{"id":799,"date":"2020-08-15T10:30:27","date_gmt":"2020-08-15T10:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ilhamtohtiinstitute.org\/?p=799"},"modified":"2020-08-15T10:50:07","modified_gmt":"2020-08-15T10:50:07","slug":"uyghur-web-site-shut-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ilhamtohtiinstitute.org\/?p=799","title":{"rendered":"Uyghur Web Site Shut Down [Archive]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

RFA Uyghur<\/a> 2008-06-12<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy main agenda is to promote understanding between Uyghurs and Han Chinese,\u201d an Uyghur professor says after authorities shut down his Web site.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

HONG KONG\u2014Chinese authorities have closed a Web site aimed at promoting understanding between Han Chinese and ethnic Uyghurs following allegations that the site was linked to foreign \u201cextremists,\u201d the site\u2019s owner said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in a surprising twist, Ilham Tohti, a Uyghur economics professor at the Central Nationalities University in Beijing, said it was fellow Uyghurs who told authorities his two-year-old Chinese-language Web site, Uyghur Online, had links to Uyghur \u201cextremists\u201d abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Public Security Bureau (PSB) shut us down and investigated. They cleared us, but they didn\u2019t say anything about reopening the site,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey told us, \u2018Don\u2019t worry. Don\u2019t be concerned. Under current laws and conditions we can\u2019t accept some discussion topics\u2014these are sensitive but not illegal.\u2019 But they didn\u2019t say when the site could reopen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No comment was available from the Beijing PSB, and why ethnic Uyghurs would complain about the Uyghur Online Web site was unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Many of our readers, viewers, are Han Chinese intellectuals. They want to understand other nationalities\u2014they are trying.”
Ilham Tohti<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Tohti said his site\u2014which employs 67 people of 12 nationalities, although they are not paid\u2014sometimes scores 1 million page views daily. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Content is published in Chinese and written by Uyghur, Han, Korean, Tibetan, and other contributors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Promote understanding
<\/strong>
\u201cMy main agenda is to promote understanding between Uyghurs and Han Chinese,\u201d he said, adding that he believed it has been somewhat successful. \u201cUyghurs are a peaceful people, and we have to tell this to the Han Chinese because they don\u2019t understand Uyghurs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany of our readers, viewers, are Han Chinese intellectuals. They want to understand other nationalities\u2014they are trying. They aren\u2019t a large number but they are increasing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHan Chinese make up more than 90 percent of the population, so it is important that they understand Uyghurs. I don\u2019t have any political agenda,\u201d Tohti said, adding that his site was shut down briefly in 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The site \u201chas been very helpful…many things have helped people to understand each other but not all people support my Web site. Some people accuse me of lying, of spreading lies…Some people even say, if you were in Xinjiang you would be hanged many times. Some even wrote a letter to my university telling them to fire me. Some Han Chinese also have attacked me and called me a \u2018splittist.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSplittist\u201d is the term Chinese authorities use to denote those allegedly aiming for independence from Beijing\u2019s rule, and it is often applied to Tibetans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOther people support my agenda and write very good things. Intellectuals, government employees, they wrote good things. The intellectual level of my viewers is rising,\u201d Tohti said. \u201cUyghurs cannot solve their problems through terrorism, or through slogans. They have to know how to defend their interests legally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Misleading statements?
<\/strong>
Some exiled Uyghurs have misled people, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur Uyghur intellectuals are not leading people toward a correct path. Some of them said  that Chinese laws are not for Uyghurs, but it\u2019s not correct. Under Chinese law, ethnicity doesn\u2019t matter\u2014all people are treated equally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut various social problems are a different issue. Some social problems cannot be solved through the law. Uyghur people need to learn the law, live by the law, and find legal tools to defend their interests,\u201d he said.

Multilingual professor<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to his official biography, Tohti was born in Atush, Xinjiang, on Oct. 25, 1969. He graduated from the Northeast Normal University and the Economics School at the Central Nationalities University in Beijing. He has studied in Korea, Japan,  and Pakistan, and visited many other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proficient in English, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Urdu, he is currently associate professor of the Economics School at the Central Nationalities University. He is also chairman and general manager of Uyghur Online Web Technology Development Co. Ltd., and a guest professor at the University of Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Restive minorities
<\/strong>
Both Tibetans and Uyghurs\u2014two of China\u2019s major religious and ethnic minorities\u2014have chafed under Beijing\u2019s heavy-handed rule for the last six decades, and Chinese authorities have faced persistent accusations of repression and abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China has waged a campaign over the last decade against what it says are violent separatists and Islamic extremists who aim to establish an independent state in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, which shares a border with Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Mongolia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Beijing took the position that Uyghur groups were connected with al-Qaeda and that one group, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), was a \u201cmajor component of the terrorist network headed by Osama bin Laden.\u201d The ETIM has denied that charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reported and translated by Jelil Musa for RFA\u2019s Uyghur service. Service director: Dolkun Kamberi. Written and produced in English by Sarah Jackson-Han.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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