East Turkistan Government in Exile

Anwar Yusuf Turani ئەنۋەر يۈسۈپ تۇرانى Анвар Йусуф Турани
Anwar Yusuf Turani speaking at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. on November 22, 2004.
Born	(1962-08-03)August 3, 1962 (age 52) Artux, Xinjiang, China
Residence	Virginia, United States
Occupation	Political activist, Educator, Musician
Organization	East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGIE), East Turkistan National Freedom Center (ETNFC)
Title	Prime Minister of the East Turkistan Government in Exile
Movement	East Turkistan independence movement
Children	4

Anwar Yusuf Turani (Uyghur: ئەنۋەر يۈسۈپ تۇرانى, Анвар Йусуф Турани‎) is an ethnic Uyghur nationalist. Born into a family branded counter-revolutionary, Uyghur nationalist, and separatist by the Chinese government, Turani was raised in a labor camp where he faced economic hardship and political oppression. Turani attended Kashgar Teacher's College and graduated from the Department of Physics in July 1983. Turani came to the United States on August 12, 1988 and became the first Uyghur political asylee. In 1995, Turani established the East Turkistan National Freedom Center (ETNFC), a non-profit human rights organization based in Washington DC. He is the first person to start the East Turkistan independence movement in the United States. In 2004, Turani set up the "East Turkistan Government in Exile" (ETGIE) and was elected Prime Minister.

As the president of the East Turkistan National Freedom Center, Turani organized demonstrations, conferences, and cultural events, concerning the situation of East Turkistan. He also met with many international dignitaries, including U.S. President Bill Clinton, Tibetan Leader Dalai Lama, and Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian, in an attempt to gain their support in ending the occupation of his nation. In April 1996, Turani met with Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, forging an alliance between East Turkistan and Tibet against the Chinese government. Later that month, Turani and representatives of occupied Tibet and Inner Mongolia organized an Independence Walk from the Chinese embassy in Washington D.C. to the United Nations in New York City. At the end of the two-week walk, Turani spoke in front of the United Nations headquarters, addressing the Chinese human rights violations in East Turkistan since 1949.