Approximately 100 activists in Turkey gathered in protest against the genocide being perpetrated against Uyghur Muslims in East Turkestan.
As part of a global campaign, “Stand4Uyghurs,” Uyghur rights activists organised a protest against the violent and derogatory treatment of Uyghur Muslims in East Turkestan. The protest took place at Sarachance Park, in Faith, Istanbul and boasted of banners and flags of East Turkestan along with chants and slogans against the horrific Chinese policies.
The campaign’s press release highlights crucial details of the protest, crediting Abdusselam Teklimakan, head of the East Turkestan New Generation Movement under East Turkestan International NGOs, as the leader of the demonstration. The footfall for the protest was approximately a gathering of 100 Uyghur rights activists. Several individuals, activists, academics and respected names of all communities join these protests across the world having one voice and sharing one stance. Two of the prominent addresses at the gathering were Halis Ozdemir, a Turkish journalist who advocates for Uyghur rights, and Daniz Ibrahim, a student hailing from South Africa.
One of the most consistent slogans on the banners was “Stop The Genocide Now!” Protestors from the “Stand4Uyghurs” international campaign which is comprised of over 100 Muslim organisations, gathered under this slogan to hold China accountable for their crimes against humanity in East Turkestan, Tibet and other occupied countries.
“We are here with our brothers and sisters from different communities with the same aim and belief to make a definite, strong and comprehensive expression of rejection against Chinese genocide and to call on international communities, organizations, countries and every single person to take action to stop this genocide,” states the press release.
This protest comes after a worldwide appeal had been filed by NGOs that support and rally for Uyghur rights. This appeal aimed to secure permission to hold protests on 31 July 2022 against forced labour, concentration camps, cultural and ethnic cleansing, destruction of mosques and Islamic literature, rape and sterilization that has seen a drastic surge in East Turkestan.
Protests similar to this one have been organised by NGOs that advocate for the rights of Uyghur Muslims in the cities of London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Toronto, Washington DC, Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane.
On the 26th of July, a prominent leader of the resistance, Abdusselam Teklimakan, had his critique of China’s atrocities against Uyghur Muslims televised to the nation on a Turkish programme. He appealed for a collective effort to curb the horrifying genocide Uyghur Muslims are being subjected to in East Turkestan. Furthermore, he condemned the recent attack on Mahmut Tohti Amin by the Turkish police.
Mahmut Tohti Aman is an 81-year-old man who hails from Kagar and participated in a peaceful protest by Uyghurs near the Eyup Sultan Mosque in Faith, Istanbul on 22 July. This protest was against the prevailing problem, the genocidal practices of the Chinese authorities on Uyghur Muslims in East Turkestan.
In a tussle that resulted from the local Turkish police’s attempts to subdue the gathering of protestors, Tohti was prohibited from carrying the Sky flag of East Turkestan. The scuffle ended with Tohti sustaining injuries on his head and fingers.
Tohti has been restricted from any contact with his five children and fifteen grandchildren who have resided in Kasgur since 2016. When he voiced his concerns to the President of the country in the form of a demonstration and implored him for help, the response left them disappointed and discouraged. Instead, they had been told that the flag representative of their identity was prohibited. “I have been living in Turkiye for 31 years…I am a citizen of the Republic of Turkiye…..I went to ask our President for help, this happened…,” says Tohti.
Social media heavily condemned this incident and this extended to action wherein a protest was held by a group of Uyghurs near the place of the incident, Eyup Sultan Mosque, on 24 July to voice their discontent with the rising police brutality. Many prominent members of the resistance attended this gathering, among which was Ridvan Kaya, the president of the Turkish NGO, Ozgur Der.
The contemporary situation of Uyghur Muslims, particularly in East Turkestan, is that they have been subjected to more than 70 years of massacres, genocide and other human rights violations by the Chinese autocracy.
“More than 3 million are detained in concentration camps for no reason. China is implementing, in name of the war on terrorism and extremism, systematic genocide which is the last form of Chinese occupation policy targeting Uyghur, Kazak, Kyrgyz and other Ethnic groups to eliminate them by mass killing, brainwashing, sinicization, sterilization, family separation, life-long imprisonment, organ harvesting, sexual harassment, forced labour and other countless crimes,” highlights the press release for the protest.
The most obvious motivation for these crimes has their ideological roots in islamophobia and racism. Being Muslim, being a Uygur, being a Kazak, or Kyrgyz, are all aspects of one’s identity that are reasons to kill as per the Chinese authorities.
