By Rebiya Kadeer
16.03.2017
If I tell the truth, the Uyghur issue in Syria is a problem that I am quite reluctant to raise in public. The reason for that is not because we are unable to defend ourselves but the problem itself is very sensitive and very complicated, and it is closely connected to the international politics of the war on terror. I don’t want to be seen as someone who seeks to legitimize terror, and I don’t want to cause offence to the victims of international terrorism.
The escalation of the Syria war and the statements of Syrian authorities which referred the number of Uyghur militants as high of 5000 and the two countries intelligence force successfully attacking Uyghur militants is increased my concern about the fate of the Uyghurs in Syria and it’s effect on Uyghur cause.
(http://sputniknews.cn/politics/201703111022065683)
First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Nate Rosenblatt from New America whom closely observed and conducted impartial research about Uyghurs in Syria. (https://na-production.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/ISIS-Files.pdf)
Nate Rosenblatt outlined in his research findings that Uyghurs’ religious and national identity is regarded as a threat to China’s state security. Uyghurs targeted by the Chinese authorities in the strike-hard campaign have sought sanctuary abroad. China’s anti-terrorism campaign in Xinjiang could be a push factor driving people to leave the country and look elsewhere for a sense of ‘belonging’. “Between 1990 and 2010, the Chinese government gradually turned Uyghur national identity and Islamic practices into national security threats, i.e., extremized / securitized them.”
That is one of the reasons why I am writing this article. I would like to endorse Nate Rosenblatt’s statements in his research, and I believe this is a correct diagnosis of the problem. According to this diagnosis, I would also like to find the right ‘cure’ for the symptoms.
As the media is aware, up to now I have also had limited knowledge about the Uyghurs in Syria because I myself was not able to investigate professionally their numbers and current circumstances. Regardless how much is the number, I believe their circumstances are the same as the 114 Uyghurs discussed in the report.
First, they are people who have escaped from oppression. People who have observed the Uyghur situation know that since the “5th July” 2009 incident, the style of Uyghur resistance and the methods of Chinese state oppression have all been reshaped.
According to cases reported by the media, hundreds of Uyghurs were forcibly ‘disappeared’ after the “5th July” 2009 incident (http://www.uyghurcongress.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2012-June-21-WUC-Report-on-Enforced-Disappearances-of-Uyghurs-in-China.pdf). The families of the disappeared were not even able to get their lost one’s body or any information about their whereabouts. Anyone who tried to get information was immediately arrested.
In 2013, around twenty Uyghurs in Yilqichi town of Qaghiliq County were suspected of getting military training, and were bombarded by a Chinese military plane, then their bodies were put into the sacks and taken away.
In 2014, hundreds of Uyghurs were shot and killed after they demanded the release of arrested relatives, and three Uyghur towns were bombarded by military planes (https://thevelvetrocket.com/2014/01/18/the-war-for-xinjiang).
Between 2013 and 2014, Uyghurs who attempted to attack police, police cars and local police stations in Uch Turpan, Seriq Buya, Toqquzaq towns were all shot dead. When the Chinese authorities announced these incidents they were celebrated as successful operations without any lost of life by their side.
In 2015, after clashes between some Uyghurs and Chinese police in Bay County of Aksu. Chinese security surrounded those involved in the incident along with their family members including women and children in a cave and massacred all of them by using flame throwers (http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/manhunt-11242015174308.html?searchterm:utf8:ustring=coal+mine+attack).
It is clear for observers that, there has been secret war in East Turkistan over the last 10 years. The former Uyghur regional Chinese Party Secretary Wang Lequan once said that the situation in the region had become one of life and death.
The numerous violent incidents that occurred in the Uyghur region are kept hidden from the media but openly discussed during Chinese Party and government meetings.
During the period of secret war in East Turkistan that we have stated the above the Uyghurs experienced with great suffers because lack of military skills and forces , and that is way they were attracted with opportunities in Syria where training could be provide for them , so they have found themselves today in Syria.
