other Turkic peoples of East Turkistan as a persecuted minority, but rather as an occupied state.[1]

Activities

Since its founding, ETNAM has organized numerous demonstrations calling for the independence of East Turkestan[7][8] and lobbied members of the US Congress to enact bills to help protect the Uyghur and other Turkic peoples of East Turkistan ("Xinjiang").[9] On December 20, 2018, in remembrance of the 69th anniversary of China's occupation of East Turkistan, the group organized a march from the White House[10] to the State Department and called on the US government to "recognize the genocide occurring in East Turkistan" and also called on the United Nations to "act according to the UN Genocide Convention and stop the 21st century Holocaust".[11]

The movement's founder Salih Hudayar gave a speech calling on support for restoring East Turkestan's independence at a Committee on the Present Danger: China event on April 9, 2019.[12]

On July 15, 2019, Bill Gertz, the editor for The Washington Free Beacon reported that researchers with the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement, a relatively new Uyghur independence group, discovered the new camps during a nine-month open-source intelligence gathering project that utilized commercial satellite images and reports people in the region.[13] They identified at least 124 internment camps,[14] 193 prisons, and 66 bingtuan labor camps along with 37 military facilities in East Turkistan ("Xinjiang").

The group was also the only Uyghur group to sign onto an open letter authored by retired U.S. Navy Captain James E. Fanell, the former director of intelligence and information operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, urging President Donald Trump to "stay the course" and continue his policy of being tough on China.[15] The letter was rebutting a previous letter titled "China is Not the Enemy" written in the Washington Post which urged President Donald Trump to cooperate with China.

On October 1, 2019, the 70th Anniversary of the People's Republic of China, ETNAM's founder, Salih Hudayar, joined dozens of Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers, Mongolians, and Kazakhs in front of the United Nations in New York City, where he called on the United Nations to recognize China's atrocities against Uyghurs, Tibetans, and others as a genocide and to recognize East Turkistan, Tibet, and South Mongolia as Occupied Territories.[16] On October 11, 2019, ETNAM participated in a joint rally for Hong Kong hosted by the College Democrats and the College Republicans of the Catholic University of America where Salih Hudayar joined former former Senior Director for Strategic Planning at the White House, Brigadier General Robert Spalding in calling for support for Hong Kong.[17]

On November 12, 2019, the 86th & 75th Anniversary of the East Turkistan Republics, ETNAM held a press conference where they released the coordinates of 182 suspected concentration camps, along with producing a map of East Turkistan containing 209 points labeled prisons, and 74 points labeled labor camps.[18][19][20] ETNAM stated it would release further coordinates of prisons and labor camps in coming weeks.[21] After the press conference, ETNAM also held a joint demonstration with the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile in front of the US Capitol, where they called on the US Congress to pass the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act and to recognize East Turkistan as an Occupied Territory.[22] ETNAM has made the satellite imagery data publicly available on their website. China's Foreign Ministry issued a statement calling ETNAM a "terrorist organization" but later corrected its statement, however Chinese diplomat Lijian Zhao refused to delete his tweet and continued to refer to ETNAM as an "ETIM organization",[23] a reference to the militant East Turkestan Islamic Movement (now the Turkistan Islamic Party).

In late February, ETNAM called on the international community to turn their attention to the plight of the Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in East Turkistan amidst the coronavirus pandemic.[24] Starting in early March, ETNAM's Founder Salih Hudayar, who also is the recently elected Prime Minister of the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile spoke to numerous journalists and media outlets about China's forced transfer of Uyghur and other Turkic peoples to Chinese provinces for forced labor which he described as "slave labor."[25][26][27] ETNAM's Founder, Salih Hudayar, appeared as a special guest on Steve K Bannon's War Room Pandemic show on April 13, 2020 and briefly spoke about East Turkistan and the Uyghurs.[28] On June 19, 2020, ETNAM held a demonstration in front of the White House to thank President Donald J Trump and the United States for passing and signing the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act.[29] ETNAM also called on for independence for East Turkistan and condemned China's oppression of Uyghur and other Turkic peoples.[30]

ICC Case

On July 6, 2020, the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported that the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement and the East Turkistan Government in Exile filed a complaint urging the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate and prosecute Chinese officials for genocide and other crimes against humanity.[31][32] The complaint is the first attempt to us an international legal forum to challenge China over allegations of extensive human rights abuses against Muslim Turkic people in East Turkistan.[33][34] 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.[35][36] 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.[37] ETGE Prime Minister and founder of ETNAM, 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."[38] On July 9, 2020, the US Government sanctioned 3 senior Chinese officials including Xinjiang Party Secretary Chen Quanguo and Zhu Hailun who were among the 30 officials mentioned in the complaint to the ICC.[39] 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 put on trial like the Nazis during the Nuremberg Trials.[40]

