East Turkestan Liberation Organization
| East Turkestan Liberation Organization | |
|---|---|
| شارقىي تۇركەستان ئازاتلىق تەشكىلاتى | |
 |
|
| Leader(s) | Mehmet Emin Hazret |
| Dates of operation | 2000-2003 |
| Motives | Independence of East Turkestan from China |
| Active region(s) | Xinjiang |
| Status |
 Designated as terrorist organisation (15 December 2003) Designated as terrorist organisation (November 2006) |
The East Turkestan Liberation Organization (ETLO; Turkish: Doğu Türkistan Kurtuluş Örgütü; Uyghur: شارقىي تۇركەستان ئازاتلىق تەشكىلاتى, Шәрқий Түркестан Азатлиқ Тешкилати, ULY: Sharqiy Turkestan Azatliq Teshkilati; SHAT) was a secessionist Uyghur organization that advocated for an independent Uyghur state named East Turkestan in the Western Chinese province known as Xinjiang. The organization was established in Turkey in 1990 or 1996 to fight against the Chinese government in Xinjiang, a territory in which no ethnicity forms a majority, but is inhabited in order of most populous to least by Uyghur, Han Chinese, Kazakh and other Turkic communities.Xinjiang or East Turkestan has a population of 18 million, eight million of which are Turkic-speaking Muslim Uighurs. As a result of Chinese economic development policies, the demography of the region has altered - ethnic Han Chinese population of the region has risen to 40% or 7.5 million people of the total population, as opposed to 6% in 1949. Kazakhs, the third largest group, constitute 1.2 million. ETLO is a designated terrorist organization by the governments of China and Kazakhstan.
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