Washington [US], April 6: Members of the East Turkistani or Uyghur diaspora, led by the East Turkistan Government in Exile, in Istanbul, the Washington DC metropolitan area, and the Canadian cities of Toronto and Edmonton peacefully demonstrated to commemorate the Baren Revolution that erupted on April 5, 1990, which became to known as the Baren Massacre.
In the spring of 1990, Baren Township, near Kashgar, in Chinese Occupied East Turkistan, suffered under a reign of Chinese terror unlike any other. As part of its decades-long campaign of colonisation, forced assimilation, and population control, China’s government was forcing Uyghurs and other Turkic women to abort their babies.
The villagers of Baren finally had enough. At the time, they had suffered under 41 years of Chinese colonisation and occupation, and they had just seen 250 local women robbed of their babies. So they peacefully protested, and when that failed, they took up arms to defend themselves from the Chinese invaders.
The Chinese occupation forces responded by flooding Baren Township with People’s Liberation Army soldiers, and they began a massive massacre of innocent civilians, including women and children. According to different sources, hundreds to thousands of innocent Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples were massacred with heavy weaponry and airstrikes.
Dozens of East Turkistan in Istanbul condemned the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for remaining silent against China’s ongoing genocide and urged Turkey and the Turkish people to act against China’s genocide in East Turkistan.
“We condemn the silence of the Muslim world and Muslim organisations like the Organization for Islamic Cooperation for not only standing silent but also supporting China’s genocide of the Muslim majority Turkic peoples of Occupied East Turkistan,” said Fatmagul Cakan, the Istanbul Representative of the East Turkistan Government in Exile. “We call on the Turkish state and the Turkish people to act against the genocide of their fellow Turkic brothers and sisters in East Turkistan,” she added.
In Washington, DC, the East Turkistan Government in Exile, along with the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement, held a demonstration with over a dozen Uyghurs in front of the White House, where they urged the US to act against China’s genocide in East Turkistan and the growing Chinese hegemony.
“Governments, including the Government of the United States, must pressure the International Criminal Court to start investigations before UN Human Rights Commissioner Michele Bachelet’s visit to East Turkistan in May. Furthermore, governments, especially the US Government, must also file a parallel case at the International Court of Justice,” said Prime Minister Salih Hudayar of the East Turkistan Government in Exile.
“We again urge the US Government to uphold its commitments to freedom and human rights by supporting East Turkistan and its peoples by recognising East Turkistan as an Occupied Country, accepting more Uyghur refugees and being a voice of freedom and justice on the international stage. We urge the US Government and its allies across the world to support East Turkistan in the same way that they are supporting Ukraine,” he added.
In Toronto, Canada, the East Turkistan Government in Exile and the East Turkistan Youth Association of Canada held a march to commemorate the Baren Massacre and urged the Canadian Government to act to end China’s colonisation campaign, genocide, and occupation in East Turkistan.
“We urge Canada to uphold its treaty obligations and act against China’s ongoing genocide in East Turkistan,” said Haji Mahmut, the Deputy Prime Minister of the East Turkistan Government in Exile. “We also call on Canada’s Government to secure the immediate release of Uyghur Canadian citizen Huseyin Celil who has been unlawfully imprisoned by China for the past 16 years,” he added.
The East Turkistan Government in Exile honours all those killed during the Baren Revolution of April 1990 as martyrs and sees it as a symbol of East Turkistan’s will to restore their independence. (ANI)
