The recent riots in Urumqi (capital of the Xinjiang province of China) are an expression of long-suppressed anger; the minority Muslim Uyghur people have long felt that their culture is being deliberately destroyed, and relations between Uyghurs and the Han Chinese have never been good. Three years ago I interviewed Ahmet Igamberdi, a prominent member of the Uyghur diaspora now settled in Sydney, and asked him about the situation in Xinjiang and the "East Turkestani" independence movement.

Ahmet Igamberdi is a dissident writer and prominent representative of the Uyghur people in Australia. He spent 10 years in a Chinese prison in the 1970s under suspicion of being part of an underground Uyghur resistance. He has published a number of books in Turkey and Kazakhstan, including a book of poems written during his time in prison. He is now an official with the self-proclaimed East Turkestani Government in Exile, based in Washington D.C.

Note that, in common with many other Uyghur people, Mr Igamberdi refers to his homeland as East Turkestan rather than by the Chinese name of Xinjiang.

Your culture is very different from the Han majority. How are relations now between the Uyghur people and the Han people ?

The Uyghur people regard the Chinese government as our first enemy, [our] old enemy. Every Han Chinese who comes to East Turkestan regards [himself] as lord of this country, master of this country. Our relationship with the Chinese government and the Han Chinese is not friendly. [They are] our enemy, occupiers. In East Turkestan hundreds of thousands of people are in jail now. They are occupying our country and killing our people.

China has tried to paint its actions in East Turkestan[Xinjiang] as part of the “War On Terror”. They’ve even persuaded the U.S. and U.N. to declare the East Turkestan Islamic Movement as a terrorist organization. How much do you think the “War On Terror” has hurt your cause ?

Too much. Too much. … I live in a free country, a country which regards me as a good citizen of Australia. But the Chinese government calls me a terrorist. We have some organizations in Germany, in Turkey, in the U.S. – the Chinese call them terrorist organizations too.

Are there some people in the East Turkestan movement willing to use violence ?

Even the Chinese people sometimes use violent action against the Chinese government. Our people are really non-violent people, but sometimes a few use [violence] like the Chinese … But Chinese government uses this pretext to kill our people.

[With] East Timor, the world paid much attention, even the Australian people helped them to gain independence. Why don’t Western governments, American governments pay attention to our problem ?

Many people say Uyghurs are the most pro-American Muslims. Do you see yourself having any friends or allies on the world stage ?

Yes … we are pro-American, because we are thinking about the world - and on the world stage, just America can go against China. For this reason, always our people have thought only from America can we get some help.

American pressure led to the release of Rebiya Kadeer. Do you see her release as any change in China’s policy or was it a political act ?

[Laughs] China cannot be changed. Chinese government’s mind and the Chinese people’s mind is the same as stone. It can’t change. Particularly the policy towards minority peoples. We cannot use our mother tongue in our country. We cannot use our religion in our country. How can you say it has changed?

The Dalai Lama has admitted for the first time that he doesn’t think that independence for Tibet is now possible. Is your struggle still for independence, or have the goals changed ?

No, no, no. We are independent. Our government is exiled, striving for independence. But we need to [be] non-violent. The world sees East Timor independent, but why [should] independence not apply [for East Turkestan] ?

Do you see religion as playing a big part of your movement, or is it more of a nationalist movement ?

Of course, of course. In Poland the Polish people used the worker’s union and the Catholic religion. They changed their communist government. You know, this religion is our people’s root. It has a really close relationship with our culture, language, customs everything. For this reason, the Chinese communist government, from 1949, they are against our religion.

Are you getting any support from the Central Asian republics ?

[Laughs]. No, no, no - because we wish to take help from the Western countries. I know, our religion, culture, everything is the same as Central Asia, But whoever is against the Chinese government and escapes to Central Asia, they are sent back to China.

There is very little in the Western press about East Turkestan[Xinjiang], when compared to other issues. Why is that ?

