Hundreds of protesters gathered together in Istanbul in solidarity with Uyghurs, condemning the repression in East Turkestan.

Many NGOs working for the independence of East Turkestan participated the demonstration, which was organized in Beyazit Square.

Head of the International Association of East Turkestan Organizations, Hidayet Oguzhan, read out a press release.

Oguzhan call on Islamic world, especially Turkey, to oppose China’s persecution in East Turkestan and to stand in solidarity with the Uyghur people's struggle for freedom.

Chinese Communist Party came to power in China o on Oct. 1, 1949. Twelve days later on Oct. 13, 1949, the People's Liberation Army invaded East Turkistan and overthrew the independent East Turkistan Republic on Dec. 22, 1949 resulting in colonization, genocide and occupation which continues to this day.

In recent years, there have been many reports about mass surveillance and the incarceration without trial of over one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minority ethnic groups in “re-education camps”. Numerous reports have stated that many of these minorities have been used in prison labor in a seeming return to the “re-education through labor” program, supposedly abolished in 2013.

International observers have labelled the Sinicization campaign an instance of cultural genocide.

Since 2017, numerous reports have emerged of people being detained in extrajudicial “re-education camps”, subject to political indoctrination and sometimes alleged instances of torture.

This has led to criticism by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination the United States and 22 other countries, and human rights groups.

In July 2019, 22 countries issued a joint letter to the 41st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), condemning China's mass detention of Uyghurs and other minorities, calling upon China to “refrain from the arbitrary detention and restrictions on freedom of movement of Uyghurs, and other Muslim and minority communities in Xinjiang”.

In the same UNHRC session, 50 countries issued a joint letter supporting China's Xinjiang policies, criticizing the practice of “politicizing human rights issues”.

The letter stated, “China has invited a number of diplomats, international organizations officials and journalist to Xinjiang” and that “what they saw and heard in Xinjiang completely contradicted what was reported in the media.” (ILKHA)