mathias depardon

A minaret, a man preparing for prayer, this could surely be Turkey, yet we’re in China and in the Autonomous Uighur region of China. Turkestan as it was initially called, was a territory Islamized by the Turks in the XI century. For many Turks it evokes a myth linked to the origins of the Turkish people.Located in the far west of China but also in the far east of Turkey, the autonomous region of Xinjiang is home to the Uighurs a Turkish speaking Muslim Chinese minority of some 10 million people.

China‘s Xinjiang province is the country‘s most westerly region, bordering on the former Soviet states of Central Asia, as well as several other states including Afghanistan, Russia, and Mongolia. The region has had an intermittent history of autonomy and occasional independence, but was finally brought under Chinese control in the 18th century. 

Rich in oil, it is for the Chinese Han, China ethnic majority, an interior space to colonize. The progression of these internal migrations generates tensions in the Xinjiang Autonomous region. Economic development of the region under Communist rule has been accompanied by large-scale immigration of Han Chinese, and Uighur allegations of discrimination and marginalization have been behind more visible anti-Han and separatist sentiment since the 1990s. Since 2016, it is estimated that over a million Uyghurs have been detained in Xinjiang re-education camps. The camps were established under General Secretary Xi Jinping’s administration. According to Chinese government operating procedures, obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the main feature of the camps is to ensure adherence to Chine Communist Party ideology.

Chinese Government keeps on exploiting the natural resources and its economic trade with Central Asia, reopening the ancient Silk Road.