Memet

East Turkistan / Uyghur, CAHR, Spring 2025

I am a Uyghur scholar-activist from Hotan prefecture, East Turkistan (Xinjiang, China), living in Istanbul, Turkey, since 2016. Having graduated from Erciyes and Sütçü İmam Universities in 2020, I possess a Master's degree in Political Science and International Relations. I have three published books (one academic and two translations) and many articles written in several languages.

In addition to academic works, I have been trying to expose the outside world to the oppression which my family and my people have been facing by talking to the media, making testimonial videos, organizing campaigns, giving lectures, and writing about the tragedies that befell my family and my people. I also have experience working in NGOs and educational institutes.

Background

Starting in 2017, the Chinese Regime has carried out severe oppression of my people, the Uyghurs in East Turkistan (Xinjiang). Millions of innocent Uyghurs, including my family members, were arbitrarily detained in concentration camps. At that time, I was studying for an MA in Politics and International Relations at a university in Türkiye. While the Chinese Regime denied its human rights violations in East Turkistan (Xinjiang), I realized that Uyghurs abroad like me have to speak to the world for those detained in concentration camps. And I thought it is my moral duty to fight the atrocity facing my family and my people. So, regardless of all risks, I decided to fight for the rights of my people. After a year of working behind the scenes, I began to act publicly in August 2018.

Shortly after I arrived in Türkiye, Chinese authorities forced me to return by threatening my family. After I did not heed the threats, Chinese police first took my two younger brothers to concentration camps in 2017. Then in April 2018, my mother was also arrested. And all contacts with my family have been entirely cut off. A few months after my mother was arrested, Chinese agents asked me to stop my “anti-Chinese activities”, work for them, and send information to them about Uyghurs abroad. They said they would release my mum and my brothers if I did so. But I refused these requests and continued my activities.

I started my activism with no experience. In the process of doing this, I faced many difficulties but Ilearned a lot. The biggest problem I have been facing during this period of time is how to convince some people that China is conducting a genocide or serious human rights violations against Uyghurs. Many people do not know the current situation of Uyghurs. Additionally, the rivalry between China and the United States is misleading many people around the world including a great number of Muslims on the situation in East Turkistan. Because the Chinese propaganda that claims “The Uyghur Genocide was fabricated by the West” has been able to deceive many people around the world, especially the Muslim world. This false notion has blinded many people from seeing the reality of the Uyghurs.

Achievements

My biggest achievement is that I was the first student among Uyghur students abroad to testify about their relatives detained in the concentration camps by the Chinese authorities. I am one of the few who started this campaign in 2018. As a result of this move, the Chinese government’s genocidal crimes were exposed to the world.

Now, 10 countries have recognized the persecution of the Uyghurs as genocide and/or crimes against humanity. A United Nations assessment report said it could amount to a crime against humanity. The Uyghur tribunal, a non-official people’s tribunal, held in London ruled that the human rights violations committed by China against the Uyghurs were genocide and crimes against humanity.

During the Fellowship

As for my general agenda in the UK, first of all, during my life at the Centre for Applied Human Rights, I will meet and exchange ideas with staff and students, learn new knowledge and experiences from them, share my experience and expertise with them and provide them with first-hand information on important topics such as the human rights situation in China, the Uyghur genocide and the international community's response to it. In addition, I will establish contact with human rights organizations, non-governmental organizations and journalists, and through them educate the people and government on the mass human rights violations that Uyghurs are currently facing.

Academically, during the fellowship, I plan to explore the current state of recognition and political or legal designation of the Uyghur human rights crisis. In this way, firstly, we can assess the current stage of our work and know what steps need to be taken in the future. Secondly, we can provide people with a comprehensive understanding of the Uyghur human rights crisis and inform them of developments in this field.

Future Plan

A group of Uyghur activists established an association named “Uyghur Rights and Justice Association” in Istanbul in 2023. I am one of the founding members of this association.

Under the name of this organization, we will protect the rights of Uyghurs and other people, who have been victimized by China, through legal means. Our future plans are to collect, collate, and archive victims’ information, as well as file lawsuits against Chinese officials involved in the abuse in national and international courts. Our scope of work also includes providing legal suggestions, finding lawyers for victims’ relatives, training activists and educating people on human rights.