East Turkestan, How Close? (3)

East Turkestan or today's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; Being one of the oldest cradles of Turkish history, culture and civilization, it is an important region for the Turkish world. East Turkestan, which is an important basin in the east-west transitions in the Asian continent with its geostrategic location for China, has been one of the important places where wars were fought between the Sassanids, Tibetans, Arabs, Mongols and Chinese, especially the Turkish tribes throughout history.

The Chinese dynasties, who realized long ago that this region was a gateway to Western Asia, organized 6 major expeditions to the East Turkestan region between 206 BC and 751 AD in order to ensure the safety and stability of the historical silk road. East Turkestan, which the Chinese tried to keep in their hands in every period, was completely out of the hands of the Chinese after the defeat of Talas in 751. From this date until 1877, it was not possible for the Chinese to completely recapture East Turkestan for various reasons, over a period of almost a thousand years.

The Historical Silk Road, passing through East Turkestan, continued to maintain its strategic importance in history to a certain extent, despite the discovery of sea routes in the 16th century.

Knowing the importance of East Turkestan, which finally came under the control of China in 1877, the efforts of the Russians and Japanese to take this region from the Chinese did not succeed. However, the Russians;

-- To control the Turkic Republics bordering East Turkestan,

-- To prevent Uyghurs living in East Turkestan from interacting with other Turkic societies,

-- To prevent the emergence of a "Turkish independence movement" in Central Asia,

exporting communist ideology to China,

-- To protect their economic interests,

He has always endeavored to keep his interest in this region high. Russians; From the short-term annexation of the region in 1871, it has continued to indirectly maintain its influence and influence on the Xinjiang administrations.

In this context, the complex ethnic structure of the region, as well as the communist ideology, helped the Soviets to establish their influence in the province. It gave the Soviets the opportunity to play the role of "arbitrator" in line with their own interests in East Turkestan, in the issues of mediating, appeasement and directing the rebels when necessary in the endless ethnic rebellions in the region. During the civil war period of the Nationalist China and the Chinese Communist Party, there were also military interventions of the Russians in this region, which brought short-term successes from time to time.

On the other hand, in the last 150 years, the Uyghurs living in East Turkestan, which has maintained its position as a buffer geography between the Russians and the Chinese and an autonomous region connected to China; The independent states they declared in 1933 and 1944 were overthrown by the military interventions of the Soviets, therefore they could not show a permanent existence.

The Japanese, who made a great leap in the field of industrialization that started in the 1900s; As a result of imperial expansion requests, it has occupied a large part of China since 1937. Subsequently, in the course of the Second World War, Germany and the Soviet Union went to war in 1941. The USA, which stands with China and the Soviets in line with its interests, has assigned the logistics support units of the American Army to the East Turkestan region in order to provide the support needed by these two countries. During this period, the USA used the East Turkestan region as a military logistics base, which is equally close to both of its allies and is far from the reach of the Japanese and the Germans. In this context, the Americans had the opportunity to deliver the military support materials and equipment they needed to their allies from the airfields they built in the cities of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, and Ili (Gulca).

After the Second World War, the Chinese forces, who did not want to leave Central Asia completely under Russian rule, occupied Urumqi on September 29, 1949. Since this date, the Xinjiang region has been completely under the control of the People's Republic of China and has been included in the borders of China. In fact, this region, which was also a Chinese territory between 1877-1949, remained outside the sphere of influence of this country during the periods when China was at war with the Japanese and during the civil war. After 1949, the influence of the Russians on Xinjiang decreased.

The Situation of Ethnic Movements in East Turkestan

In the last 60-70 years, Chinese administrations continue to shape the present and future of East Turkestan in line with the sovereignty policies of China in the region.

With the establishment of the communist People's Republic of China by Mao Zedong in 1949, China initially followed a tolerant policy to reduce separatist tendencies, ensure its territorial integrity and integrate the region into China, against Xinjiang, which has ethnic ties with Central Asia. At the same time, through the "China Islamic Association", religious institutions were slowly tried to control it.

On October 1, 1955, the Chinese administration named East Turkestan as "Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region". China's dominance in the region continues to this day with this autonomous structure.

By 1958, the "tolerance policy" of the Chinese Government was abandoned. With Mao's "Great Leap Forward" plan, the Chinese administration in East Turkestan started to follow an assimilationist policy. Since this date, the migration process of the state-supported Han Chinese to the region has been started, and the homogeneous structure of the region, predominantly Uighur, has been deteriorated. Between 1950 and 1978, 3 million Hans were immigrated to the region. As a result, while the number of Han people living in the region was 300 thousand in 1953, it reached 6 million in 1990.

The success of the process of building a common culture in Xinjiang under the name of "Cultural Revolution", which was built around the ideology of communism, has become the main policy of the Chinese administration towards the peoples of the region. Uighurs saw the Cultural Revolution as an attack on their unique identity.

