Thousands of Muslim Uighur women in Turkey staged an International Women's Day march along the Bosphorus on Monday protesting China's Repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

The demonstrators chanted "close the camps" and "stop the genocide" as they marched within a few hundred meters of China's walled-off consulate in Istanbul.

The chairwoman of the East Turkestan Nuzugum Culture and Family Association Münevver Özuygur made a statement during the event.

In the statement, Özuygur drew attention to women's rights violations and inhumane crimes committed by Communist China in Xinjiang.

The full text of the statement is as follows:

DO YOU HEAR THE VOICES OF EAST TURKESTAN WOMEN?

Today, on the occasion of International Women's Day, women's problems are discussed all over the world.  While it has the strongest texts in international conventions and laws, unfortunately, this is also the period of perhaps the most common violations.  Women, who are victims of domestic violence in most geographies, are grappling with the terrible problems of occupation, war, conflict, and the systematic violations and immigration that come with it in geographies such as Syria, Yemen, Libya, Palestine and Egypt.

East Turkistan women are also experiencing the most terrible times of the systematic violations that come with the occupation process of China.  These violations, which the Chinese Communist Party administration previously tried to keep completely closed and concealed, have become unconcealed. The extent of Chinese persecution has been revealed to the world with evidence and reports in recent days. Violations against women alone are horrible crimes that rebel the entire human conscience. Some of these systematic violations against women in East Turkistan are as follows;

- Unfair and arbitrary keeping, imprisonment,

- Torture and gang rape in the camps,

- Mandatory abortion and sterilization practice,

- Holding and assimilation in forced camps,

- Forced marriage to the Chinese,

- Imposing a Chinese man into the house under the name of Being a Family Project,

- Forced moving to remote areas and being forced labor there,

- Family breakdown and taking children away from mothers,

- Prohibition of dress code, ethnic, cultural, and religious practices, changing names,

- Systematic fines, condemned to life-time work.

Only in the East Turkistan Hoten region, a CAMP-LIKE PRISON where 15,000 women alone are held there as well as they are beating, torturing by electricity, keeping naked, rape and being watched by relatives, assault on sexual organs with a body, solitary confinement, imprisonment in water, keeping in overcrowded places, terrible tortures such as smoking in the body, forced to be taking unknown drugs, removing organs for organ trade, sterilization, forced abortion, reciting and memorizing the anthem, all these actions were detected and reported.

These systematic violations by China against the people of East Turkistan on ethnic and religious grounds are crimes in the category of genocide and crimes against humanity according to international law.  China is a member of the United Nations Security Council and is a party to many human rights conventions within the United Nations. UN and all UN member states are responsible for stopping these crimes committed by China.

We call out to the world leaders;

 Stop this persecution of the people of East Turkistan and apply sanctions.  Because the United Nations Convention orders the imposition of sanctions on those who commit these crimes.

 We call out to the International Community;

Initiate trials for these crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity committed by China, and get the Chinese authorities and those responsible for the trial and punishment.

We call out to all the women of the world;

We invite all the women of the world, regardless of their religion, belief, or nationality, to solidarity with the women of East Turkistan.  Please be our silenced voice.

We call to the Islamic World;

Stop this horrible brutal persecution of Muslim Uighur Women, do not bear this pain and shame. Muslims do not bow to persecution. The most sacred is life and honor.  All Islamic countries should do what is necessary and also put an end to the relationship with China, which is realized by the economy produced by pressing on the bodies of women in East Turkistan. (ILKHA)