East Turkestan (21st Century Crisis)

East Turkestan, also known as Uyghurstan and officially the Republic of East Turkestan (Uyghur: شەرقىي تۈركىستان جۇمھۇرىيىتى, Sherqiy Türkistan Jumhuriyiti), is a country in East and Central Asia.

It borders the countries of China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. The rugged Karakoram, Kunlun, and Tian Shan mountain ranges occupy much of East Turkestan's borders, as well as its western and southern regions. Xinjiang also borders Tibet Autonomous Region and the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai. The most well-known route of the historical Silk Road ran through the territory from the east to its northwestern border. In recent decades, abundant oil and mineral reserves have been found in East Turkestan, and it is currently one of East Asia's largest natural gas-producing regions.

With a documented history of at least 2,500 years, a succession of people and empires have vied for control over all or parts of this territory. The territory came under the rule of the Qing dynasty in the 18th century; which was later replaced by the Republic of China government.

Finally in 1954, with major help from the Soviet Union, the People's East Turkestani Republic was established, after the Xinjiang War between the Soviet Union, Uyghur seperatists and the People's Republic of China.

East Turkestan is currently a developed nation, and is a member of APEC, the World Bank, GOIC and the United Nations, and a large number of other global organizations.

Post-Cold War
After the collapse of communism, while the East Turkestani government made no verbal announcement, Islam began to creep its way back into East Turkestani politics. The country kept Soviet bases in the nation, still remaining loyal to the Soviet Union.

Under the presidency of Tömür Dawamat, East Turkestan began to liberalize its economy, opening the East Turkestani economy to other East Asian powers such as Japan, South Korea, India and East Turkestan's traditional long-time adversary, China. President Dawamat allowed small batches of Chinese businessmen to establish companies in East Turkestan.

President Dawamat also began to re-connect East Turkestan with the rest of the Muslim World, forging economic allyships with Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia, the Persian Gulf states and Persia.

However, East Turkestan's relationship with China was severed during the 1998 Asian Financial Crisis, in which, like other parts of the world, Chinese bussinessmen were blamed for the economic woes of Asia. Therefore, the East Turkestan parliament passed a law barring any Chinese economic involvement in East Turkestan.

In addition, East Turkestan began to side with the West further and further, with President Abdul'ahat Abdulrixit successfully beginning partnerships with the European Union (especially Germany) and ASEAN. President Abdulrixit also mended East Turkestan's severed relations with China, by entering East Turkestan into APEC, the Eurasian Union and the World Bank. President Abdulrixit established joint-projects with China, encourage tourism projects with China, and along with then-Chinese leader Hu Jintao, such as the East Turkestan-China Peace Process.

In 2003, amid the cooling of relations with Russia, due to Russia being under an anti-Muslim leader (Vladimir Zhirinovsky), East Turkestan successfully became a NATO partner. President Abdulrixit also vyed to have East Turkestan join the global stage, by sending peacekeeping forces into Somalia.

United States president George W. Bush hailed East Turkestan as a "prime example for the Muslim World".

During the Syrian War, the government of East Turkestan supported North Syria, to which Russia enacted sanctions against East Turkestan. In this case, East Turkestan was no longer allowed to to use the manat to purchase oil and natural gas, and was required to use the Russian ruble.

However, as a result of growing hostilities between North Syria and East Turkestan, President Ismail Tiliwaldi declared to the people of East Turkestan that, "....we have been backstabbed, we must stop supporting Aleppo". This included the expulsion of North Syrian diplomats from East Turkestan.

In addition, East Turkestani forces began to aid Russian forces in the Levant, with President Tiliwaldi calling for "....East Turkestan to seek Russia's forgiveness, and re-established ties with Russia like the old days".

Politics
At its curent day and age, East Turkestan is currently a presidential republic. Presidential terms are limited to five years.

Religion
Currently, Islam forms 95% of East Turkestan's population, while Shamanism, Tengrism and Animism form the rest. There are, recorded small communities of Russians, who follow Russian Orthodox Church.

Although East Turkestan currently has no state religion, Islam has acted as the de facto state religion, with Islam being actively promoted in East Turkestani politics.

Economy
East Turkestan has a generally well-developed economy. The main sectors of Uyghurstan's economy include precious metals, natural gas, agriculture, tourism, natural energy and technology.

East Turkestan is one a member of many global economic alliances, including APEC, OPEC, the East Asia Agricultural Federation, and the Eurasian Union. Although not a member of the China-led SCO, East Turkestan is almost very-involved, due to many of East Turkestan's allies, Pakistan, Turkey and Turkmenistan being members, East Turkestan is considered a de facto member of the SCO, however due to unfavorable views of China, Chinese people and Chinese influence in East Turkestan, it is highly unlikely that the country will ever be part of the SCO.

News
1/5/2019 - Today, East Turkestani president Ismail Tiliwaldi paid a visit to Turkey to meet with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in order to increase bilateral ties between the two countries.

President Tiliwaldi stated, "We may have lots of reconnecting to do."

However, this may become a challenging feat and task, since Turkey is an ally of China, being a member of the SCO, and East Turkestan is a long-time adversary of China.

President Erdoğan stated, "I understand it may impeded relations with our Chinese allies, but we will work it out and see what we can do to come up with the best solution, we want to forge closer ties with East Turkestan, like in the old days."

Both North Turkey (a communist state and Soviet ally) and South Turkey (a NATO member state) supported East Turkestan's independence from China, when the Soviets liberated the former Xinjiang from the People's Republic of China in 1954, in the Sino-Soviet War.

President Tiliwaldi was greeted with warm cheers in Turkey.

A person attending the event stated, "We love our brothers and sisters from East Turkestan, may we forge closer ties, Inshallah (God willing)."

1/9/2019 - Today, the Chinese government offered its response to Turkey forging an alliance with East Turkestan.

The Chinese government stated that it had no issue with Turkey and East Turkestan becoming allies, so long as it is not use to propagate hostilities against China.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping stated, "We understand, the peole of Turkey and East Turkestan want to re-connect and re-kindle their ties in cultura and spirit, but we advise the Republic of Turkey to carefully moniter this, as such an alliance could possibly propagate hostilities against the People's Republic of China, which would, have dire consequences for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and Turkey's membership in it. We would hate to see ties with Turkey severed after only a couple months of accepting Turkish membership."

Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu responded, "We assure the People's Republic of China, and Xi Jinping that while we will make sure the people of East Turkestan are safe from all harm, we will not propagate or provoke any hostilities with our Chinese ally, or our Russian friends."

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