When Deng Xiaoping came to power in 1978-1979, he canceled the Cultural Revolution and turned to economic reforms throughout China. Thus, a more tolerant period has been entered in Xinjiang compared to the past. However, after the student demonstrations in the 1980s and the Tiananmen Incident in 1989, the Chinese government went to some prohibitive practices throughout the country, and the Uyghurs were also negatively affected.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, the emergence of new Muslim and independent Turkish states in Central Asia, the Islamic awakening in the region worried China. With the "go west" policy initiated in 1999, policies encouraging Han Chinese immigration to the region were increasingly put into effect. In accordance with the objectives of ensuring stability along with economic development in the region, measures have been taken by the Chinese government to improve commercial life. Although China attaches importance to economic development in Xinjiang, the violence that took place in the 1990s caused the Chinese administration to follow a more repressive path towards the region. In 1992, 3 people died and 23 people were injured as a result of the bombing of a bus in Urumqi, the capital of East Turkestan, are examples of violence in this period. In 2009, a total of 156 people lost their lives in the demonstrations and events that took place after the clashes between Han Chinese and Uyghurs in a factory. Meanwhile, in 2002, some books, writings and music that played a role in shaping the Uyghur identity were banned in East Turkestan by China on the grounds that they were illegal.

Chinese; It has developed an attitude claiming that the East Turkestan Islamic Movement is linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. In this view, it has been evaluated that China's desire to benefit from the discourse put forward by the USA and Western countries, which emphasize that all Islamic movements, especially jihadi groups, are "terrorists" after the 9/11 attack, is the main factor. As a matter of fact, according to the assessments made by international experts on the region, China; It acts with an understanding that perceives all the recent ethnic tensions in the territory of East Turkestan as an act of terrorism in general terms.

Today, East Turkestan; It has undertaken a function that contributes to the general stability of the region by being a buffer zone between the unstable regions of Central Asia, including Afghanistan, and the densely populated inner regions of China.

In any case, the "independence" struggle that the Uyghurs, who are at the forefront of the ancient nations in East Turkestan for more than a thousand years, want to wage against the Chinese administration, at least their efforts to open an additional area of ​​freedom for the Uyghurs living in this region continue. Along with other ethnic groups existing in Xinjiang, the demands of the Uyghurs naturally contain dynamics that may lead to the division of the region. This situation naturally disturbs the Chinese administration.

While talking about the events in East Turkestan, it would not be an accurate analysis to say that there is only tension between the Han Chinese and the Uyghurs in this region, and that there is no other problem in the region.

Although there was no strong hostility between the Uighur and Hui Muslim populations, a uniform unity could not be established among the entire Muslim population. Various schisms and local problems that arise between these two groups, albeit a little, prevent the establishment of a "national consciousness and common cultural base" in East Turkestan under the leadership of Uyghur Muslims.

The picture that emerges when we look at the regions where the Muslim communities living in East Turkistan are located, their general behavior patterns and their expectations from the future is as follows:

In East Turkestan, when we put the Tarim Basin in the center, the people living in the south of this basin are known as an area where the most devout Muslims live. This section is a part of both Han Chinese em also has an identity that stands against the Soviets. Their goal has always been the establishment of an independent Turkish-Islamic republic.

In the central part of the province, around Urumqi, those who have adopted the Chinese administration in a way and do not have the understanding to fight for a change of administration are predominantly living. As long as order was maintained, this group generally had an understanding of subordination to Chinese rule.

Those living in the north of the province are as hostile to the Chinese government as those in the south. However, this group is less religious. Their adherence to Islam is lower than those in the south, and ideologically, this group has a society structure that is much more open to Russian influence.

In summary, those in the south started an independence movement on the basis of Turkish-Islam. Those in the north, on the other hand, put forward an ethnic-based independence. The middle section, on the other hand, is somewhat indifferent to the ideas of independence compared to these two groups.

Conclusion

According to the long-established management approach in China, anything different from the general Chinese is considered dangerous. According to experts following China; On the basis of China's practices in East Turkestan, different beliefs, cultures, etc. intolerance to the practices. Chinese; In terms of means of communication including the internet, it has introduced some restrictions specific to the autonomous region of Xinjiang. Chinese; In order to prevent the reflection of the tensions and problems arising from the separatist movements in the country to the outside world, in a way, it allows East Turkestan's communication with the world "controlled".

On the other hand, the Uyghur diaspora, which has been living in countries other than East Turkestan for various reasons, continues its efforts to tell the world public about the "oppressive" practices of the Chinese administration and to be heard. As a matter of fact, some countries have expressed their reactions against China in their own parliaments. Likewise, many organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Associations continued to keep East Turkestan on the agenda in terms of human rights violations and to follow China.

China's human rights violations, the ill-treatment of Uyghurs in East Turkestan, especially non-governmental organizations in the West are more on the agenda. It must be for this reason, the Chinese; claims that the source of their reactions against their own country is nothing but a smear campaign led by intelligence agencies of some Western countries, especially the CIA. According to the Chinese, as a reflection of the current political and economic competition between China and the Western world, the Western Bloc, especially the USA, is trying to bring the East Turkestan issue to the world agenda.

In any case, China's global trade networks and economic power; It is another fact that it has directed most countries to 'stay away' from the East Turkestan issue. In today's political and economic conditions, it does not seem possible for the international community to give the necessary reaction to support the Uighurs against China. In this sense, we can say that China's being a permanent member of the UN Security Council is a factor that prevents other states (including Turkey) from reacting in favor of the Uyghurs, along with other factors.

(To be continued)

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