World Congress President of the Uyghurs had to flee China: he calls the Olympics "genocide games"
Created: 2022-02-04 05:11
Fights for the rights of the Uyghurs: Dolkun Isa.
© Photo: Achim Frank Schmidt
Dolkun Isa fights for the rights of the Uyghurs.
And had to pay a bitter price.
Giving up is out of the question for Isa, as he reveals in the Olympia interview.
Munich – It is a brief moment in which Dolkun Isa's facial expression breaks.
When the 54-year-old talks about his family's tragedy, his chin trembles and his voice gets thin.
In 1994 the Uighur had to flee China.
Isa completed a master's degree in politics and sociology in Turkey, and the now 54-year-old earned a degree in computer science in Munich.
Isa has been a German citizen since 2006 and President of the World Congress of Uyghurs since 2017.
Our newspaper met Isa in his office in Munich.
A conversation about the cruel treatment of Uyghurs in China, the silence of the IOC and the role of Thomas Bach*.
Interview with the President of the World Congress of Uyghurs - In 1994 he had to flee China
Mr. Isa, when did you first become politically active?
I studied physics at Xinjiang University.
Due to my political activities, however, I was not allowed to obtain a degree.
In 1985 I was the leader of pro-democracy demonstrations.
In 1987 I founded a study organization.
Our main concern was to teach the alphabet to Uyghurs in East Turkistan.
That's when I realized that the Chinese government wanted to ban the education of Uyghurs.
In 1988 we held large demonstrations.
We have demanded equal rights and democratic elections.
We got over 1000 students onto the streets.
What happened next?
That same night I was placed under house arrest for four months.
I got kicked out of university and then opened a small restaurant in Beijing.
Since many foreign customers ate at my place, the Chinese government saw my shop not as a restaurant but as an international information center.
In 1994 I received information that it would be better for my own safety if I left the country.
Little did I know then that saying goodbye to my family would mean goodbye forever.
What has changed in China since then?
Discrimination policies have always existed in China.
But it just got worse and worse.
At that time we still had the right to demonstrate.
And I wasn't killed.
You can't even think freely in China these days.
You can't even sneeze without facing consequences.
Since Xi Jinping has been president in China, the policy of discrimination has been transformed into a policy of genocide.
We don't know the exact number, but we suspect that three million Uyghurs are housed in camps.
Several hundred new camps have opened since 2018.
The Uyghurs are raped, tortured and even killed there.
Dolkun Isa: Family is still in China
Do you know how your family is doing in China?
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I was still in contact with my family until 2017.
Since then it has been impossible to hear from them.
Unless there was heartbreaking news.
In 2018 I found out that my mother had passed away.
She died in a re-education camp.
Her crime was that she is my mother and Uyghur.
China always says we prepare the Uyghurs in the camps for a better future, educate them.
My mother was 78, what else was she supposed to be taught in the camp?
She worked for the government for 40 years.
In 2020, I learned from the Chinese Global Times that my father passed away.
To this day I don't know what led to his death.
Last year in June there was the next sad news.
My younger brother was put in prison for life.
My older brother, a mathematics professor, was also imprisoned.
In some Chinese media it is 17 years, in others 24 years.
This is my family's tragedy.
Dolkun Isa in conversation with reporter Nico-Marius Schmitz.
© Achim Frank Schmidt
It's a gruesome story that you tell with relative composure.
How do you manage not to break it?
My story is not unique.
There are probably worse stories than my family's
.
I've been suffering for over twenty years, I've been arrested at so many borders.
I've never held a gun in my hand.
I've never killed a chicken in my life.
But China says I'm a big bomb-planting terrorist.
I'm being attacked in the Chinese media.
They publish the address of the World Uyghur Congress here in Munich.
I get threatening phone calls and emails.
Are you afraid for your own safety?
I live in Germany, am a German citizen.
I don't care about my own life anymore.
The millions of Uyghurs in China are paying the price every day.
I was ready to give up everything.
You have to fight for your rights.
The Chinese people are being brainwashed
Dolkun Isa, President of the World Uyghur Congress
Why is nobody in world politics committed to the rights of Uyghurs?
In recent years, China has established itself as a world power.
Twenty years ago, China was still dependent on western money and technology.
At the time they could not ignore international pressure.
Now with this power, China no longer has to hide its atrocities and can commit genocide without being punished.
There is no free press in China, only propaganda machines.
The Chinese people are being literally brainwashed.
They are trimmed: Uyghurs and Tibetans are an internal enemy.
America and the West are external enemies.
Today the Olympic Games start in Beijing.
How does that make you feel?
It won't be the Olympic Games, it will be a Genocide Games.
In 1936 the Olympic Games took place in Nazi Germany.
The Olympic Committee later admitted it was a historic mistake.
But they have learned nothing from history.
They say: never again.
And it's happening again.
We understand the athletes: They have been preparing for the Games for five years.
But human lives should not be less important than gold medals or money.
One likes to convince oneself that such games lead to changes in the country.
Things have gotten much worse in China since 2008.
Extreme human rights violations turned into genocide.
China sees the silence of the countries and the IOC as consent to the genocide.
The IOC around Thomas Bach ignores what is happening in China, says Isa
Are you in contact with the IOC and Thomas Bach?
We tried to reach Thomas Bach.
Wrote letters to the IOC.
We got the feedback: Olympia is politically neutral.
We had virtual meetings with the IOC.
But they just ignore what is happening in China.
You close your eyes.
The Olympic Committee is corrupt, all they care about is money.
Human lives mean nothing to them.
Thomas Bach offers China a big stage and encourages the government to carry on as before.
This is a terrible message to send to the world.
A few weeks ago, Thomas Bach appeared in a video call with the long-missing Peng Shuai.
Your opinion about the video?
Peng Shuai is a hostage.
She criticized the government, now she has to pay the price.
China staged a show to fool the world into thinking it was fine.
And Thomas Bach allowed himself to be used as a marionette.
He's part of the theatre.
Would you advise athletes to speak out politically during the Beijing Games?
I think China has zero tolerance.
I cannot advise any athlete to speak out politically in China.
Of course that would be a good sign.
But nobody knows what would happen then.
If someone in China dares to say something against the government, they're gone the next day.
A message would be not to participate in these games.
China will use the Olympics as propaganda.
Interview: Nico-Marius Schmitz *tz.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
