East Turkistan Government-in-Exile

Opening of the ETGE's 8th General Assembly in Washington, DC on November 10, 2019

As the Government in Exile is made up of a number of East Turkistan and Uyghur groups internationally, its leaders are based in a number of countries. The present leadership was announced on November 11, 2019 following elections at the ETGE's 8th General Assembly in Washington, DC.[9]

The Parliament is the legislative branch of the ETGE. As the Government in Exile's Parliament is made up of a number of members internationally, its leaders are based in a number of countries. The present leadership was announced on November 11, 2019 following elections at the ETGE's 8th General Assembly in Washington, DC. The Parliament is also made up of six committees that help oversee the government's different ministries.[10][11]

Ahmatjan Osman, a Uyghur poet, was the president of the group from November 2015 to October 2018, he was impeached for violating the ETGE's Constitution.[12][13]

Ghulam Osman Yaghma, a Uyghur writer, poet, and veteran independence leader,[14] was elected as the President of the ETGE during its 8th General Assembly.[15][16]

Salih Hudayar, the young Uyghur independence activist and founder of the East Turkistan Government in Exile was elected as the 4th Prime Minister of the ETGE on November 11, 2019 at the ETGE's 8th General Assembly in Washington, DC.[17] [18]

On July 6, 2020, the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported that the East Turkistan Government in Exile and the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC), urging it to investigate and prosecute PRC officials for genocide and other crimes against humanity.[40][41] The complaint is the first attempt to use an international legal forum to challenge China over allegations of extensive human rights abuses against Muslim Turkic people in East Turkistan.[42][43] The 80-page complaint included a list of more than 30 senior PRC officials, including Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping, whom the ETGE hold responsible.[44][45] The next day, ETGE and the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement held an online press conference in Washington, DC and The Hague.[46] The ETGE's Prime Minister, Salih Hudayar, told Radio Free Asia's Chinese service that "for too long we have been oppressed by China and its Communist Party and we have suffered so much that the genocide of our people can be no longer ignored."[47] On July 9, 2020, the US government sanctioned 3 senior PRC officials including Xinjiang Communist Party Secretary Chen Quanguo and Zhu Hailun, who were among the 30 officials mentioned in the complaint to the ICC.[48] ETGE Prime Minister Salih Hudayar told Radio Free Asia that the ETGE welcomed the sanctions and that Uyghurs wanted real justice. He stated that the PRC officials should be tried for human rights abuses by an international court, citing the example the Nuremberg Trials of high-ranking Nazi Party officials after World War II.[49]

The ETGE was the only Uyghur group to publicly advocate for the removal of the "East Turkistan Islamic Movement," which the ETGE believes to be fabricated by China to "falsely portray Uyghurs as terrorists."[50][51] On September 11, 2020, the ETGE held a press conferencing denouncing the "ETIM" as a "Chinese fabrication" and claimed that the "greatest victims of terrorism in the 21st century are East Turkistan and its people."[52] On October 2020, the U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, gave a directive to delist the East Turkistan Islamic Movement from the U.S. Terror List. The directive was published on November 5,2020 and the State Department the decision was made because “for more than a decade, there has been no credible evidence that ETIM continues to exist.”[53] The ETGE thanked the U.S. Government for removing the ETIM from its terror list and urged other countries to follow suit.[54]

The East Turkistan National Awakening Movement and the East Turkistan Government in Exile were the first Uyghur groups to refer to China's oppression against Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in East Turkistan (Xinjiang) as a genocide. They have actively lobbied for the U.S. and other countries to recognize China's atrocities against Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples as genocide.[55][56][57] Over the years, the ETGE and ETNAM held numerous demonstrations, press conferences, and other events urging the world to recognize China's genocide in East Turkistan (Xinjiang).[58][59][60][61] The East Turkistan National Awakening Movement and the East Turkistan Government in Exile filed a complaint urging the International Criminal Court to investigate and prosecute Chinese officials for genocide[62][63] and within months, the ETGE was able to persuade the Canadian Parliament to recognize China's atrocities as a genocide in October 2020, it thanked the Canadian Parliament for the genocide recognition and urged the Canadian Government to formally recognize it as well.[64] The ETGE also successfully lobbied the U.S. Senate to introduce a genocide resolution[65] and urged the U.S. Government to recognize the genocide.[66] On January 11, 2021 the ETGE made a press statement urging the Trump Administration to recognize China's atrocities against Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in East Turkistan as a genocide before January 20th, 2021.[67][68] On January 19, 2021, the U.S. State Department formally designated China's atrocities against Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples as genocide.[69][70] Salih Hudayar, the Prime Minister of the East Turkistan Government in Exile, told the Wall Street Journal that the ETGE had been pushing for the designation for two years and that the ETGE hopes that this designation will lead to real, strong actions to hold China accountable and bring an end to China’s genocide.[71] The ETGE also called on the U.S. Justice Department to enact 18 U.S. Code Section 1091 and prosecute Chinese diplomats, specifically Chinese Ambassador Cui Tianki, for genocide.[72] The ETGE further urged countries to follow suit and recognize the genocide, it also urged the Biden Administration to "take a more active approach to resolve the East Turkistan issue" by recognizing East Turkistan as an Occupied Country, boycotting the 2022 Olympics in Beijing[73] and meeting with the East Turkistan Government in Exile like the Trump Administration met with the Tibetan Government in Exile.[74]