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Press Release: WUC Highlights the 7th Anniversary of Yarkand Massacre

Press Release: WUC Highlights the 7th Anniversary of Yarkand Massacre A Uighur man looks on as a truck carrying paramilitary policemen travel along a street during an anti-terrorism oath-taking rally in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region May 23, 2014. China launched a one-year campaign against terrorist violence in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region on Friday, after 39 people were killed and 94 injured in a terrorist attack on Thursday, Xinhua News Agency reported. The Chinese characters on the banner read, “Willingness to spill blood for the people. Countering terrorism and fighting the enemies is part of the police spirit.” Picture taken May 23, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (CHINA – Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY POLITICS) CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA

Press Release – For immediate release

28 July 2021

Contact: World Uyghur Congress www.uyghurcongress.org

0049 (0) 89 5432 1999 or [email protected]

On the seventh anniversary of the Yarkand massacre, the World Uyghur Congress remembers all those who were killed on, and in the days following, July 28, 2014. Seven years ago, Chinese security forces violently suppressed a largely peaceful protest in Yarkand, leading to the deaths of many innocent Uyghurs. Since then, we have witnessed an escalation in discriminatory state policies that have led to the estimated three million Uyghurs and other Turkic people to being arbitrarily detained in concentration camps.

In the year preceding Yarkand, Uyghurs had been killed consistently in a number of violent incidents with security forces and police. What occurred in July 2014 and in the days following, however, would mark the deadliest episode since the unrest in Urumqi in July 2009, and many details about what transpired remain murky to this day. All communication to and from the region was suspended in the months following the incident as internet and cell communication disappeared.

‘’The Yarkand Massacre was once again a reminder of the Chinese government’s brutal crackdown in East Turkistan,’’ said WUC President Dolkun Isa. ‘’The international community failed to condemn and act in the aftermath of the Urumchi Massacre, and it failed once again after the Yarkand Massacre. We must act now to restore fundamental freedoms for the Uyghur people’’. 

According to Uyghur sources, the major cause of the initial protests was the response of the Chinese government to a protest that took place in Bashkent Township that led to the extrajudicial killing of a Uyghur family of five during house searches in the area. As a result, many Uyghurs fled to nearby Elishku Township, where they took part in the protests.

According to the Chinese government, 96 civilians, including 59 Uyghurs were killed when police and security forces clashed with protesters. Chinese state media labelled the incident a “premeditated terrorist attack on a police station in Xinjiang.” Although the attack took place on Monday, July 28, state media took a full day to release any official reports about the incident.

Uyghur groups, however, reported that the incident involved residents protesting against “Chinese security forces’ heavy-handed Ramadan crackdown and extrajudicial use of lethal force in recent weeks.

The Chinese government has consistently used the spectre of ‘terrorism’ to justify harsh repressive measures against the Uyghurs. A Counter-Terror Law that was passed in 2016 and roundly criticized by rights groups for its overly broad and vague language, has provided further cover for the state to apply inappropriate labels to Uyghurs critical of state policies.

To this day, the problems that instigated the protests still persist and have deteriorated further. Religious practices have been effectively been criminalised, freedom of press and expression are nonexistent and freedom of movement is extremely limited, thus transforming the region into an Orwellian state. 

Countless questions remain unanswered about the true number of those arrested, killed and disappeared. The lack of transparency, accountability and any semblance of justice for the families of the missing and deceased has been striking.

The WUC demands that the Chinese government acts immediately and transparently to disclose the whereabouts and fate of the missing and deceased to their family members and the wider community.

We, once again reiterate the urgency of the crisis in East Turkistan and call on the wider international community, including states, NGOs and international organizations to come together to address the Uyghur genocide in a meaningful way.