True Colors of "East Turkistan" Terrorist Forces Exposed

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, January 21, 2002

True Colors of "East Turkistan" Terrorist Forces Exposed

The Information Office of China's State Council released an article Monday entitled "'East Turkistan' Terrorist Forces Cannot Get Away with Impunity."

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The Information Office of China's State Council released an article Monday entitled "'East Turkistan' Terrorist Forces Cannot Get Away with Impunity."

The article, about 8,000 Chinese characters, provides sufficient facts on the "East Turkistan" issue and exposes the true colors of the terrorist activities committed by the "East Turkistan" terrorist forces inside and outside Chinese territory.

The article reiterates the firm stand of the Chinese governmentagainst terrorism, calling on all peace-loving people throughout the world to fully recognize the nature of the "East Turkistan" terrorist forces and the serious harm caused by them, and jointly crack down on their terrorist activities.

The article points out that terrorism is a big public hazard inthe world today, posing an enormous threat to the peace, security and order of the international society.

It says that over a long period of time, especially since the 1990s, the "East Turkistan" forces inside and outside Chinese territory have planned and organized a series of violent incidentsin the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China and some other countries, including explosions, assassinations, arsons, poisonings and assaults, with the objective of founding a so-called state of "East Turkistan."

These terrorist incidents have seriously jeopardized the lives and property of people of all ethnic groups as well as social stability in China, and even threatened the security and stabilityof related countries and regions.

The article says the term "Turks" originally referred to peopleof an ancient nomadic tribe, which once wondered about the region of the Altay Mountains and the grasslands of north China.

The Turks founded a khanate in 552, and later they split into eastern and western branches and engaged in constant struggles fordominance of the khanate. In mid-eighth century, the eastern and western khanates of the Turks declined and went out of existence one after another. Their descendants gradually merged with other ethnic groups.

After the 11th century, the "Turks" mentioned in foreign history books embraced all the ethnic groups who spoke the Turkic language, which is a branch of the Altay language family.

In fact, throughout history there has never been a unified country consisting of all the Turkic-speaking peoples, despite claims to the contrary.

To split Xinjiang from China and bring it under their domination, some of the old colonialists gave Xinjiang the name "East Turkistan" (correspondingly, they called the countries in Central Asia "West Turkistan"), fabricating the fallacy that Xinjiang was the home of "Eastern Turks."

The article points out that after the establishment of a frontier command headquarters (duhufu) in the Western Region by the Han Dynasty in 60 B.C., Xinjiang became a part of Chinese territory. From that time on, the central government has never ceased jurisdiction over Xinjiang.

But, the article says, in the beginning of the 20th century, a handful of fanatical Xinjiang separatists and extremist religious elements fabricated the myth of "East Turkistan" in light of the sophistries and fallacies created by the old colonialists.

They claimed that "'East Turkistan' had been an independent state since ancient times," and that the ethnic group in that state had a history of nearly 10,000 years. They incited all ethnic groups speaking the Turkic language and believing in Islam to unite to form a state featuring the "integration of religion and politics."

They denied the historical fact that all China's ethnic groups have joined their efforts to create the great motherland, and called for "opposition to all ethnic groups other than the Turks,"and for the elimination of "pagans."

The article says since the formation of the "East Turkistan" theory, separatists of every description have conducted activitiesin the name of "East Turkistan," in an attempt to set up a political state called "East Turkistan."

From the early 20th century to the late 1940s, the "East Turkistan" forces instigated riots on many occasions with the connivance and support of foreign forces. In November 1933, Sabit Damolla and others founded the so-called "East Turkistan Islamic State" in Kashi, an attempt of the separatists at putting their separatist theory into practice. But, thanks to the opposition of the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, it collapsed within three months.

The article says since the peaceful liberation of Xinjiang, thepeople of all ethnic groups have united as one, worked hard and built their fine homeland with joint efforts. Xinjiang's society is stable, its economy has kept developing, and the local people'sliving standard has rapidly improved.

But the "East Turkistan" forces, not to be reconciled to their failure and in defiance of the will of the people of all ethnic groups, have been on the lookout for every opportunity to conduct splittist and sabotage activities with the backing of international anti-China forces.

In the 1990s, under the influence of extremism, separatism and international terrorism, part of the "East Turkistan" forces inside and outside Chinese territory turned to splittist and sabotage activities with terrorist violence as the main means, even brazenly declaring that terrorist violence is the only way toachieve their aims.

The programs of the "East Turkistan Islamic Party" and of the "East Turkistan Opposition Party" seized by the police clearly point out that they will "take the road of armed struggle," and "conduct various terrorist activities in densely populated regions."

In the booklet What Is the Hope for Our Independence compiled by them, they openly declare that they will create a terrorist atmosphere at kindergartens, hospitals and schools at any cost. The "East Turkistan" terrorists have engineered a series of bloodyterrorist incidents, leaving many blood-soaked chapters in the historical annals.

Incomplete statistics show that from 1990 to 2001, the "East Turkistan" terrorist forces inside and outside Chinese territory were responsible for over 200 terrorist incidents in Xinjiang, resulting in the deaths of 162 people of all ethnic groups, including grass-roots officials and religious personnel, and injuries to more than 440 people.

The article says that the "East Turkistan" terrorist forces have directed explosions at innocent people in crowded places suchas bazaar, buses, restaurants, and department stores in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region over the past few years.

