A report on Xinjiang conflict

(Xinjiang), highlighted red, shown within China
Armed police and metal detector at the Kargilik bazaar
Protesters in Prague, Czech Republic carrying Tibetan and East Turkestan flags, 29 March 2016

Ongoing ethnic geopolitical conflict in what is now China's far-northwest autonomous region of Xinjiang also known as East Turkistan.

- Xinjiang conflict
(Xinjiang), highlighted red, shown within China

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Xinjiang

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Landlocked autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest of the country at the crossroads of Central Asia and East Asia.

Landlocked autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest of the country at the crossroads of Central Asia and East Asia.

Dzungaria (Red) and the Tarim Basin or Altishahr (Blue)
Northern Xinjiang (Junggar Basin) (Yellow), Eastern Xinjiang- Turpan Depression (Turpan Prefecture and Hami Prefecture) (Red) and Altishahr/the Tarim Basin (Blue)
Physical map showing the separation of Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin (Altishahr) by the Tien Shan Mountains
Map of Han Dynasty in 2 CE. Light blue is the Tarim Basin protectorate.
Old Uyghur/Yugur art from the Bezeklik murals
The Tarim Basin in the 3rd century AD
A Sogdian man on a Bactrian camel. Sancai ceramic statuette, Tang dynasty
Mongol states from the 14th to the 17th centuries: the Northern Yuan dynasty, Four Oirat, Moghulistan and Kara Del
The Dzungar–Qing Wars, between the Qing Dynasty and the Dzungar Khanate
The Battle of Oroi-Jalatu in 1756, between the Manchu and Oirat armies
The Qing Empire ca. 1820
Scene from the 1828 Qing campaign against rebels in Altishahr
Yakub Beg, ruler of Yettishar
19th-century Khotan Uyghurs in Yettishar
Kuomintang in Xinjiang, 1942
Governor Sheng Shicai ruled from 1933 to 1944.
The Soviet-backed Second East Turkestan Republic encompassed Xinjiang's Ili, Tarbagatay and Altay districts.
Close to Karakoram Highway in Xinjiang.
Pamir Mountains and Muztagh Ata.
Taklamakan Desert
Tianchi Lake
Black Irtysh river in Burqin County is a famous spot for sightseeing.
Kanas Lake
Largest cities and towns of Xinjiang
Statue of Mao Zedong in Kashgar
Nur Bekri, Chairman of the Xinjiang Government between 2007 and 2015
The distribution map of Xinjiang's GDP per person (2011)
Ürümqi is a major industrial center within Xinjiang.
Wind farm in Xinjiang
Sunday market in Khotan
Ürümqi Diwopu International Airport
Karakorum highway
This flag (Kök Bayraq) has become a symbol of the East Turkestan independence movement.
"Heroic Gesture of Bodhisattvathe Bodhisattva", example of 6th-7th-century terracotta Greco-Buddhist art (local populations were Buddhist) from Tumxuk, Xinjiang
Sogdian donors to the Buddha, 8th century fresco (with detail), Bezeklik, Eastern Tarim Basin
A mosque in Ürümqi
People engaging in snow sports by a statue of bodhisattva Guanyin in Wujiaqu
Christian Church in Hami
Catholic Church in Urumqi
Temple of the Great Buddha in Midong, Ürümqi
Taoist Temple of Fortune and Longevity at the Heavenly Lake of Tianshan in Fukang, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture
Emin Minaret
Id Kah mosque in Kashgar, largest mosque in China
Erkin Tuniyaz, the incumbent Chairman of the Xinjiang Government

From the 1990s to the 2010s, the East Turkestan independence movement, separatist conflict and the influence of radical Islam have resulted in unrest in the region with occasional terrorist attacks and clashes between separatist and government forces.

Uyghurs

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The Uyghurs ( or ), alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia.

The Uyghurs ( or ), alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia.

A Uyghur girde naan baker
Uyghur man in traditional clothing, playing a tambur, a traditional Uyghur instrument.
A possible Tocharian or Sogdian monk (left) with an East Asian Buddhist monk (right). A fresco from the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves, dated to the 9th or 10th century (Kara-Khoja Kingdom).
Uyghur hunter in Kashgar
Uyghur schoolchildren in Kashgar (2011)
Uyghur princes from Cave 9 of the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves, Xinjiang, China, 8th–9th century AD, wall painting
An 8th-century Uyghur Khagan
Uyghur Khaganate in geopolitical context c. 820 AD
Chagatai Khanate (Moghulistan) in 1490
Ethnolinguistic map of Xinjiang in 1967
Map showing the distribution of ethnicities in Xinjiang according to census figures from 2000, the prefectures with Uyghur majorities are in blue.
Protesters Amsterdam with the Flag of East Turkestan
A Uyghur mosque in Khotan
Map of language families in Xinjiang
Leaf from an Uyghur-Manichaean version of the ‘‘Arzhang’’.
Uyghur Meshrep musicians in Yarkand
Wall painting at Bezeklik caves in Flaming Mountains, Turpan Depression.
Xinjiang carpet factory
Uyghur polu (پولۇ, полу)
Doppa Maker, traditional Uyghur hats, Kashgar
A Uyghur man having his head shaved in a bazaar. Shaving of head is now seen mostly among the older generation.
Uyghur girl in clothing made of fabric with design distinctive to the Uyghurs
Uyghur women on their way to work, Kashgar. 2011

Scholars estimate that at least one million Uyghurs have been arbitrarily detained in the Xinjiang internment camps since 2017; Chinese government officials claim that these camps, created under CCP general secretary Xi Jinping's administration, serve the goals of ensuring adherence to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ideology, preventing separatism, fighting terrorism, and providing vocational training to Uyghurs.

