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� Uyghurs stand up to China over East Turkistan

Uyghurs stand up to China over East Turkistan
By Matthew Burrows

Although pro-Tibetan rallies have been going on in Vancouver for a long time, the Uyghur community here is just now coming out of the shadows, with representatives like political refugee Omerjan Böre.

Böre is from the city of Kashgar in the former East Turkistan, a mostly Muslim area in China's west, now in the vast Xinjiang region. Böre wants independence from China for East Turkistan, and he allies himself with the Tibetan cause. He claims the Uyghur region has been under Chinese rule "since 1949". China invaded and occupied Tibet in 1959 after its initial 1951 incursion into eastern Tibet.

"We support Tibetans; we are in the same situation," Böre told the Georgia Straight, standing in front of the gates at the Chinese Consulate on Granville Street during an August 7 rally. "We believe we are now being heard and one day we will get independence. Tibetans are called separatists and Uyghurs are called terrorists. The international community must understand the difference between separatist, terrorist, and freedom fighter."

After a protest earlier the same day at the Vancouver Art Gallery, representatives from the China Human Rights Coalition, Students for a Free Tibet, and the Canada Tibet Committee, several Falun Gong practitioners, and one carrier of a fake Olympic torch marched to the Chinese Consulate, where they joined four Uyghurs waving traditional blue East Turkistan flags. Böre said he was the only one who would go on record, as his friends were "scared" of reprisal.

Uyghurs stand up to China over East Turkistan By Matthew Burrows Although pro-Tibetan rallies have been going on in Vancouver for a long time, the Uyghur community here is just now coming out of the shadows, with representatives like political refugee Omerjan B�re. B�re is from the city of Kashgar in the former East Turkistan, a mostly Muslim area in China�s west, now in the vast Xinjiang region. B�re wants independence from China for East Turkistan, and he allies himself with the

Chinese Communist Party and military authorities are set to launch an all-out, life-and-death struggle against underground, �splittist� elements in Xinjiang, whose three attacks against security personnel this month resulted in the death of 20 police and officers of the People�s Armed Police. Diplomatic sources in the Chinese capital said the enhanced military action would begin immediately after the Olympics end on the 24th, when the world�s attention will no longer be focused on China�s huma

To be sure, among the protesters in Tibet and Xinjiang there are separatists and terrorists, but the origins of radicalisation and extremism among Tibetan Buddhists and Xinjiang�s Uyghur Muslims can largely be traced to the social and cultural impact of Beijing�s centrally-enforced modernisation on the local populations.

Chen Aibao was fast asleep when the first explosions shook the centre of Kuqa � a dusty commercial oasis in the arid plains of central Xinjiang. Minutes later, he heard the sound of people running outside his own small stall, close to the city's hospital. "I saw one of them - not clearly - but he was a young guy," he said. "He was shouting: 'Over here, over here.'" The putative bomber was speaking in Uighur - a language of the region, also used by the ethnic separatist group that

Minorities. That is the key word. Decades ago, this vast region was almost entirely populated by Muslim Uighurs - who have much closer ties to Central Asia than to Beijing. Xinjiang resident says good relations exist with minority groups

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