We are firstly, Muslim. I think Western opinion thinks a Muslim is a terrorist. Secondly, China is a big power, strong power in the world. And then China is a big market for the world economy. For this reason, the world doesn’t want to help us, doesn’t want to pay attention to our problem.

What about the Australia government – have they been sympathetic to refugee claims from the Uyghurs ?

I will utilize this opportunity to give thanks to the Australian government. Whoever has come to Australia from the Uyghur people and wanted [to be] refugee in Australia, [the government] don’t refuse [even] one. We have more than more than 1000 people in Australia. Also, the Australian Government twice sent a human rights delegation [to East Turkestan]. Then last year [they] sent some material help to fight AIDS in our country.

But the government, if they are to stand for human rights - not “dollar” rights - they should help us. [They should] send delegates to search for human rights in our country. But there is the economic relationship between Australian government and Chinese government … for this reason, sometimes [the government] doesn’t want to say anything about the human rights problem.

This is a shame. Australia is one of the democratic countries. It should do the right thing. It doesn’t matter if they are trading, if they are doing other things economically, they should do the right thing.

There are many recent reports about high incidence of drug use and HIV/AIDS in East Turkestan[Xinjiang] amongst the Uyghur people. How threatening is that situation ?

This is a big, big problem for us. [In the past] the moral problem in our country was not there. We have had a drug problem from the 1990s in our country. How the drug problem is starting ? From the Han Chinese from central China bringing [it] to our country. Chinese policy is always to bring down our morals, our national morals, our national culture. Even the drug problem Chinese government is using that [as part of] assimilation and genocide policies.

For example: in Beijing, in Shanghai, in Guangzhou, if someone is [caught] with drugs, he is imprisoned, sometimes even executed. The drug amount [for punishment] is small.[But] those drug policies are exclusively not for East Turkestan. Today, if one police station [in East Turkestan] catches ten drug dealers, after a few days they are released.

Are you saying this is a political decision that has been made to promote drug use ?

Yes, yes, yes. How did AIDS come out ? Purely that in our country 35-50K people pour into East Turkestan from the Chinese region. They are mafia, prostitutes, burglars coming to our country. Chinese government calls it ‘open up the west’. They are only after earning some money, plundering our country. They regard Uyghur people as not first [class] citizens, second or third [class] citizens.

Of course, if I speak to someone who went to my country, many people say – oh, Urumqi [capital of Xinjiang province] has big, tall buildings everywhere, very developed. This development is for the Uyghur people ? No, no ! Even our petrol, our gold, our gas from the pipeline, it is going to central China, Shanghai and Beijing. [Only] one percent of the petrol and gas stays here for the welfare of the Uyghurs.

People who do have AIDS/HIV, are they able to get treatment ?

Not in East Turkestan, no. In central China, in Beijing and Shanghai people get treatment. No one helps our people, our country.

Uyghur people now understand, Chinese policy doesn’t matter culturally, doesn’t matter politically, doesn’t matter economically, doesn’t matter socially – actions of the Chinese government [follows] just one rule – assimilation and genocide.

Where do you see the East Turkestan movement in five or ten years ? How can you make any change?

Our problem is very difficult. China is a really big country. We haven’t any weapons, we haven’t any money. Now I think over one million Uyghur people live overseas. We have just small organizations. I cannot say that in the future our problem [will be] solved or not. I cannot say in five or ten years maybe something will happen.

But - George Bush says [there is] a world democratic revolution. In Ukraine a revolution has taken place. Just our neighbouring country, Kyrgystan, the old communist government has collapsed. In Uzbekistan, something is happening. So the world is changing. In Iraq the war is almost over, I think. The Palestinian problem, inshallah, will be finished. Only in Asia there are still countries like North Korea, Iran and China.

I think one day, not long, the American government will do something against the Chinese government. Because if the Chinese government continues developing, it is very, very dangerous. From Mao Zedong to Hu Jintao, they have the same mind: there is only one China in the world. I think internally and externally some problems are now slowly growing. I think China [will be] finished once internal and external forces come together. Inside, the people are very against the Chinese government. So we are not pessimistic. We are optimistic.