About Us
We, the Uyghur Information Center (UIC) team, are a large group of highly educated Uyghur intellectuals, scholars, and professionals living and working in the United States and many other countries around the world. We are well connected to thousands of reliable information sources related to Uyghurs. The UIC team is collectively proficient in English, Uyghur, Chinese, Dutch, German, Finnish, French, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Russian, Swedish, Turkish, and all Central Asian languages.
Brief History
East Turkistan, the Uyghur homeland, is referred to as Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region by the Chinese regime. Xinjiang means new territory and is a colonialist title that we do not use. We prefer to use the historic and geographic name. As we speak, in addition to the mounting crimes occurring there due to China’s genocidal policies and digital authoritarianism, the Chinese regime is literally exterminating the Uyghurs.
The Uyghurs are the indigenous people of East Turkestan located in the Central Asia. East Turkestan has been under occupation by the communist Chinese since 1949. It borders China and Mongolia to the east, Russia to the north, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India to the west, and Tibet to the south. The landmass of East Turkestan is bigger than the whole of Western Europe. Its colonial name is “Xinjiang”, which means “the new territory” or “the new frontier.” China officially designated the East Turkestan a Uyghur autonomous region in 1955, like the Tibet to its south, but in reality it has never become an autonomous region. On September 2, 2020, the Chinese Foreign Minister Speaksperson said the number of the Uyghur population in East Turkestan is 12.71 million, but some Uyghur sources put the real population of Uyghurs around 20 million.
If you want to learn more about Uyghurs, please click the below to visit World Uyghur Congress website.
Brief History
East Turkistan, also known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, lies in the very heart of Asia. Situated along the fabled ancient Silk Road, it has been a prominent centertur of commerce for more than 2,000 years. The land of East Turkistan gave birth to many great civilizations and at various points in history has been a cradle of scholarship, culture and power.
The current territorial size of East Turkistan is 1.82 million square kilometers. The neighboring Chinese province annexed part of the territory as a result of the Chinese communist invasion of 1949.
East Turkistan borders China and Mongolia to the east, Russia to the north, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India to the west, and Tibet to the south.
East Turkistan has a rich history and a diverse geography. It has grand deserts, magnificent mountains, and beautiful rivers, grasslands and forests.
