The Censored Speech

The Censored Speech given by ETNAM’s Founder, Salih Hudayar, on June 4, 2019 in front of the U.S. State Department.

Full text:

Dear fellow East Turkistanis and friends in the free world, Eid Mubarak. 30 years ago, the people of Communist controlled China, Occupied East Turkistan, Occupied Tibet, Occupied South Mongolia, Occupied Manchuria, and others suffering under Chinese Communist rule joined together to launch a peaceful movement to demand Democracy and Freedom.

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre in which thousands of innocent people including Chinese, Uyghurs, Mongols, Manchus and others were brutally massacred by the Chinese Communist state in order to crush their desire for Democracy, Freedom, and Independence and since then the Chinese Communist Party and its occupation forces have been brutally censoring the desire for Democracy, Freedom and Independence held by the people of China and the various nations living in captivity under Chinese occupation.

Unfortunately, we regret to inform you that the censorship of true Freedom, Democracy, and Independence has went beyond the territories which the Chinese Communist Party and its occupation forces control. It is here, even in the west, even in the most democratic, free, and independent nation of the United States of America, but that censorship does not come from Americans who value freedom, free speech, and independence but those who use the shroud of democracy and human rights to silence the voices that disagree with them, more specifically the voices of true democracy and independence.

As you may all have heard, three interlocking Uyghur organizations – The World Uyghur Congress, the Uyghur Human Rights Project, and the Uyghur American Association – have been actively pressuring the good people of the Free world to censor not just me, but the entire East Turkistan National Awakening Movement and our thousands of , which represents the people of East Turkistan’s desire for independence. The desire for independence that is held by the overwhelming majority which was agreed upon numerous times throughout the East Turkistan movement’s history.

These three groups have led our people towards a path of appeasement, down the path of surrendering referring to our people as “ethnic minorities within China”, or shamelessly even referring to our country by the Chinese term “Xinjiang” meaning “New Territory”. The deceived our people by arguing that independence is un-realistic, un-achievable, or that we cannot even govern ourselves. For those who might have forgotten our history or have not yet heard of let me remind you that throughout East Turkistan’s history of over 6,000 years, our great ancestors established numerous Empires and States.

It was through the appeasement of self-proclaimed leaders who sold out our nation’s future for their personal gains that we lost our independence. First in 1705 with the fall of the Yarkent Khanate, but again, as always, the people of East Turkistan continued to struggle for their independence and regained it in 1863 but after the Qing invasion in 1877, the weak leaders that were left to guide our nation guided us towards a path of submission. However, again we continued to struggle for our independence and let’s not forget that within the past century alone, we the people of East Turkistan declared independence and twice established modern independent East Turkistan Republics, the first from Nov 12, 1933 till April 16, 1934 and the second in Nov. 12, 1944 till December 22, 1949.

Even after the current Chinese Communist regime invaded and occupied our homeland, the people of East Turkistan have never given up their peaceful struggle to end Chinese occupation and restore our independent East Turkistan Republic. Have you forgot our brave leaders like Osman Batur, Memtimin Iminov, Ahunov, and Zeydin Yusuf who continued to struggle for our nation’s independence?

Even at the General Assembly held by the World Uyghur Congress in Washington, DC in 2011, the overwhelming majority of East Turkistanis had rejected the path of appeasement, the path of “autonomy” or the weak and vague path of “self-determination” in favor of restoring East Turkistan’s independence?

These groups claim to be promoting democracy and human rights but wish to censor the desire to restore independence held by our nation which has been passed down from generation to generation. Freedom of expression is a form of human rights but for years these groups have sought to censor the true expressions of our nation, the expression of independence.

Do you all forget why the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement came out as an organization in the first place? Let me remind you it all started because they tried to censor us from even saying a simple chant “Independence For East Turkistan”. For nearly 2 decades these groups have guided our people away from the path of independence and led us down the path of appeasement.

My dear East Turkistanis, and our dear friends in the Free World, we cannot truly have human rights if we do not have the political rights, in other words independence, which can truly guarantee and safeguard such rights. Other than misinforming the global community into thinking we are “ethnic minorities”, “Muslims in China”, or a part of China as a so called “Autonomous Region” what have they achieved?

