Turkiye Uyghur NGO Platform Held a Memorial Meeting in Ankara for the 28th Anniversary of the Ghulja Massacre
On Wednesday, February 5th at 2:00 PM, seven Uyghur NGOs operating collaboratively in Turkiye – World Uyghur Congress Foundation, Uyghur Academy Foundation, East Turkistan Federation, Yusuf Has Hacip Foundation, Uyghur Science and Education Foundation, Ili Meshrap Uyghur Foundation, and Traditional Uyghur Medicine Research Foundation – held consultations regarding future cooperation mechanisms, hosted by the East Turkistan Research Foundation in Ankara’s Kızılay district.
As a result of the consultations, the Turkiye Uyghur NGO Platform was established with the aims of transforming the East Turkistan national struggle into one of Turkiye’s national issues, ensuring Turkiye’s recognition of the Uyghur genocide, strengthening cooperation among Uyghur NGOs, effectively maintaining Turkish NGOs’ role in the East Turkistan issue, and finding solutions to some unresolved important problems of Uyghurs in Turkiye.
The platform includes the Uyghur Academy Foundation, East Turkistan Federation, Yusuf Has Hacip Foundation, Uyghur Science and Education Foundation, Ili Meshrap Uyghur Foundation, and Traditional Uyghur Medicine Research Foundation as members. The World Uyghur Congress Foundation joined as an observer and collaborative member with external supervisory status.
The newly established Turkiye Uyghur NGO Platform organized a memorial meeting for the 28th anniversary of the Ghulja Massacre at 6:00 PM on February 5th at the Grand Dora Hotel in Ankara, with the participation of three members of the Turkish Parliament, political party representatives, journalists, Turkish NGOs such as Turkish Hearths, Azafli Azerbaijani Culture and Solidarity Association, and New World Foundation, along with member Uyghur NGO officials.
The meeting began with Mahmut Emin Damolla reciting the Quran for the souls of all our brothers who were martyred for their homeland in the February 5th Ghulja Massacre, in East Turkistan, the Turkic world, and Turkiye. After the national anthems of Turkiye and East Turkistan were sung, Turkish parliamentarians, NGO officials, and researchers took turns speaking.
The meeting was attended by IYI Party MPs Ms. Ayyüce Türkeş and Mr. Sutuk Buğra Kavuncu, IYI Party Ankara Provincial Chairman Dr. Yener Yılmaz and his deputies, Saadet Party Vice President for Foreign Relations Mustafa Kaya, Great Unity Party (BBP) Vice President for Foreign Relations Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emin Serin, BBP Vice President for Political Affairs Türker Yürükçüoğlu, New World Foundation President Uğur Özcan, Azafli Azerbaijani Culture and Solidarity Association President Lawyer Arzuman Azaflı, Isa Yusuf Alptekin Foundation President Cahit Dak and board member Prof. Dr. Ömer Kul, along with many Turkish intellectuals.
Osman Mesten, MP from the AK Party, and Doğan Bekin, Istanbul MP from the New Welfare Party (YRP), could not attend due to memorial events for the earthquake that struck 10 provinces in eastern Turkiye on February 6, 2023, but sent telegrams expressing their continued support for the rightful struggle of their Uyghur brothers.
Almost all Turkish MPs, NGO executives, and researchers who attended the meeting emphasized that to make the East Turkistan national struggle Turkiye’s national issue, it would be necessary to effectively communicate the East Turkistan issue and current situation of Uyghurs to Turkish government institutions, political parties, NGOs, media organizations, universities, and research centers, highlight the Chinese threat in Turkiye, and influence the Turkish government through the Grand National Assembly of Turkiye after gaining the Turkish nation’s support. They stated that Turks will always support their Uyghur brothers’ rightful national independence struggle.
At the end of the meeting, participants brainstormed about activities that could be undertaken to ensure Turkye’s recognition of the Uyghur Genocide in the Grand National Assembly and to make the East Turkistan national struggle one of Turkiye’s national issues.
