• Anna Mikulska

03-02-2022 10:53

My broker managed to get in touch with two guards of the Chinese Uighur "re-education" camp. He asked them what the camp looks like from the inside. One replied, "Imagine hell on earth. It's a thousand times worse over there," says Dr. Erkin Sidick about the situation in his native Xinjiang.

 

Dr Erkin Sidick - b. 1958 in Aksu, Xinjiang Province, China - doctor of science, NASA optical engineer, academic lecturer, human rights activist. He studied in Xinjiang, Japan and the United States, awarded as a student for excellence in science and an award winner as a lecturer. Author of several dozen scientific publications. The founder of the <non-profit> organization Uyghur Projects Foundation, promoter of knowledge about the situation of the Uyghur minority in China, actively fights to preserve the Uyghur culture and language. 

For years, international human rights organizations have been alarming about the situation of the Uighurs - a Muslim minority in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region that was conquered by China in the 18th century.

In response to the growing independence tendencies - demonstrations and riots that have occurred several times in recent years, as well as attacks by Uyghur separatists - China unleashed a ruthless fight against terrorism, they say. In fact, the persecution of the Uyghur minority has intensified, falling victim to all-powerful state control and exploitation.

Several hundred closely guarded so-called re-education camps, where Uighurs can end up for such minor offenses as crossing the threshold of a mosque or contact with a family member in exile. According to the reports of those who survived them, torture and rape are to take place in the camps.

Media investigations also found that the Uyghurs are used for forced labor in industry, agriculture and other areas in the Xinjiang region. Reports from 2020 show that tens of thousands of Uighurs have been transferred to factories in other regions of China where they are working under duress. These factories -  according to a report by the Australian ASPI institute - are located in the supply chain of global companies such as Nike, Adidas, Volkswagen, Amazon and Apple.

Almost 13 million Uighurs live in Xinjiang. Uighur organizations estimate the number of prisoners in the camps at up to 3 million . China has consistently denied all accusations.

Anna Mikulska: Would you like to return to your country?

Dr. Erkin Sidick: It's impossible today. In the 90s I was blacklisted for 15 years. But if we ever get <independence>, I will want to go back there and work as a teacher.

I grew up, like all subsequent generations, with a feeling of constant discrimination. Example? In my day, there were two types of schools - the Uyghur language and the other Chinese. Uyghur schools were in the suburbs, Chinese in city centers, so the students were close to home for lessons. Moreover, Chinese schools had much better libraries, classrooms, chairs, desks… and they got coal to heat their classrooms in winter. Much more and of better quality, while Uyghur students always struggled to get enough coal.

Have you been blacklisted? What does it mean?

For 15 years I have not been able to come to my own country. The last time I was in Xinjiang was in 2009, right before the Urumqi and Kashgar massacres.

These were Uighur demonstrations against marginalization by the Han Chinese. Almost 200 people died as a result of riots and clashes with the police.

Six years later, I was invited to Beijing to attend an international conference on space technologies to give <invited speech>. I agreed because I was hoping it would give me a visa and finally be able to travel to Xinjiang to meet my family. But I didn't get it.

Why?

Because I am Uighur - it cannot be explained otherwise. In <East Turkistan>, I still have three siblings and I have not been able to see them for years. Moreover, I can't even contact them. The Chinese government has declared me a terrorist, so any attempt to contact me is a crime. I can safely talk only to my sister who also managed to emigrate to the States. 

What have you done to make the Chinese government label you a terrorist?

I am quite famous in the Uyghur community of Xinjiang for my scientific achievements: I have already published in college, I was a scholarship holder in Japan. I also dealt with consultancy - I helped students prepare for trips to study abroad.

I work on a hot topic in the world of science - observing and detecting exoplanets. I was invited by universities from all over the world, and in China I was not allowed to <give presentations> at universities. So I used to meet students on campuses informally. And all the students I know about are missing.

"WE MUST SPEAK OUT Loud"

Despite the great risks, people keep in touch with you. You are the president of the Uyghur Projects Foundation, actively working for the Uyghur community and informing the world about <Uyghurs'> situation in China.

We must speak out about the humiliation and violence we are experiencing from China. Uygurs who live in China risk their health and life by contacting us in exile.

I know about two young people in their twenties who went to the so-called re-education camp, which is de facto a concentration camp just because we talked on the Internet.

I told them: don't contact me, it's dangerous - but they wouldn't listen. One of them wrote: "I'll be in touch in a few months". The other said he didn't know how long he would live anyway. They both disappeared without a trace.

