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Tuesday, 29 July 2003
KYRGYZSTAN\'S UIGHURS HOLD CONGRESS
By empty (7/29/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The fifth congress of Kyrgyzstan\'s Uighurs was held on 28 July, RFE/RL\'s Kyrgyz Service reported the same day. A total of 350 delegates from around the country gathered in Bishkek to hear a report by the chairman of the Uighur Society, Ittipak Rozmukhambet Abdulbakiev, who was re-elected at the congress. Abdulbakiev noted that recent assertions in the Kyrgyz media that Uighurs have been involved in criminal activities connected with separatists who want to set up an independent Uighur state in China\'s Xinjiang Province have harmed the Uighur community in Kyrgyzstan.
The fifth congress of Kyrgyzstan\'s Uighurs was held on 28 July, RFE/RL\'s Kyrgyz Service reported the same day. A total of 350 delegates from around the country gathered in Bishkek to hear a report by the chairman of the Uighur Society, Ittipak Rozmukhambet Abdulbakiev, who was re-elected at the congress. Abdulbakiev noted that recent assertions in the Kyrgyz media that Uighurs have been involved in criminal activities connected with separatists who want to set up an independent Uighur state in China\'s Xinjiang Province have harmed the Uighur community in Kyrgyzstan. He said he has sent a letter to the authorities about this problem. Officially, the Uighur population of Kyrgyzstan is 50,000, but unofficial sources say the number is twice that. (RFE/RL)