Population movement and settlement policy in Eastern Turkistan (1949-1976)

In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party captured all the lands, which especially in Central China dominated during the Qing Dynasty and the Kuomintang period. In such a way it came to power and implemented a series of political programs with the aim of strengthening of its own administration in the next period. On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China, which establishing was officially proclaimed at the same date, took over the administration in the East Turkestan. As of this date the Beijing administration that was taking steps toward the full implementation of the communist system in the East Turkestan firstly started to liquidate all those who opposed the regime in this region. However, the discomfort felt from the arbitrary treatments in the region caused the people to revolt from time to time, and the Communist government ruthlessly suppressed all kinds of the rebellion movements by using its force. As of September 1, 1955, East Turkestan was declared "Xingjian Uyghur Autonomous Region" and its administrative status was determined. In the period after 1955, the project of the resettlement of the Chinese immigrants to the region, which started in the 1930s, was carried out by the Communist Party, but this time the transfer of the population to the region was intensified. Where and for what purpose the immigrant Chinese were settled in the East Turkestan by the Central Chinese Government is still a much-debated issue these days. The ethnic Chinese population, which constituted 5% of the East Turkestan population as of 1952, reached 45% in the 2000s, and today this rate has exceeded 50%. With this study, it was tried to reveal how the Chinese Communist Party changed the demographic structure of the region through the immigrant Chinese settled in the East Turkestan. In the post-1949 period, when he region was totally governed by colonial logic, it was also tried to put forward the Chinese Communist Party policy, which aimed the establishing of a permanent Chinese administration in the region with the assimilation of all the people. With this study, an effort has been made to expose the Chinese Communist practices in the Turkestan which in the name of history, culture, religious life, education and population planning caused many distortions such as abortion and nuclear tests, as well as to represent the reaction of the region people to these practices.