Brief Introduction to East Turkistan and

 Uyghurs

East Turkistan, also known as Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, lies in the heart of Asia. The current territory of East Turkistan is1,626,000 square kilometers (635,000 square miles)-4 times the size of California. It was 1,820,0000 square kilometers in 1949 according official records. The lost part of the land was annexed by Qinghai and Gansu provinces of China after the Chinese communists invaded East Turkistan in 1949.

East Turkistan is the homeland of the Turkic speaking Uyghurs and other central Asian peoples such as Kazaks, Kyrgyz, Tatars, Uzbeks, Tajiks. According to the latest Chinese census, the present population of these Muslims is slightly over 11 million, among this, the 8.68 million Uyghurs are the majority. Unofficial statistics by Uyghur sources put the Uyghur population Around 15-20 million.

Historically, East Turkistan is part of Central Asia, not of China. East Turkistan people are not Chinese, they are Turks of Central Asia.

Located on the famous Silk Road, Uyghurs played an important role in cultural exchanges between the West and East, and developed a unique culture and civilization of their own.

The Manchu Empire invaded East Turkistan in 1876 and formally annexed East Turkistan into its territory and renamed it "Xinjiang" meaning "New Territory" or "New Frontier" on November 18,1884.

After the Manchu Empire was overthrown by the Chinese Nationalists in 1911, East Turkistan fell under the rule of the nationalist Chinese government. The Uyghurs, who also wanted to free themselves from foreign domination, staged numerous uprisings against Nationalist Chinese rule and twice, in 1933 and 1944, succeeded in setting up an independent East Turkistan Republic.

The second East Turkistan Republic which remained independent for 5 years fell under the rule of Communist China in 1949 after its top leaders were killed in a mysterious plane crash on their way to a meeting with the Chinese president Mao Tsedong. Since then the communist China has been exercising a colonial rule over East Turkistan. more...