It is not because we are Muslims, or that we aren’t Communists that the Chinese occupation forces seek to eradicate us. The reason why over 3 millions of our brothers and sisters are in the camps is because of only one reason and that is because East Turkistan is our land and has been so for thousands of years, long before Chinese “civilization” even existed. It is because our people desire to restore their independence and that is China’s greatest fear as it had been under the Manchu Qing Dynasty, during the reign of the Chinese Warlord Sheng Shicai, and the brief periods of occupation under the Chinese Nationalists, and it is the same fear that the Chinese Communist Party inherited.

The only solution to the hundreds of years of continued persecution we have been facing every time we lost our independence is to restore our independence.

Exactly 30 years ago on this day, June 4th 1989, the Chinese Communist Party sent tanks to crush the peaceful demonstrators in Tiananmen Square.

Exactly 19 years ago on this day, June 4th 2000, I arrived to the United States as a political refugee with the goal and hope that one day, with the help of the free world led by this great nation which I live in, the United States of America, we would be able to restore our independence and end this continuous cycle of colonization, oppression, and genocide.

Exactly 1 year ago, on June 4th 2000, in front of the US Capitol,  I launched the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement, with the support of friends, family near me, and most importantly the people of East Turkistan.

We laid clear a vision, and goals and methods on how to achieve them. I promised you that we would continue you our peaceful demonstrations calling on the US government and the free world to pass legislation to protect the people of East Turkistan, to urge governments to sanction the Chinese government for their crimes against humanity, to urge the governments of the free world, most importantly the United States, to recognize the genocide and recognize East Turkistan as an occupied territory. I promised that we would convince people in the west to support our nation’s aspirations to restore East Turkistan’s independence. I promised that we would explain to the media, governments, organizations the history of the conflict and the fact East Turkistan is an occupied territory.

I made it quite clear that our only enemy was the Chinese Communist Party and its occupation forces and that we were willingly to cooperate with any nation, any organization, and any individual willing to support us in our peaceful struggle to restore East Turkistan’s independence. We encouraged all organizations to cooperate with us, but these three organizations have constantly undermined our efforts, constantly seeking to censor our people’s desire for independence.

They claim that the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement is a group of “troublemakers,” “separatists,” and “extremists” that make up a small fraction of the people East Turkistan…they are echoing the exact same lines that the Chinese Communist Party uses to attack the whole of our people to attack the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement.

It wasn’t until recently that when our diaspora began to read the articles by Dr. Anders Corr, that people began to recognize that there are people all across the free world who will support our aspirations to restore our independence, however, there are still many who are confused and being deceived by these three groups.

My dear East Turkistanis, the Free World value democracy, freedom, and independence, for it was these three important core values that led to establishment of the beacon of hope that is known as the United States of America. America has a promise to its people and to the people of world, and that promise is to help those that are oppressed, to promote and respect democracy and human rights, and respect the will of the majority of the people and not only of a few individuals or groups in power.

Thus, I call on you all East Turkistanis across the world to not be afraid of asking for support, for our cause is just, our cause is the same cause held by the people of Moses, the same cause held by George Washington and the founding fathers of the United States, and the same cause held by once oppressed captive nations who have now gained their independence.

Our cause is just and if the Free World, led by the United States, truly values democracy and human rights, then they have no choice but to support our Independence.

I call on all of you to join me, shoulder to shoulder, as one united voice, and call on the Free World, led by the United States of America, to support our nation’s peaceful struggle for independence. For East Turkistan’s Independence means Central Asia’s Independence, Central Asia’s Independence means Europe’s Independence, Europe’s independence means America’s Independence. Join me in calling on President Trump, Secretary Pompeo, the whole of the United States Government and the Free World to support our nation’s struggle for independence, our struggle for existence. The first step towards freeing the people oppressed by China’s Communist Party is for East Turkistan to regain its Independence.

The time has come to strike fear into the hearts of our enemy and proclaim loudly and proudly that we the people of East Turkistan want to restore our independence, and we will never give up our peaceful struggle to regain what has been passed down from our great ancestors from generation to generation, for thousands of years. Long live East Turkistan, Long live East Turkistan’s independence.

God Bless you all! Eid Mubarak.