Conferences and Demonstrations Against the Chinese Atrocities in East Turkistan
U.S. Legislative Activities
Congressional concern for the Chinese occupation of East Turkistan and the oppression of the Uyghurs and other Turkic people continues to grow. The East Turkistan National Freedom Center (ETNFC) has expanded its work with members of congress and their staff, providing detailed information and using the US government to act on behalf of East Turkistan.
Follow up a meeting with Anwar Yusuf Turani, the President of East Turkistan National Freedom Center in Washington, DC, about the situation in occupied East Turkistan under the rule of Communist China, on February 24, 1997, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, Congressman Gerald Solomon and Dan Burton wrote to Congressman Christopher Cox in his capacity as the Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, urging action the East Turkistan issue.
Protests in Washington, DC Against the Chinese Human Rights Violation in the Occupied East Turkistan in 1990s
East Turkistanis staged a protest of China’s continued occupation of their homeland and continued denial of human rights to their countrymen on the occasion of President Jiang Zemin’s October visit to Washington. Held in front of the U.S. Capitol the morning of the October 29, 1997, the protest drew a small but committed group of Uyghurs from Kyrgyzstan, New York, North Carolina, Philadelphia and Washington DC area. The demonstration also attended by concerned Americans, Taiwanese, and Tibetans, some of who joined the East Turkistanis in speaking out against the Chinese policy.
Following their own demonstration, the others joined a major demonstration in Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House where President Clinton and Jiang were an Mr. Turani was invited to speak at the gathering on behalf of the people of East Turkistan. Still later, East Turkistanese participated in a Taiwanese organized demonstration in front of the U.S. Capitol. Anwar Yusuf Turani, representing East Turkistanis, was invited to speak, again.
Another demonstration was held by the East Turkistan National Freedom Center under the leadership Anwar Yusuf Turani, in front of the Chinese Embassy on February 5, 1997 to protest the Chinese massacre in the Ghulja prefecture in East Turkistan.
U.N. Rallies
On June 14, East Turkistanis, Tibetans and Mongolians gathered in front of the United Nations in the New York to protest the occupation of their nation by Communist China. They were joined by Taiwanese advocating independence fo their own nation by American supporters.
The rally was the end of the three month long march led by Dalai Lama’s brother to draw attention to the representation Tibetans, East Turkistanis and Mongolians. The march began Toranto and ended in New York before the U.N.
A representative of each occupied nation, plus Taiwan, cut one star from the Chinese flag to symbolically send a message that these countries do not belong to China. Anwar Yusuf Turani represented East Turkistan.
They also attempted to present the flag — minus the small stars — to China’s UN mission in New York, but no one answered the door. They left the flag and walk away. They returned a few minutes later to discover that the flag had been taken inside the mission.
