On the 34th anniversary of the Barin massacre, on April 5, 2024, the Uyghur community living in the United Kingdom hosted their friends who supported them in their fight against the Chinese administration at an iftar dinner.
In the iftar program organized by the Uyghur Community living in England, it was pointed out that China's oppression of Uyghur in East Turkistan continues.
Activist Rahima Mahmut and Maire Aisa hosted the iftar program organized by United UK Uyghur Community, Stop Uyghur Genocide and World Uyghur Congress at Etles Uyghur Restaurant in Walthamstow on Friday evening.
London Yunus Emre Institute Director Dr. Mehmet KarakuÅŸ, former LBC radio host, Maajid Usman Nawaz, one of the founders of the Quilliam think tank, activist Abid Quereshi, Tibetan activist Tenzin Kunga, Hong Kong activist Finn Lau and a group supporting the Uyghur struggle attended.
In the iftar program, which started with the prayer of Religious Man Kerim Zair, Maire Aisa, one of the Uyghur Community Activists, reminded in her speech that the assimilation applied to the Uyghur Turks by the Chinese administration in East Turkistan continues uninterruptedly.
Aisa said, "We wanted to be together with our friends who stand by the Uyghur community in England and support their struggle."
Recalling the Barin genocide, Rahima Mahmut said, “We organized this iftar program to be together with our friends who stand by the Uyghur people and support their struggle on the 34th anniversary of the Barin genocide, to break the fast together, to pray and to feel. Against Barin's attempts to exclude the Uyghur people in the region and change its demographics by bringing in Han Chinese in his investments in the Akto region, the Chinese administration massacred 3 thousand Uyghurs in the resistance that took place between 5 and 10 April 1990. It displaced thousands of Uyghurs and subjected them to assimilation. "The Chinese Communist administration committed a complete genocide against the Uyghurs by sending more than 18 thousand soldiers to Barin, which has a population of 19 thousand," she said.
Clergyman Kerim Zair explained that he was treated as a terrorist in his own country and gave examples of what kind of pressure China applied. While telling about the days of the Barin genocide, Kerim Zair gave examples from his own experiences, mentioned a year of imprisonment in East Turkistan, addressed the Muslim communities and pointed out that in the Holy Quran, Allah commanded to stand by those who were oppressed. Kerim Zaim underlined that Turkish and Muslim societies should protect the Uyghur community, which is subjected to Chinese oppression.