East Turkestan independence movement

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Flag of the East Turkestan Republic. It was reportedly established in Kashgar, China, 1933.[1]

East Turkestan Independence Movement is a broad term that refers to advocates of an independent, self-governing Xinjiang, which is correctly referred to as East Turkestan. Currently the area is an autonomous region in the People's Republic of China.

In general, the wide variety of groups who seek independence for Xinjiang can be distinguished by the type of government they advocate and the role they believe an independent Xinjiang should play in international affairs. Groups who use the term East Turkestan tend to have an orientation towards western Asia, the Islamic world, and Russia. These groups can be further subdivided into those who desire secularity, and identify with the struggle of Kemal Atatürk in Turkey, versus those who want an Islamic theocracy and identify with Saudi Arabia, the former Taliban government in Afghanistan, or Iran. In many cases the latter diminish the importance or deny the existence of a separate Uyghur ethnicity and claim a larger Turanian or Islamic identity. These groups tend to see an independent East Turkestan in which non-Turkic, and especially non-Islamic minorities, such as the Han Chinese or the Tibetans would play no significant role.

Those that use the term Uyghuristan tend to envision a state specifically for the Uyghur people. Those groups that adopt this terminology tended to be allied with the former Soviet Union while it still existed. Since then some of the leaders of these groups have remained in Russia, Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan, or have emigrated to Europe and North America. In any future independent Uyghuristan, non-Uyghur peoples such as the Kazakhs, the Uzbeks, the Kyrgyzs, the Han Chinese, or the Hui would exist only as tolerated minorities.

It is worth noting that none of these identities are exclusive. Some groups support more than one such orientation. It is common to support both an Islamic and Turkic orientation for Xinjiang. The founders of the Turkic Islamic Republic of East Turkestan (also known as the East Turkestan Republic) are a good example of this. It has led to splits within the East Turkestan independence movement in the past.

Since 1995 the Chair of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization has been Erkin Alptekin, the son of the Uyghur separatist leader Isa Yusuf Alptekin.

[edit] Groups that support East Turkestan independence

Some of the groups that support independence for East Turkestan have been labeled terrorist organizations by both the People's Republic of China, the United Nations and/or the United States. Many Uyghur organizations overseas are known to have small memberships of fewer than a dozen.

The World Uyghur Congress (Munich, Germany)
Uyghur Canadian Association (Toronto, Canada)
East Turkestan Information Center (Munich, Germany)
East Turkestan Foundation (Istanbul, Turkey)
East Turkestan National Freedom Center (Washington, DC)
East Turkestan Culture and Solidarity Foundation (Kayseri, Turkey)
East Turkestan Islamic Movement (Formerly Afghanistan)
- East Turkestan Liberation Organization
East Turkestan Islamic Party (Unknown)
The Liberation Organization East Turkestan (Transnational Hizb ut-Tahrir) [2]
East Turkestan Solidarity Foundation (Istanbul, Turkey)
East Turkestan Union (Munich, Germany)
Kazakhstan Regional Uyghur (Ittipak) Organization (Almaty)
Kyrgyzstan Uyghur Unity (Ittipak) Association (Bishkek)
United Revolutionary Front for Eastern Turkestan (Unknown)
Uyghur Association (Moscow)
Uyghur Liberation Organization (Unknown,)
Uyghur Netherlands Democratic Union (the Netherlands)
Uyghurstan Freedom Association (Almaty)