Uyghurs Without Borders? - Foreign Military Studies Office - U.S. Army

If integration continues along its path, Uyghurs will continue to view Kazakhstan as theirown country, especially if a give and take relationship continues with the state. The more theyview Kazakhstan as their homeland and their role within it, the less likely they are to advocate orsupport a breakaway republic. What Central Asia can learn from the Uyghur example inKazakhstan is that despite some economic and social marginalization, and geographic proximityto a conflict zone, an ethnic minority group was able to move past some of its grievances againstthe state, and vice-versa. This is not a one-size fits all solution for Central Asia, but if otherethnic minority groups and their respective regional governments are able to do this, it coulddecrease threats.Notes1 “Uyghurs in Japan Call for Freedom in China,” Hong Kong AFP, July 4, 2010; “Demonstrators in Ankara ProtestIncidents in Xinjiang Region on 1st Anniversary,” Anatolia, July 5, 2010; Roni Rui, “Uyghurs Worldwide Protest onAnniversary of 2009 Violence,” The Epoch Times, July 7, 2010.2 “Urumqi ‘Peaceful’ on First Anniversary of ‘Deadly’ Riot; Locals Inspected,” Xinhua, July 5, 2010; “Security CameraBlanket Covers Urumqi Ahead of Riot Anniversary,” Xinhua, July 2, 2010.3 Eastweek, “Uyghur people stage protest in Kazakhstan,” Eastweek, July 29, 2009,,(accessed July 7, 2010).4 Uyghurs lived in the steppe region for several centuries prior to the formation of their khanate, but thisestablished them as a more powerful group and one that modern Uyghurs have a kinship with. For more extensivehistory on the Uyghurs in Central Asia see: Rene Grousset. The Empire of the Steppes, a History of Central Asia,trans. Naomi Walford. (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1970; and also: James A. Millward and Peter C.Perdue, “Political and Cultural History of the Xinjiang Region through the Late Nineteenth Century,” in Xinjiang:China’s Muslim Borderland, ed. S. Frederick Starr, (New York: Central Asian-Caucasus Institute, 2004), pp. 27-62.5 For two excellent sources on Russian expansion into Siberia and Central Asia, see: W. Bruce Lincoln. The Conquestof a Continent: Siberia and the Russians. New York: Cornell University Press, 1994; Peter Hopkirk. The Great Game:The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia. New York: Kodansha America, 1992.6 Millward and Perdue, Xinjiang: China’s Muslim Borderland, pp. 27-62.14