Speech of Isa DOLKUN, EU Representative of the Uyghurs, at the EU Parliament

Below is an extract of the Secretary General of the World Uyghur Congress' (WUC) speech:

In his speech at the EU Parliament (Conference of 30th September 2009 - 60 Years of Democracy in China) see : http://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2009/10/02/itf-eu-representative-attended-a-conference-at-the-eu-parliament-in-brussels/ )

Mr. Isa DOLKUN, Secretary General of WUC, said that Uyghurs are around 20 million in China.
He said that as China is preparing for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 2009, and the 54th anniversary of the founding of the so-called Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the Uyghur people commemorate this date as a date of national mourning. The main reason is that the decision to set up the autonomous region rather than fulfilling the promises of self-determination made by MAO ZEDONG was against the wishes of the Uyghur people.

He reminded the audience that although at the Sixth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in 1945 MAO ZEDONG had announced that after CCP takeover of China, the people of East Turkestan would have the right to self-determination and the choice between full independence and establishment of a federated republic within the framework of federalism, MAO ZEDONG denied the people of East Turkestan the right to self-determination as soon as CCP took over and he established this so-called Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Mr. DOLKUN said that “faced with this situation, the Uyghur people asked to form a federated republic within the People’s Republic of China, but that MAO ZEDUNG also rejected this request, claiming “that East Turkestan has always been an inalienable part of an indivisible China, even before it was liberated; therefore there would be no sense in dividing China into federated republics”.

In February 1955 a special committee was created by CCP to prepare for regional autonomy in East Turkestan, and in August the provincial government adopted a resolution calling for such regional autonomy. The First East Turkestan Provincial People’s Congress approved the resolution in September 1955 and dispatched it to Beijing, where the State Council and the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress approved it on September 13, 1955. As a result, the so-called Xinjiang Wei Wu Er Zi Zi Chu, or the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, came into being on October 1, 1955.

With the creation of the so-called Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the Chinese political oppression, cultural assimilation, economic exploitation, ecological destruction, racial discrimination, arbitrary arrests, torture, execution and the forced sterilization on Uyghur women. The Uyghurs are faced with the danger of becoming a small minority in their own country and thereby losing their cultural identity.
Since 60 years, the fundamental human rights and the freedoms of the Uyghurs including civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights have been violated.”

Mr. DOLKUN said “that Uyghurs are extremely worried about the further escalation of the current situation. The World Uyghur Congress and Uyghur communities around the world are deeply concerned about the unprecedented bloodshed on July 5th 2009 in Urumqi, the capital of East Turkistan.”

He explained “that one of the reasons for the July 5th Uyghur peaceful protest in Urumqi was the government’s inaction after a number of Uyghur workers had been killed and several hundreds more injured in a Guangdong toy factory on June 25th.”

On July 6th, several thousand Han Chinese mobs, carrying meat cleavers, machetes, axes, clubs and shovels, went onto Urumqui’s streets to injure and kill every Uyghur they could find. They destroyed shops and restaurants owned by Uyghurs and demolished two mosques.

He said that tensions remain high in East Turkestan. China has responded to a peaceful Uyghur protest with a military crackdown that resulted in about 1000 Uyghur civilian deaths and about 5000 arrests. This has increased fear and intimidation faced by the Uyghurs. Those who have been detained are at great risk of torture and other forms of ill- treatment.

Below are the requests of the Uyghur people:

The Chinese Government should:
- allow an independent and international investigation into the Shaoguan killings and into the Urumchi unrest.
- Allow journalists access to East Turkestan.
- Respect its own constitution and Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law and grant Uyghurs genuine religious freedom, economic opportunity, cultural rights, freedom of speech and the rule of law.
- End it aggressive policy of monolingual education, and give students ant their parents a choice about their language of instruction.
- Equal employment opportunities for Uyghurs should e implemented
- Uyghurs should be allowed to attend the mosque without fear of suspicion
- Stop imprisoning peaceful dissenters
- End policies diluting Uyghur culture
- Stop distorting Uyghur history
- Stop its cultural genocide of the Uyghur people

Uyghurs urge the world’s media and the world’s governments to speak out against a further abuse of the Uyghur people’s human rights.

The international community should encourage China to start dialogue with the representatives of WUC to peacefully resolve the current issues, respect of international law, and taking actions in the international framework and the future status of East Turkestan.”