East Turkistan Australian Association

QR-6, 9 February 2019, Statement of the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Hami Aksoy, in response to a question regarding serious human rights violations perpetrated against Uighur Turks and the passing away of folk poet Abdurehim Heyit

Central Asia NewsBy Republic of Turkey February 9, 2019

Practices violating the fundamental human rights of Uighur Turks and other Muslim communities in the Xinjiang (East Turkistan) Uighur Autonomous Region have worsened, especially during the last two years, and have been brought to the agenda of the international community. In particular, the official declaration of the “Sinification of All Religions and Beliefs” policy in…

This was not the China I had envisioned – Hitchhiking around the world

Central Asia NewsBy Tom July 1, 2018

Had I missed a big piece of news? Riot police with machine guns, shields, steel baseball bats loomed in every direction. And the electric body scanners and bag searches on every street corner (literally) made me wonder if I should get the hell out when I reached Kashgar, my first stop in China. And every…

Notes from Xinjiang

Central Asia NewsBy Suhasini Haidar June 16, 2018

Xinjiang is called the “core zone” of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), but given how long it takes to get there from India, core connectivity is definitely not a thing yet. From Delhi, one flies six hours east to Shanghai, transits to an airport an hour away, and then flies six hours back west…

Carefully, Kazakhstan Confronts China About Kazakhs in Xinjiang Re-Education Camps

Central Asia NewsBy Catherine Putz June 14, 2018

Astana can’t afford to push Beijing too hard, even on behalf of its own citizens detained in Xinjiang re-education camps. In early 2017, reports began to emerge that Chinese authorities in Xinjiang were ratcheting up security, flying in troops, and parading police convoys through the region’s cities. Chen Quanguo, appointed Communist Party secretary of Xinjiang the previous…

Kazakhstan’s returnees frustrated by cold shoulders

Central Asia NewsBy Almaz Kumenov June 1, 2018

More than 1 million Oralmans, mainly from China and Uzbekistan, have seized the opportunity to resettle in Kazakhstan. The joy that Tursynzhan Yesenalyuly felt in moving to his ethnic homeland of Kazakhstan from China four years ago wore off pretty quickly. Yesenalyuly, 44, lives with his three-year-old daughter in a cramped rented house in the…

Kazakhstan Confronts China Over Disappearances

Central Asia NewsBy Bruce Pannier June 1, 2018

Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry has finally raised the issue of its missing new citizens with Chinese authorities. For many months, some ethnic Kazakhs who took advantage of offers of “repatriation” from Kazakhstan’s government and are now Kazakh citizens have crossed back into China, usually to the neighboring Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, as part of their business,…

At Beijing security fair, an arms race for surveillance tech

Central Asia NewsBy Pei Li and Cate Cadel May 30, 2018

BEIJING (Reuters) – It can crack your smartphone password in seconds, rip personal data from call and messaging apps, and peruse your contact book. The Chinese-made XDH-CF-5600 scanner – or “mobile phone sleuth”, as sales staff described it when touting its claimed features – was one of hundreds of surveillance gadgets on display at a…

How China is trying to impose Islam with Chinese characteristics in the Hui Muslim heartland

Central Asia NewsBy Nectar Gan May 14, 2018

Islamic domes and signs in Arabic are being pulled down and no new ‘Arab style’ mosques can be built under campaign that has Hui communities worried Every Friday, the Nanguan Grand Mosque springs to life as local Hui Muslims from Yinchuan, capital of their official heartland, gather for the most important prayer of the week.…

Category Archives: Central Asia News