Kök Bayraq has become a symbol of the East Turkestan independence movement.

East Turkestan independence movement

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Political movement that seeks the independence of East Turkestan, a large and sparsely-populated region in northwest China, as a homeland for the Uyghur people.

Political movement that seeks the independence of East Turkestan, a large and sparsely-populated region in northwest China, as a homeland for the Uyghur people.

Kök Bayraq has become a symbol of the East Turkestan independence movement.
This emblem, featuring the basmalah-stylized tughra (calligraphic monogram), is sometimes used alongside the flag above.
The Second East Turkestan Republic was a short-lived Soviet-backed unrecognized republic in northern Xinjiang.
ETGIE members at Capitol Hill on 14 September 2004

Xinjiang has been a hotbed of ethnic and religious conflict throughout much of the period that it has been governed by successive Chinese regimes.

Ili Rebellion

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Uyghur separatist movement backed by the Soviet Union against the Kuomintang government of the Republic of China in 1944.

Uyghur separatist movement backed by the Soviet Union against the Kuomintang government of the Republic of China in 1944.

In the Xinjiang conflict, the Soviet Union was involved in funding and support the East Turkestan People's Revolutionary Party (ETPRP) to start a separatist uprising against China in 1968.

A view of Kunming Railway Station

2014 Kunming attack

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A group of eight knife-wielding terrorists attacked passengers in the Kunming Railway Station in Kunming, Yunnan, China, on 1 March 2014.

A group of eight knife-wielding terrorists attacked passengers in the Kunming Railway Station in Kunming, Yunnan, China, on 1 March 2014.

A view of Kunming Railway Station

Xinhua News Agency and the government of Kunming said that the attack had been linked to Sunni extremists which were a faction of Xinjiang separatists.

May 2014 Ürümqi attack

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On the morning of 22 May 2014, two sport utility vehicles (SUVs) carrying five assailants were driven into a busy street market in Ürümqi, the capital of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

On the morning of 22 May 2014, two sport utility vehicles (SUVs) carrying five assailants were driven into a busy street market in Ürümqi, the capital of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Gongyuan Street (the location of the attack)
After the market blasts, Ürümqi entered a state of enhanced security with each school, university, residential area entrance, avenue, and vital junction having concrete barricades set up in order to defend against similar ramming attacks by vehicles. This image shows many concrete barricades on Henan East Road, New Downtown, Ürümqi.

43 people were killed, including 4 of the assailants, and more than 90 wounded, making this the deadliest attack of the Xinjiang conflict.

East Turkestan People's Revolutionary Party

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Uyghur communist party and armed separatist group in Xinjiang.

Uyghur communist party and armed separatist group in Xinjiang.

It was founded in 1969 or earlier during Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution, and was the largest armed separatist group in the Xinjiang conflict before its dissolution in 1989.

Second East Turkestan Republic

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Short-lived satellite state of the Soviet Union in northwest Xinjiang (East Turkestan), between November 12, 1944, and December 22, 1949.

Short-lived satellite state of the Soviet Union in northwest Xinjiang (East Turkestan), between November 12, 1944, and December 22, 1949.

The Ili, Tarbaghatay and Altay districts (red) controlled by the 2nd East Turkestan Republic
Coalition government representatives in 1946 including Chairman Zhang Zhizhong (front row fifth from right) and Vice-chairman Ehmetjan Qasimi (front row fourth from right).
The Ili, Tarbaghatay and Altay districts (red) controlled by the 2nd East Turkestan Republic
Ehmetjan Qasimi and Abdulkerim Abbas with Chiang Kai-shek in Nanjing on 22 November 1946.
Ehmetjan Qasimi and Abdulkerim Abbas with Sun Fo, the son of Sun Yat-sen in Nanjing on 24 November 1946.
Ehmetjan Qasimi, Chairman of the Xinjiang Democratic League of Peace Safeguarding, in 1948, Ghulja
Saifuddin Azizi, Xi Zhongxun (father of 6th paramount leader of China Xi Jinping), Burhan Shahidi in July 1952 after successful quelling of Ospan Batyr Kazakh insurgency in Xinjiang.

In the Xinjiang conflict, the Soviet Union again backed Uyghur separatists against China, starting in the 1960s.

Indefinite detention

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Incarceration of an arrested person by a national government or law enforcement agency for an indefinite amount of time without a trial; the practice violates many national and international laws, including human rights laws.

Incarceration of an arrested person by a national government or law enforcement agency for an indefinite amount of time without a trial; the practice violates many national and international laws, including human rights laws.

Human rights group claim a history of forced labour, arbitrary arrest and detention of minority groups, including: Falun Gong members, Tibetans, Muslim minorities, political prisoners and other groups in the People's Republic of China.

Strike Hard Campaign Against Violent Terrorism

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In May 2014, the Government of China launched the "Strike Hard Campaign against Violent Terrorism" in the far west province of Xinjiang.

In May 2014, the Government of China launched the "Strike Hard Campaign against Violent Terrorism" in the far west province of Xinjiang.

It is an aspect of the Xinjiang conflict, the ongoing struggle by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese government to manage the ethnically diverse and tumultuous province.