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See also

References
  1. Lepeska, David. "Uighurs accuse Turkey of betrayal, seek new friends". Ahval News. Ahval News. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  2. Luxner, Larry. "Muslim Uyghurs, urging freedom for 'East Turkestan,' picket Chinese Embassy in Washington". The Times of Israel. The Times of Israel. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  3. Shenoy, Rupa. "As families are lost to China's 're-education camps,' US Uighurs are split". PRI's The World. Public Radio International. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  4. "About ETNAM – East Turkistan National Awakening Movement". nationalawakening.org. Retrieved 2018-07-15.
  5. "Amerikida Otkuzuliwatqan 2 Ayliq Namayish Toghrisid Mexsus Sohbet". Uyghur Nida Television and Radio. Uyghur Nida Television and Radio. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  6. Shimron, Yonat. "A young Uighur American cries out for justice". Religion News Service. Religion News Service. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  7. Pasquini, Elaine. "Rally for Uyghurs Held Outside White House". Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  8. Shafik, Mandai. "Uighurs marking 'independence day' call for international help". Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  9. Essa, Azad. "'If we remain silent, it might get worse': Uighurs fear for loved ones in China". Middle East Eye. Middle East Eye. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  10. "Gallery: The best photos from around the worl". The Sydney Morning Herald. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  11. "ABD Uygur Türklerini baskı altına alan Çin'e ABD'de protesto". Euro News. Anadolu Agency.
  12. "Salih Hudayar Speaks at 'Committee on the Present Danger: China' Event". YouTube. Secure Freedom. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  13. Gertz, Bill (15 July 2019). "Network of Chinese Concentration Camps for Uighurs Uncovered". The Washington Free Beacon. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  14. Lake, Eli (16 July 2019). "China's Campaign Against the Uighurs Demands a Respons". Bloomberg. Bloomberg. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  15. Fanell, James E. (21 July 2019). "Dear President Trump: Stay the Course on China". American Greatness. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  16. "Only Independence Can Save Us" – via www.facebook.com.
  17. "Students Stand in Solidarity with Hong Kong". October 17, 2019.
  18. "China has 500+ Uighur camps and prisons and is holding far more than one million, activists say". November 12, 2019.
  19. "Uighur activists say China running hundreds more camps". aljazeera.com.
  20. Perper, Rosie. "Uighur activists say China is running nearly 500 detention camps and prisons in East Turkistan ("Xinjiang") based on satellite images". Business Insider.
  21. "COORDINATES". November 12, 2019.
  22. "New Chinese Labor Camp Coordinates Released by Uyghur Activists | Subverse News" – via www.youtube.com.
  23. Corr, Anders. "ETNAM". Twitter. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  24. Hudayar, Salih (February 26, 2020). "EXCLUSIVE: Uyghurs Languishing, Starving Under China's Coronavirus Quarantines". War Room Pandemic. War Room. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  25. "How the coronavirus impacts religious minorities encountering human rights abuses in China". One America News Network. March 24, 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  26. "Persecution of Ehtnic Minorities in China - Salih Hudayar". YouTube. Dove Tv. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  27. "East Turkistan Government in Exile Prime Minister Salih Hudayar on CBN". Christian Broadcasting Network. April 9, 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  28. "WATCH NOW – Steve Bannon Presents Descent into Hell: Life of the Chinese under the CCP". The Tennessee Star. April 11, 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  29. "https://nationalawakening.org/etnam-holds-demonstration-to-thank-the-united-states-for-signing-passing-the-uyghur-act/". East Turkistan National Awakening Movement. Retrieved 21 June 2020. External link in |title= (help)
  30. Dvorak, Petula (19 June 2020). "'This feels good': Hope and commerce near the White House". Washington Post. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  31. Simons, Marlise (6 July 2020). "Uighur Exiles Push for Court Case Accusing China of Genocide". New York Times. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  32. Areddy, James T. (6 July 2020). "Representatives of China's Uighurs File Evidence to International Criminal Court". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  33. Sewell, Tia (21 July 2020). "Unpacking the Recent Uighur ICC Complaint Against Chinese Leaders". Lawfare. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  34. Smith, Samuel (10 July 2020). "ICC urged to investigate Chinese leaders for genocide abuses against Uighur Muslims". The Christian Post. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  35. 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.
  36. "Exiled Uighurs approach International Criminal Court seeking justice against China". ANI. The New Indian Express. 7 July 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  37. "Uyghur Genocide & Crimes Against Humanity ICC Complaint". YouTube. East Turkistan Government in Exile. |first1= missing |last1= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help); |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  38. Tang, Jane (15 July 2020). "Uyghur Exile Groups Seek International Criminal Court Probe of Chinese Officials For 'Genocide'". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  39. Riechmann, Deb (9 July 2020). "US sanctions Chinese officials over repression of minorities". AP. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  40. 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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