The New America report stated that among the 114 Uyghur in Syria, the youngest was aged 14 and oldest was 80 years. Among them many had travelled as a family. Many of them had travelled abroad for the first time and they had little education or skills. These particular circumstances of the Uyghurs in Syria clearly indicate how different these Uyghurs are from other groups in Syria. Their life stories tell how much they were oppressed in their home country and that was why they had escaped.
One particular point that caught my attention was that they wanted to live without oppression in their home country so they escaped in order to find a place of sanctuary for themselves; thus we can call them refugees. They are people who have kept at the bottom of their hearts the suffering and trauma of their families, relatives and neighbors at home.
Therefore before they escaped, and after they arrived abroad, they were seeking to help their relatives, to liberate them from oppression. When they heard of any kind of help, wherever it came from and in whatever form it came in, they grasped it without hesitation. In this particular situation, as human beings, we can understand the nature of the events that occurred in relation to a question of responsibility for others.
Among the Uyghurs in Syria, like any other country’s citizens, there may be a few who have been brainwashed by ISIS into forgetting that the Chinese occupying regime is their enemy, and ignoring their responsibility to their own country and people. But until now we have not seen any Uyghurs among them and we hope this will not happen in the future.
According to the independent researcher Salih Xudaberdi, it is clear that most of the Uyghurs in Syria believed the promises given them by ISIS that one day they would support the East Turkistan’ liberation movement against their oppression, and so Uyghurs went there to get military training (https://intercontinentalcry.org/contemporary-colonialism-uyghurs-versus-china/).
In this situation, China is likely to jump up and claim that “As we said before that they are planning to attack us. We are the target of international terrorism”. Before China claims this, China must lift the ban on foreign correspondents entering East Turkistan. The current situation must be reported to the outside world. The Chinese government, who maintained their regime by killing their own young generation with tanks in 1989, and who have implemented state terror in East Turkistan, hiding it from outside world through a colonial administration, they have no right to accuse us of terrorism.
I am a Uyghur, I understand that the feelings and aims of the Uyghurs in Syria: they arrived there in order to find freedom. But I am a Human Rights campaigner, and I believe that the right solution for the Uyghur problem is not war but dialogue.
Therefore I believe that regardless of which groups Uyghurs joined in Syria, it is a wrong choice, it will not bring any benefit to the Uyghur problem but instead it will provide opportunities to China who may use this as a pretext to further implicate the Uyghurs in the international war on terror.
Since there is now reliable evidence that there are some Uyghurs in Syria, I have urged my countrymen not to waste their energy, to believe in the justice of the world, to return from frontline and put their efforts into safeguarding themselves and their children. Because of our limited strength, I am not sure that my call will be able to reach them all, but I believe that they would choose peaceful life and survive if they have a chance to protect their safety and get shelter offered by any states and they could be grateful to the countries which helped them while they were living under bombs dropping.
I think the video statement recently published with name of Uyghur fighters in ISIS is just a propaganda of ISIS, it is not indicates current situation of Uyghurs, they needs urgent help , because compare to other foreign fighters in Syria ,they have no place to go back. (https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2986240/chinese-isis-fanatics-boast-of-training-hundreds-of-child-soldiers-as-they-battle-to-conquer-to-worlds-most-populated-country/)
I think that it would be a tragedy in Uyghur history ,if the thousands of Uyghurs who escaped from oppression in their own country are going to be killed by US and Russian forces in the Syrian battlefield which is not relevant to their cause at all. If they are killed by the US and other forces that wouldn’t be glory result for them as well, because they are killing the members of a stateless people .and it will be a shameful history that goes against the humanity and justice of mankind, and will be remembered as a nightmare.
I request countries like the USA, Russia, and Turkey that are playing an active role in the Syrian problem, please pay special attention to the Uyghurs and consider their fate during your diplomatic and military action in the Syrian war, please offer them a window of opportunity to surrender, or arrest them alive; particularly provide guarantee of safety for the women and children.
I am hopeful that my request will be beneficial to and suit the aim of countries and organizations to promote peace and stability in Syria and the world.