East Turkistan exiled authorities condemns conviction of 19 Kazakh citizens over anti-China protest

Washington, April 14 The East Turkistan Government-in-Exile (ETGE) strongly condemned the conviction of 19 Kazakh citizens, saying that they were punished for demanding the release of an ethnic Kazakh "illegally detained" in East Turkistan, also known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China.

The exiled authorities described the region as the ancestral homeland of the Uyghurs and home to millions of Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic peoples.

The statement came after a court in Kazakhstan convicted the 19 activists in a politically sensitive case linked to an anti-China protest last year near the border.

The court on April 13 reportedly found them guilty of inciting "inter-ethnic discord" during a demonstration calling for the release of the ethnic Kazakh detained in Xinjiang.

Expressing concern, the ETGE said that Kazakhstan charged its own citizens with "inciting ethnic hatred" for burning a Chinese flag and a portrait of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who they said, "bears direct responsibility for the genocide against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and all Turkic peoples in Occupied East Turkistan".

The exiled authorities alleged that China operates "concentration camps and slave factories" in Xinjiang, where Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other Turkic peoples, including citizens of Kazakhstan, are "enslaved, tortured, and killed for their organs".

The November 13, 2025, protest, the ETGE said, was not "incitement" but rather a "cry for justice". They accused Kazakhstan's authorities of weaponising Article 174 of the country's Criminal Code against its own people following a complaint from Beijing.

Criticising the actions, the ETGE said, "This is not justice but capitulation to Chinese imperialism".

"A truly sovereign government does not arrest its own citizens on orders from a foreign regime carrying out genocide against its own Turkic kin. It does not silence those crying out for brothers and sisters in Chinese concentration camps. It does not prosecute its own people while rewarding genocidal invaders and oppressors with trade deals and silence. Every concession Astana makes to China betrays every Uyghur, Kazakh, and Turkic person in Occupied East Turkistan and betrays Kazakhstan's own sovereignty and the future of its people," the exiled authorities stated.

The ETGE called on the authorities of Kazakhstan to immediately release all 19 convicted activists, lift all restrictions, and drop all charges against them.

They urged the global action to protect every Uyghur, Kazakh, and Turkic people held captive in Xinjiang and called for condemnation of China's "genocide" in the region.

The group also appealed to the United Nations and the Organization of Turkic States to oppose China's "campaign of colonisation, genocide" and recognise East Turkistan as an "occupied country and support its decolonisation and restoration of independence".

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