Kitaplar / كىتاب / Books
East Turkistan’s Right to Sovereignty: Decolonization and Beyond
By Rukiye Turdush
Reviewed by Dr. Charles Burton
This is an erudite and compelling read. It is very well written. I judge it will be very well received by a broad audience of readers. It is a highly credible account by an author who is able to bring together materials in Chinese, Uyghur language, and English. The material is very well presented. The facts of the history and contemporary reality of the Uyghurs are highly charged emotionally, touching on multiple forms of human injustice including genocide.
Nevertheless, the author maintains a prudent and rational tone based in an encyclopedic knowledge of the relevant body of international law and of interpretive perspectives of scholars and practitioners. This book makes a very significant contribution to the literature on the Uyghur crisis.
The scholarship appears to be very sound. The sources used are from authoritative sources. The author takes care to distinguish facts from circumstantial evidence. The tone and presentation is very fair, reasonable and balanced. The summaries at the end of each chapter are very well done and help frame the complex material preparing the reader for the next chapter.
The structure of the book has a logical flow that makes sense and is readily followed by the reader. It first presents a clear analysis of the dynamic of the principle of self-determination of peoples against UN provisions for state sovereignty and territorial integrity. This is followed by a detailed account of the history of the Uyghur lands now deemed the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of the People’s Republic of China. The author then makes a sophisticated argument that Xinjiang is in fact a Chinese colony because of historical and legal precedents that the Chinese regime seeks to suppress.
In the second part of the book, there is a well researched and well argued explanation that refutes the Chinese Communist Party’s contention that Uyghurs are but one of the 56 national minorities of China. The author shows that the rights of Chinese citizenship are denied Uyghurs by explicit policies of China’s regime to deny Uyghur culture and civilization and reduce Uyghurs to a folkloric status, assimilating young Uyghurs into the Han mainstream and making them ashamed of their Uyghur roots. China has thereby abrogated its claim of sovereignty over the Uyghur people. China’s suppression of Uyghur national identity and sophisticated genocidal state policies are given a thorough explication. This includes the author’s own extensive interviews and survey data in addition to analysis of statements by the Communist Party leadership since 1949. This material is very powerful and adds considerable authority to the book as a whole. Cogent reference is made to the writings of Uyghur intellectuals who have sought to reconcile the rights of Uyghurs living in the XUAR with the sovereignty claims of the PRC authorities over this territory. It is also addresses the significance of the Uyghur lands to Xi Jinping’s overall program of the “community of the common destiny of mankind” and the Belt and Road Initiative to achieve Chinese Communist global political and economic hegemony by 2050. Xinjiang is the gateway to China’s expansion over land to Eurasia deemed “the new silk road.” So China demands control over this territory and its natural resources to serve the Han Chinese rise to power. The author details the history of resistance movements against Chinese Communist colonialism of the Uyghur territory and China’s failure to fulfil its promise of internal self-determination. The books makes a strong case that there is today no possibility to revert to past promises of political autonomy and the preservation of Uyghur religious and cultural rights. This all leads up to the conclusion of the book that the sole resolution of Chinese Communist regimes gross violations of international law in its claims that Xinjiang is a legitimate region of the PRC and the gross violations of international law in the Chinese Communist Party’s horrific violations of the human rights of the Uyghurs under occupation by a foreign power, is the establishment of a democratic Republic of East Turkistan recognized by the United Nations as an independent sovereign nation. The author presents the political programs of Uyghur diaspora organizations to show that Uyghurs have to the capacity to be “masters in their own house” and to implement governance consistent with UN norms including the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and all the associated covenants including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights. The author effectively refutes the PRC’s assertions that its policy measures to suppress Uyghurs are a necessary response to a universal Uyghur terrorist threat.
The book reads very well. It is well suited to a target audience of scholars and academic libraries. It would fit into university course curricula at the senior undergraduate or grad levels in political science on nationalism, human rights or China’s domestic and international politics.