How long does such brutal persecution last?

The first camps were <built> in 2014, and mass arrests began two years later. There is a whole list of reasons for getting arrested, often as trivial as wearing a beard, going to mosques, or interacting with people overseas.

 

You called them "concentration camps." This is a very strong comparison. Do you have information about what is going on in them?

We know as much about this as the witnesses themselves, i.e. former prisoners, dared to tell - about the terrible conditions, about the crush of a few people in tiny rooms, about diseases and the lack of hygiene. I was able to reach, through an intermediary, two high-ranking police officers in Xinjiang. What does the camp look like? One of them said, "Imagine hell on earth. It's a <hundred> times worse over there." Both spoke about the millions of Uighurs locked up in camps and factories, about transfers to other provinces in China, about taking them straight from the camps to prisons.

Do we know the scale of the phenomenon? How many people have been locked up in the camps, and how many camps are there?

The official data is top secret, but we know that there are hundreds of camps and that new ones are constantly being created. This is evidenced by, inter alia, reports by specialists such as Adrian Zenz - a German anthropologist who deals with, inter alia, it was research on internment camps in China. He came into possession of over 25,000 files from various government departments in Xinjiang, which showed, inter alia, that there were 1.5 million people in the camps (2019 data - editorial note).

 I hear about experiments on prisoners, selling organs abroad, rapes, and executions. I was the first whistleblower to report that more than a million Uighurs had been locked up in the Xinjiang concentration camps. In December 2017, I met a friend of mine - a Han Chinese - from <a university in> Urumqi. He then told me that a Xinjiang government official at a university meeting - for Han employees only - informed them that more than 800,000 Uighurs were arrested in 2017 alone. A friend also told me that the actual number of detainees could easily exceed a million. I relayed this information to Maya Wang of Human Rights Watch, who published it in January 2018 for most governments,

But China is excellent at covering up inconvenient facts. Finding evidence or the bodies of the victims is practically impossible.

What can Western countries, the European Union or the US, do about these actions by China?

The question is if they want to. After all, China is an economic power, and the West does business with them. Global companies profit from forced labor by imprisoned Uighurs, for example in the textile and high-tech industries. So fighting for the rights of the Uighurs may simply not pay off. 

China wants to dominate the world economically first and then rule the world according to the principle and order of the ancient Han Chinese rulers, with only one supreme Han ruler at the top of the world pyramidal hierarchy. In 2014, the CCP rulers decided to eliminate the Uighurs because they had become an obstacle or inconvenience to this plan. The fate of the Uighurs today may become the fate of other people in the world tomorrow. There is already a lot of evidence for this: Just look at what happened to the people of Hong Kong, what is happening to Taiwan, and what is happening to people in Africa where Chinese companies are now doing business. The world should abandon its greed and face the challenge of China.

What is everyday life like in Xinjiang?

The authorities collect all, even the smallest, information about the residents - when you leave the apartment you have to scan the QR code at the door, leaving the house back is already suspicious. There are cameras at every step. You've probably heard about the IJOP app?

Yes, as a result of an investigation by Human Rights Watch, this application was successfully installed on Uyghur smartphones. It turned out that it collects all kinds of data, from the color of the car to the blood type. With this app, authorities can also judge who is <suspicious>, who is potentially dangerous, and who needs arrest.

Because what they want is not to collect all this information, but to create an atmosphere of fear. To have us under constant supervision and control. 

"IT BEGAN WITH THE RADIO"

You came from China to the USA in the 1990s as a PhD student. Was it so difficult for the Uighurs to leave then as it is today?

Even then, getting a passport was almost impossible for us. For example: in the 90s,  <in the USA green cards were>  given to 60,000. students from China, including only <about> 10 Uighurs, I was one of them. And it was extremely difficult.

Today, there are around 5 million Chinese emigrants in the US, and the Uighurs - only 3-5,000. This shows how difficult it is for us to leave.

Let's talk about your job at NASA. How did it all start? As a child, did you dream of space travel and building your own rocket?

It started with radio, which was a luxury item in the years of my youth. Whoever had them was considered a wealthy person. I came from a poor family, so my brother and I decided to build the radio ourselves.

We spent all the money we saved on parts, sometimes we also looked for <items in garbage like> cans and after a year we managed to build our own radio. Then I realized the power of science, but I never dreamed that I would be where I am now.

It was a long way. After graduating from high school, I found myself on a mandatory one-and-a-half-year <re-education period>, <during which I worked> in a farm. I was practically cut off from the world, but at the same time I was preparing for my university exam.

