UNITED NATIONS

COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

53rd SESSION

Geneva, 24 April 1977

Oral statement on behalf of Transnational Radical Party

UNDER ITEM 17

Delivered by Erkin Alptekin

Mr. Chairman,

Some governments claim that how they treat minority peoples is their "internal affairs," and should not be interfered with by outside powers or even the United Nations. Even when armed conflicts break out between the state and a minority people, the UN is told not to comment. Yet, the work of this Commission, the adoption of numerous human rights treaties and declarations proves that human rights, including rights of minorities is and must be the concern of the entire international community. What is part of international law cannot, by definition, be the "domestic" or "internal" affair of any state.

I wish to use an example with which I am very familiar to illustrate the kind of treatment of a minority people which the international community can not, under the present provisions of international law, tolerate.

Reports hit the press in February this year of the crushing of an uprising of Uighurs in Ili and elsewhere in Eastern Turkestan, or Xinjiang as the Chinese call my country. But the full story, and the reasons for the uprising have not been fully revealed.

In April and May of last year 45 uprisings took place in 15 different parts of Eastern Turkestan, and around 65,000 people took part. Close to 1,000 people were killed. These uprisings took place because of the desperation which the Uighur and other Turkik peoples feel about their situation. They feel they are faced with only two choices: accepting national extinction through assimilation or a mortal struggle to defend their cultural and religious identity.

China has carried out a systematic policy of repression of Uighurs and of their Muslim religion, on the one hand; and of massive implantation of Chinese settlers into Eastern Turkestan, on the other. Millions of Chinese have come to settle in Eastern Turkestan under this policy, turning the native peoples into a minority in their own land. But whereas any Chinese can settle and work in our region, Uighurs are not allowed to settle in China proper and are treated as foreigners by the Chinese. Frustration is reaching an explosive proportion. One Uighur who was recently interviewed expressed his feelings as follows: (and I quote) "...So many Chinese come to Xinjiang. They get the jobs. Uighurs have no jobs, no good homes, so many sleeping in the streets. I am one of the masses, and I do not have any work. The Chinese have a good life, good food, high buildings. The Hans have taken away all our raw materials. Oil, gold, coal, cotton. What doesn't Xinjiang have? Why then is Xinjiang poor? The Uighurs, Kazakhs and

Kyrgyz are the real owners of Xinjiang. Being a part of China means we are a minority. That has been a disaster for development. It is better for us to be independent..." (End of quote ).

Fierce antiChinese demonstrations broke out on February 5 and 6 of this year. They started in Ili, after Chinese armed police broke into private houses to disperse Uighur women who hadgathered to pray. In the demonstrations and clashes that followed, 400 Uighurs were killed. According to eye witnesses, 146 persons were frozen to death when Chinese troops used pressured water in freezing temperatures to fight demonstrators. 90 Uighurs were beaten to death. 160 died when the Chinese security forces opened fire on the crowd. Many more were wounded and at least 2000 Uighurs were arrested. On 10 February, an 8 year old Uighur girl named Fatima who demanded the release of her father; and a pregnant woman, Gulzira, who begged for the release of her husband, were shot to death in the Public Security compound in Ili.

Mr. Chairman, I am giving these facts to bring to this Commission the real situation of my people who have against their wishes been made a minority of China. Without these illustrations which provide a true understanding of what is happening to our people and other minority peoples, how can this Commission take effective action to protect the rights of minorities and to prevent conflict? Recently reports emerged that bombs had exploded in Eastern Turkestan and even Beijing, and Uighurs were immediately blamed by China. I have reason to believe that at least some of these bombs were planted to discredit the Muslim Uighurs and depict them as Islamic fundamentalist extremists. This would make it easier for the authorities to justify their repression. But unless you hear the true story of the suffering of our people, it is hard for you to believe what is really going on.

Mr. Chairman, we, our Tibetan brothers and sisters and oppressed peoples throughout the world, many of whom are united in the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) look to this Commission on Human Rights to bring hope and peaceful change to our people.

Thank You, Mr Chairman.