The Uyghur issue is of enormous interests to scholars and general readers concerned about human rights and China’s role in international affairs.
There are books and monographs related to this subject area by Zenz, Turkel, Roberts and others. What makes this study stand out is its dispassionate analysis of the Uyghur national quandary in terms of international law and legal precedent and the prudence with which it distinguishes solid evidence from claims of PRC crimes against humanity in the Uyghur regions that have not been fully verified (yet).
Without question there is a strong claim to natural justice that the Uyghurs’ claim to legitimate statehood has been denied. There is a growing body of evidence that makes the assertions of Chinese Communist genocide against the Uyghurs and policies that comprise crimes against humanity inflicted on the Uyghur people undeniable, even though the PRC fully denies them.
But this book makes a highly significant contribution furthering the pre-existing discourse of the body of literature on Uyghur issues through its rational conclusion, which makes a legal case based on precedents of Nazi Germany, Kosovo, and Quebec, that the independence of East Turkistan is the sole answer to all that has gone before in Xinjiang and which is gravely worsening today.
I do not see any need for revisions to strengthen the arguments. The ideas are given a comprehensive addressing. The length of the text is not too long or too compressed. It is a very well organized manuscript which presents a compelling flow of argument. I found it something of a page turner that can be read in a single evening.
By Rukiye Turdush
Reviewed by Dr. Charles Burton
This is an erudite and compelling read. It is very well written. I judge it will be very well received by a broad audience of readers. It is a highly credible account by an author who is able to bring together materials in Chinese, Uyghur language, and English. The material is very well presented. The facts of the history and contemporary reality of the Uyghurs are highly charged emotionally, touching on multiple forms of human injustice including genocide.
Nevertheless, the author maintains a prudent and rational tone based in an encyclopedic knowledge of the relevant body of international law and of interpretive perspectives of scholars and practitioners. This book makes a very significant contribution to the literature on the Uyghur crisis.
The scholarship appears to be very sound. The sources used are from authoritative sources. The author takes care to distinguish facts from circumstantial evidence. The tone and presentation is very fair, reasonable and balanced. The summaries at the end of each chapter are very well done and help frame the complex material preparing the reader for the next chapter.
The structure of the book has a logical flow that makes sense and is readily followed by the reader. It first presents a clear analysis of the dynamic of the principle of self-determination of peoples against UN provisions for state sovereignty and territorial integrity. This is followed by a detailed account of the history of the Uyghur lands now deemed the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of the People’s Republic of China. The author then makes a sophisticated argument that Xinjiang is in fact a Chinese colony because of historical and legal precedents that the Chinese regime seeks to suppress.
In the second part of the book, there is a well researched and well argued explanation that refutes the Chinese Communist Party’s contention that Uyghurs are but one of the 56 national minorities of China. The author shows that the rights of Chinese citizenship are denied Uyghurs by explicit policies of China’s regime to deny Uyghur culture and civilization and reduce Uyghurs to a folkloric status, assimilating young Uyghurs into the Han mainstream and making them ashamed of their Uyghur roots. China has thereby abrogated its claim of sovereignty over the Uyghur people. China’s suppression of Uyghur national identity and sophisticated genocidal state policies are given a thorough explication. This includes the author’s own extensive interviews and survey data in addition to analysis of statements by the Communist Party leadership since 1949. This material is very powerful and adds considerable authority to the book as a whole. Cogent reference is made to the writings of Uyghur intellectuals who have sought to reconcile the rights of Uyghurs living in the XUAR with the sovereignty claims of the PRC authorities over this territory. It is also addresses the significance of the Uyghur lands to Xi Jinping’s overall program of the “community of the common destiny of mankind” and the Belt and Road Initiative to achieve Chinese Communist global political and economic hegemony by 2050. Xinjiang is the gateway to China’s expansion over land to Eurasia deemed “the new silk road.” So China demands control over this territory and its natural resources to serve the Han Chinese rise to power. The author details the history of resistance movements against Chinese Communist colonialism of the Uyghur territory and China’s failure to fulfil its promise of internal self-determination. The books makes a strong case that there is today no possibility to revert to past promises of political autonomy and the preservation of Uyghur religious and cultural rights. This all leads up to the conclusion of the book that the sole resolution of Chinese Communist regimes gross violations of international law in its claims that Xinjiang is a legitimate region of the PRC and the gross violations of international law in the Chinese Communist Party’s horrific violations of the human rights of the Uyghurs under occupation by a foreign power, is the establishment of a democratic Republic of East Turkistan recognized by the United Nations as an independent sovereign nation. The author presents the political programs of Uyghur diaspora organizations to show that Uyghurs have to the capacity to be “masters in their own house” and to implement governance consistent with UN norms including the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and all the associated covenants including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights. The author effectively refutes the PRC’s assertions that its policy measures to suppress Uyghurs are a necessary response to a universal Uyghur terrorist threat.
