Istanbul: Uyghurs Rights Activists in Turkey, as part of a global campaign “Stand4Uyghurs” organized a protest to call out against the genocide being perpetrated against Uyghur Muslims in East Turkestan and chanted slogans against the Chinese policies.
The demonstration was led by Abdusselam Teklimakan, head of East Turkestan New Generation Movement under East Turkishtan International NGOs at Sarachance Park, in Fatih, Istanbul, said a campaign press release.
Approximately 100 Uyghur activists gathered at the spot and displayed banners and flags of East Turkishtan.
Earlier, a worldwide appeal had been made by Uyghur NGOs to hold protests on July 31, 2022 against forced labour, concentration camps, cultural and ethnic cleansing, destruction of mosques and Islamic literature, rape and sterilization taking place in East Turkestan.
Halis Ozdemir, a Turkish journalist and supporter of the Uyghur rights and Daniz Ibrahim, a student from South Africa also addressed the gathering. Similar protests are also planned by Uyghur NGOs in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Toronto, Washington DC, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Earlier, on July 26, in a programme on Turkistan TV, Abdusselam Teklimakan had criticized Chinese atrocities, appealed for collective efforts aimed at stopping genocide in East Turkestan and condemned the recent attack by Turkish police on one Mahmut Tohti Amin.
Tohti, 81, hailing from Kasgar, was part of a peaceful protest by Uyghur near the Eyup Sultan Mosque in Fatih, Istanbul on July 22 against the genocidal practices being carried out by the Chinese authorities against Uyghur Muslims in East Turkestan.
In a scuffle of the local police with the protestors Mahmut Tohti Amin was stopped forcefully by the police from carrying the Sky flag of East Turkestan and sustained injuries on his head and fingers.
Tohti lamented, “I cannot even hear the voices of my 5 children and 15 grandchildren who have been living in Kasgar since 2016. We went to our President to make our voices heard and to ask him to help us but the police said that the flag of East Turkestan is not allowed…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…”
The incident was widely condemned on social media, reacting on which by a group of Uyghurs gathered near the Eyup Sultan Mosque on July 24 demanding action against police brutality. Among others, the event was also attended by Ridvan Kaya, President of Turkish NGO Ozgur der.
Under the banner “Stop The Genocide Now!” protestors gathered to make China accountable for its crimes against humanity and genocide in East Turkistan, Tibet and other occupied territories joining the Stand4Uyghurs international campaign which is being brought out by 100 plus Muslim organizations.
Individuals, activists, academics and respected names of all communities joined the protests around the world with one voice and one stance. This campaign is to demonstrate clear protest against the Chinese genocide.
“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,” as per the press release.
The contemporary situations of East Turkistan are that East Turkistan people ore suffering from massacres, genocide and other human rights violations for more than 70 years under 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,” it added.
Those crimes are evidently genocide according to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
“Xinjiang Police Files” have already demonstrated to the world with undeniable details that China is committing the Genocide in occupied East Turkistan.
The Uyghur Tribunal which was held in London last year ruled that the Chinese Authority under Xi Jinping Administration is guilty of its Genocide and Crimes against Humanity in East Turkistan.
All crimes beforementioned are based on Islamophobia and racism as the ideological roots. Being Muslim, being a Uygur, being a Kazak, or Kyrgyz, all of this is a guilty excuse for China to kill.
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