Uyghurs In Exile To Honor Victims of Historic Massacre

Oil painting of prominent Uyghurs and Turkic scholars, artists and leaders

WASHINGTON: The East Turkistan National Awakening Movement will hold a rally in front of the U.S. State Department in Washington on Monday, April 5, from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. in honor of the thousands slain in the Baren Massacre 31 years ago in East Turkistan (renamed Xinjiang)

The rally will take place in front of the Harry S. Truman Building, at 2201 C Street in the US Capital and will be live streamed by the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement – here.

Serving as part of the ongoing campaign of colonization and genocide initiated by China’s government, April 5, 1990, saw Baren Township’s villagers rise in defence of their right to have children – often forcibly aborted by local authorities

It was, however, an event largely ignored by the outside world and in turn led to the brutal massacre of Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples by China’s occupation forces.

Engaged in an ongoing struggle against Chinese occupation of their homeland – often termed Xinjiang in Western media – the Uyghur and other Turkic peoples are led in exile by Prime Minister Salih Hudayar.

Prime Minister Hudayar last week sat down with The Taiwan Times to explain exactly what is going on in his homeland, how his people are reacting, and his hopes for the future.

That conversation can be seen via this link.

Mark Buckton

Mark is a journalism vet of 20 years with most of those years spent in Tokyo, Japan, as a columnist for The Japan Times and numerous other publications. His work has appeared on CNN, in the BBC, NPR, and in several dozen other media forms and publications across five continents.