To sabotage national unity and create an atmosphere of terror, the terrorists have targeted their attacks at officials, ordinary people and patriotic religious personages of the Uygur ethnic group, as well as the ethnic Han people, killing them as "pagans."

The terrorists have also defiantly attacked police and government institutions and committed crimes of poison and arson in some cities.

In order to train hardcore members and enlarge their organization, the "East Turkistan" terrorist forces secretly established training bases in Xinjiang, mainly in remote parts of the region. The training programs mainly include the theory of religious extremism and terrorism, explosion, assassination and other terrorist skills, and physical strength.

Some training stations are also workshops for making weapons, ammunition and explosive devices.

The article says the "East Turkistan" terrorist forces have plotted and organized riots and disturbances many times in China, by engaging in terrorist acts of beating, smashing, looting, arsonand murder, which seriously endangered social stability, people's lives and property.

Besides engaging in terrorist violence within China's borders, the "East Turkistan" terrorist forces have also been involved in violent incidents beyond the border. They opened fire at the Chinese embassy in Turkey, launched bomb attack against the Chinese consulate-general in Istanbul, and killed Chinese businessperson, government staff member and foreign policemen.

The article says that there is plenty of evidence to show that most of the terrorist and other violent incidents which have occurred in Xinjiang were directly plotted and engineered by the "East Turkistan" organization beyond China's borders, with the collusion of a handful of people within the borders.

It points out that the "East Turkistan" terrorists are closely connected with international terrorist forces.

The "East Turkistan" terrorist organization based in South Asiahas the unstinting support of Osama bin Laden, and is an importantpart of his terrorist forces.

Bin Laden has schemed with the heads of the Central and West Asian terrorist organizations many times to help the "East Turkistan" terrorist forces in Xinjiang launch a "holy war," with the aim of setting up a theocratic "Islam state" in Xinjiang.

According to the article, the terrorist forces led by bin Ladenhave not only given much financial and material aid to the "East Turkistan" terrorists, but also directly trained personnel for them.

After the training, some of the key "East Turkistan" members were secretly sent back to China to set up terrorist organizations,and planned and carried out terrorist activities. Some of them joined the Taliban armed forces in Afghanistan, some joined the Chechen terrorists in Russia and some took part in terrorist activities in Central Asia.

Most of the explosions, assassinations and other terrorist incidents that have taken place in Xinjiang in recent years are related to these organizations, the article says.

The Chinese police so far have arrested over 100 terrorists whohad sneaked into Xinjiang after being trained in terrorist training bases in Afghanistan and other countries. The police of some other nations have also extradited or transferred to China a dozen or so "East Turkistan" terrorists they captured.

The article says that as the appeal for international cooperation in curbing terrorism is becoming increasingly strongerfollowing the "September 11" terrorist attacks in the United States, the "East Turkistan" forces that bear evident marks of terrorism have found themselves in an extremely embarrassing situation.

While they are distressed by the destruction of the bin Laden terrorist forces and Taliban terrorist training bases by US missiles, they cannot but "take the initiative" to express their support for the US military retaliation, attempting to distance themselves from the bin Laden terrorist forces.

The article points out that the terrorist organizations in South Asia lost no time in conducting a secret strategic shift, evacuating their members in Afghanistan to the surrounding South and Central Asian and Middle East regions to preserve and accumulate their strength.

Meanwhile, the "East Turkistan" terrorist forces have employed the tactic of mounting attacks as a means of defense. Once again, under the banner of protecting "human rights," "religious freedom"and "the interests of ethnic minorities," they claim that the Chinese government "has taken the opportunity to crack down on ethnic minorities," in an attempt to mislead the public and deceive international opinion, and thus dodge the international crackdown on terrorism.

The article says that in order to protect the lives and property and common interests of the people of various ethnic groups, maintain the stability of China's Xinjiang and the surrounding regions, safeguard national unity, social stability and the smooth progress of the modernization drive, the Chinese government has resolutely cracked down on the violent activities of the "East Turkistan" terrorist forces in accordance with the law.

The ethnic groups in Xinjiang have always had the glorious tradition of loving and safeguarding national unity, and Islam is a peace-loving religion, it stresses.

The Chinese government's crackdown on the "East Turkistan" terrorist forces is not directed at any particular ethnic group orany particular religion, but at criminal activities of violence and terrorism, in order to better protect the common interests of the country's various ethnic groups and safeguard normal religiousactivities.

All the people in the country, including the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, have given wholehearted support to the Chinese government's policies. Over the past few years, the situation in Xinjiang has been stable, and the people's peaceful living and working environments have been effectively safeguarded.The people there have been living and working in peace and contentment.

The article says the Chinese government opposes terrorism in any form, and opposes, at the same time, the application of doublestandards concerning the anti-terrorism issue.

It stresses that any tolerance or indulgence toward the "East Turkistan" terrorist forces will not harm China and the Chinese people alone.

"Today, as the international community becomes more clearly anddeeply aware of the harm brought about by terrorism, we hope that all peace-loving people throughout the world, regardless of ethnicstatus or religious belief, region or country, political or socialsystem, will fully recognize the nature of the 'East Turkistan' terrorist forces and the serious harm caused by them, see through all their disguises, and jointly crack down on their terrorist activities, leaving not a single opportunity for them to exploit to their advantage," the article says.

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"East Turkistan" Terrorist Forces Cannot Get Away with Impunity

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