Aug 21, 2012

East Turkestan: Conference On China’s Upcoming Leadership


The international conference on the impact of China’s upcoming leadership in relation to Uyghurs will be held in October 2012. 

Below is an article published by the World Uyghur Congress:

The East Turkestan Union in Europe is pleased to announce that the international conference on the impact of China’s upcoming leadership change in relation to Uyghurs will take place

1st of October 2012,
At the Bavarian Parliament

Munich, Germany.

The conference is organised in collaboration with the Bavarian parliamentary groups of

the Social Democratic Party (SPD)
the Green Party (Bündnis/90 Die Grünen)

and supported by the World Uyghur Congress (WUC).

The timing of the international conference has particular poignancy as October 1st is the Chinese national holiday, yet mourned by millions as a day when freedom and human rights were lost.

At the conference, which will be held at the Bavarian Parliament, the situation of the Uyghur people in East Turkestan after 63 years of the Chinese communist occupation and the impact of the Chinese leadership change will be at the forefront of the agenda. Themes such as improvement of the work of the diaspora Uyghur human rights movement will also be discussed, from which a strengthening of existing strategies and the development of new ones will be discussed. Present at the Conference will be eminent scholars, parliamentarians, international human rights activists and experts on the issues at hand, some of whom have been invited as speakers.

In October, it is expected that the 18th National Congress of China will convene in a major leadership change. Current Paramount Leader, Hu Jintao, and China’s Premier, Wen Jiabao will have to vacate their positions at the highest echelons of power in China, paving the way for potential reform or hardening current policies – it is depending crucially on who the next leaders will be. This stands as a particularly important period for Uyghurs as there could be some rare opportunities for improvements that have until now been either scarce or non-existent. This Conference will provide an opportunity for the Uyghur community to engage in discussion about the permutations of this large-scale leadership change and how it might effect them and their families or friends still residing in East Turkestan. They will also receive expert opinions from specialists in the fields of Chinese politics and human rights.

We would like to invite you to attend this conference. Further details on the Conference, such as the full list of speakers, etc., will be released closer to the date.

The East Turkestan Union in Europe was established during October 1990 in Munich, Germany by some Uyghur intellectuals including, Erkin Alptekin, Enver Can, Asgar Can, and Ömer Kanat, who remain at the forefront of Uyghur human rights and pro-democracy activism today. The Union was the first Uyghur diaspora organisation established in a western democracy to propagate the plight of the Uyghur people under Chinese military occupation. The Union initiated and hosted the founding assemblies of the former World Uyghur Youth Congress (1996) and the East Turkestan (Uyghuristan) National Congress (1999). In 2003, East Turkestan (Uyghuristan) National Congress and World Uyghur Youth Congress voluntarily joined forces to establish the World Uyghur Congress (WUC).The Union welcomed hundreds of Uyghur asylum seekers who fled Chinese suppression from the late 1990´s onwards and have been trying to help them settle in Germany.