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The East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGE) has issued its strongest condemnation of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev following his statement at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin on August 31, 2025. The ETGE criticised Aliyev for publicly supporting China's stance on East Turkistan, calling Azerbaijan's position a betrayal of its Turkic heritage and solidarity.
Salih Hudayar, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Security of the ETGE, accused Azerbaijan of siding with Beijing's campaign of "colonisation, genocide, and occupation" against the Uyghur and other Turkic peoples of East Turkistan. "East Turkistan is the cradle of Turkic civilisation. For Azerbaijan, a nation that claims the proud legacy of Turkic identity, to align itself with China's campaign of colonisation, genocide, and occupation in East Turkistan is a betrayal of history, a betrayal of its Turkic brothers and sisters, and a betrayal of the very principles of dignity and justice," Hudayar said. The statement detailed severe human rights abuses in East Turkistan, also known as Xinjiang, accusing Chinese authorities of subjecting Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, and other Turkic communities to mass internment, forced labour, mass sterilisation, cultural eradication, organ harvesting, and systematic efforts to erase their identity. "To endorse Beijing's position is to endorse and be complicit in these crimes," Hudayar added. The ETGE also denounced the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation itself, alleging that the regional grouping was created by Beijing to suppress the East Turkistan national cause. "The SCO is not a platform for peace or security. It is a mechanism of repression, colonialism, and occupation," the statement declared. Calling for Azerbaijan to reverse its stance, the ETGE urged Baku to sever what it described as "complicity with Beijing's genocide" and instead support the Turkic peoples of East Turkistan. "History will not forgive betrayal, nor will the Turkic peoples forget it," Hudayar stated. (ANI)
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