Was it successful the first time?

I received the second highest scores in the whole Xinjiang. In college, I felt respected, but as soon as I stepped outside the walls of the university, I was an Uighur, that is, a second-class citizen.

Later success in science did not change that?

Immediately after receiving my diploma, the Chinese authorities tried to recruit me by offering me a position <as a high-level university official>. I heard that I would earn a lot of money, that I would have my own chauffeur, cook ...

For a day or two, I even thought about this offer, but I knew that working for the government I would have to lie. So I told my wife: if I accept this offer, I will not live more than six months, because I will not be able to keep quiet. Ultimately, I decided to stick to my plans, that is, work at the university <as a teacher>. 

And then you decided to go to Japan for doctoral studies.

In 1985, the Xinjiang government selected 17 young Uighur and Kazakh teachers from various universities in the region after passing exams in 3 subjects. I got the highest score and went to Japan with the others as a visiting <scholar>. When we were finishing our stay, the Physics Department of Xinjiang University, where I was teaching, received a Uyghur Physics Teacher Scholarship to study at California State University, Northridge. Since there was no <another Uyghur> to qualify for this opportunity, our department gave me this opportunity and I came to the US in the fall of 1988.

I first obtained my master's degree from this university and then started my PhD studies at the University of California, Davis. It was at this time that I and several other Uyghur students were given the opportunity to receive green cards under President George Bush's <executive order>. This ordinance was a response to what the Chinese government did to students in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.

I worked at night after lectures to support myself and my wife. It wasn't easy. 

But it paid off. Today you are an optical engineer working for NASA. 

I asked my professors to give me the opportunity to teach at the university. I got a quarter of a job. Not enough to support myself, but my wife helped by working as a kitchen assistant in the college cafeteria. Thanks to her support, I was able to continue my education.

My doctoral thesis was rated the highest of all <in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science>. After graduation, I worked in various companies in the Silicon Valley. From there, I finally ended up at NASA.

Have you met with attempts to intercept NASA data by China?

Different things take place - about 10 years ago, Chinese agencies from three different places in China tried to access data on my JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory - one of NASA's research centers, ed.)  laptop. When the computer started acting weird I called JPL security and they sent an FBI agent to my office. Two of us watched the situation for some time and noticed that when we pressed any key, the computer created a text file and  recorded  <key stroke information> on that file. We deleted the file several times but the computer was still creating a new one. An FBI agent told me the attacks came from China. Eventually he took my laptop and formatted the drive.

In my experience - when I visited Xinjiang in 2006, the police made me an offer of "cooperation". I told them that what they were trying to do was illegal. I am not allowed to have any relationship with a foreign government without first obtaining written permission from NASA; I must call the US Embassy in Beijing and consult them before continuing this conversation. After that, they didn't bother me anymore.

More than once I heard about threats: if you keep going, your family will go to prison. Even so, people fight for our rights, even as the consequences affect their loved ones in China.

What China is doing today is worse than genocide. Their goal is not only to destroy Uyghur culture, but to deny that we ever existed. 

Do you think they can do it?

Let me put it this way: today only my grandchildren sometimes make me smile. I am <still very> active in the fight for our rights. But I can't <smile> anymore, my <mental> health has deteriorated significantly. 

I used to love to play a traditional Uyghur instrument, it's called the dutar , and today I can't. That ghost, that something ... That something died in me.

Hardly any race or ethnic group in the world likes to be ruled by another race when it is fully capable of managing its own affairs. Wealth or material possessions cannot always make people happy. Most of the time, it's the things people love the most that make them happy. I love everything <about the> Uighurs: culture, customs, language, tradition, decency, honesty, faith in God.

In addition, East Turkestan, also known as China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, lies at the heart of Asia. Located along the famous ancient Silk Road, it has been an important trading center for over 2,000 years. The land of East Turkistan has given rise to many great civilizations and has been the cradle of science, culture and power at various times in history. The present territorial size of East Turkestan is 1.82 million square kilometers. My country has a rich history and a diverse geography. It has great deserts, great mountains, beautiful rivers, meadows and forests.

I do not mind the Uyghur people having to live without cars, trains and planes, but I am against the current situation in which the Uyghur people are oppressed in all possible inhuman ways. I want my people to be able to live with dignity, decency, respect for fundamental human rights and freedom, in justice and equality.

© Copyright 2014 Uyghur Meripet  Torbéti