The book reads very well. It is well suited to a target audience of scholars and academic libraries. It would fit into university course curricula at the senior undergraduate or grad levels in political science on nationalism, human rights or China’s domestic and international politics.
The Uyghur issue is of enormous interests to scholars and general readers concerned about human rights and China’s role in international affairs.
There are books and monographs related to this subject area by Zenz, Turkel, Roberts and others. What makes this study stand out is its dispassionate analysis of the Uyghur national quandary in terms of international law and legal precedent and the prudence with which it distinguishes solid evidence from claims of PRC crimes against humanity in the Uyghur regions that have not been fully verified (yet).
Without question there is a strong claim to natural justice that the Uyghurs’ claim to legitimate statehood has been denied. There is a growing body of evidence that makes the assertions of Chinese Communist genocide against the Uyghurs and policies that comprise crimes against humanity inflicted on the Uyghur people undeniable, even though the PRC fully denies them.
But this book makes a highly significant contribution furthering the pre-existing discourse of the body of literature on Uyghur issues through its rational conclusion, which makes a legal case based on precedents of Nazi Germany, Kosovo, and Quebec, that the independence of East Turkistan is the sole answer to all that has gone before in Xinjiang and which is gravely worsening today.
I do not see any need for revisions to strengthen the arguments. The ideas are given a comprehensive addressing. The length of the text is not too long or too compressed. It is a very well organized manuscript which presents a compelling flow of argument. I found it something of a page turner that can be read in a single evening.
East Turkistan’s Right to Sovereignty: Decolonization and Beyond
Rukiye TURDUSH
This study examines the relationship between the People’s Republic of China and the people of East Turkistan; specifically, between China’s settler colonialism and East Turkistan’s independence movement. What distinguishes this study is its dispassionate analysis of the East Turkistan’s national dilemma in terms of international law and legal precedent as well as the prudence with which it distinguishes substantial evidence from claims of China’s crimes against humanity and genocide in East Turkistan that have not been fully verified yet. The author demonstrates how other states have ignored the nature of that relationship and so avoided asking key questions about East Turkistan that have been asked and answered about other occupied and colonized states. The book analyzes this situation and provides the tools and the argument to understand East Turkistan’s actual status in the international community.
ETHNICITY, NATION, LIBERAL NATIONALISM AND IDENTITY
YEARNING FOR BLUE PASSPORT
Right to Self Determination of East Turkistan
Rukiye TURDUSH
This paper assesses the historical and current political trends of East Turkistan, China’s colonized region, the beyond natural and logical boundary of its “Greet wall,” with examples of international self- determination law and Chinese regional autonomy law to evaluate its justification for self- determination claim. Finally, the paper examines the importance of East Turkistan’s independence to prevent China’s total extermination of more than 11 million Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims and the importance of protecting international law principles.
