Press Release – For immediate release
10 March 2011
Contact:  World Uyghur Congress www.uyghurcongress.org
0049 (0) 89 5432 1999 or [email protected]

The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) on behalf of the Uyghur community around the world applauds the Urgency Resolution on Safeguarding Kashgar adopted today in the European Parliament. With this resolution, the European Parliament is publicly expressing that the Old City of Kashgar must be preserved and destruction halted. The ancient city of Kashgar, located in the very heart of the Silk Road, is not only a crucial cultural site for Uyghur identity, but part of world civilization with its unique reflections of accumulated history, tolerance and cultural diversity. The urgency resolution is both a clear and unequivocal signal to the Chinese authorities to uphold its responsibilities to preserve world heritage sites like Kashgar and the Uyghur culture, and also to stop the ongoing human rights violations against the Uyghur population in East Turkestan.

It has almost been two years since the Chinese government announced the “Kashgar Dangerous House Reform” and subsequently advanced the demolition of Kashgar Old City. Since then, the world has been witnessing how Old Kashgar is disappearing step by step and it is believed that the objective of 85% destruction of the Old City will be reached soon. Although many voices condemned the demolition project from the very beginning, the Chinese government has not heard these voices. Instead, Chinese authorities have continuously highlighted that the demolition of Kashgar Old City is in the best interests of the Uyghur people since it aims to protect residents from earthquakes. In the place of traditional Uyghur housings, which have remained there for centuries, new apartment blocks are being constructed.

At the same time, the few remaining parts of the old city center are converted into tourist sites and Uyghurs´ cultural and religious heritage is ‘disneyficated’. Uyghur population of the Old City area is involuntarily resettled and in addition suffers from the ongoing economic and social marginalization imposed by Chinese authorities. This systematic economic discrimination is not only violating the Uyghurs´ right to development, but is also increasing social tensions. The Chinese government’s economic discrimination against Uyghurs was one of the main root causes of the tragic July 2009 events.

Therefore, the destruction of Kashgar has to be framed in a larger systematic and center-driven plan to extinguish Uyghur culture, and to assimilate Uyghur people into Han Chinese culture in order to further the dominance of the Chinese Communist Party and to silence Uyghur voices. The absence of Uyghur voices on the government-leaded Kashgar project is notorious. However, it is not surprising. As in other social and political areas, Uyghurs´ right to freedom of expression and opinion has been again violated in the Kashgar case. At the same time, even organizations like UNESCO, in charge of the protection of cultural heritage, have been silent in public instead of condemning Kashgar´s demolition. European Parliament´s Urgency Resolution is therefore also a sign to international community that Kashgar needs to be protected.

WUC President Rebiya Kadeer  warmly welcomed the adoption of the resolution, saying that “despite Chinese government´s attempts to hide the real purpose of Kashgar´s demolition, the European Parliament has seen through Beijing’s intentions and told the world: Kashgar must be saved and protected! We are deeply grateful for this support which is crucial for our work and our people”.

The resolution is available here: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=MOTION&reference=P7-RC-2011-0168&language=EN

Note:

This resolution follows a conference on the City of Kashgar (http://www.unpo.org/article/12104) sponsored by Frida Brepoels MEP and convened by the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) and the Belgian Uyghur Association held on 27 January 2011 in the European Parliament in Brussels. The conference detailed the ongoing destruction of what is a unique Silk Road city by the Chinese authorities despite appeals for conservation and preservation of the city, even from within China itself. As a result of that conference, a remarkable level of cross-party support was expressed for an urgency resolution. UNPO and the WUC have since then been actively lobbying for the support of this resolution within the European Parliament.