By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/oic1uighurs092609.html
UNITED NATIONS, September 28 -- As the UN General Assembly debate winds down, amid talk of repressed demonstrations this year in Iran and Honduras and elsewhere, almost nothing has been said about the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in western China.
Inner City Press on September 28 asked Ekmelledin Ihsanoglu, the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, for the OIC's action and views on what Ihsanoglu in his response diplomatically called the "July events." Video here, from Minute 40:18.
While expressing "concern and sadness," and saying that it is OIC's mandate to protect Muslim minorities, Ihsanoglu went out of his way to praise China's "very good record with the Muslim world." He said OIC is "keen to preserve good relations." It is this keenness, for many countries springing from economic interests, that has led to the striking absence of commentary about one of the summer's main international news stories, that of the Uighurs.
The keenness is not, according, returned. Unlike Russia, China has not even sought Observer status at the OIC, despite its Muslim population.
Ihsanoglu said that a delegation from the OIC was allowed to go to "Urumqi, only Urumqi, not Kashgar." Even with only this visit, he said the OIC has done more than any other group. He said other human rights watchdogs were silent, "I still don't understand." He answered Inner City Press, "Maybe you can help me to understand that." The answer is in Ihsanoglu's own phrase, being "keen to preserve good relations" with China.
Inner City Press also asked for OIC's view of the Egyptian minister candidate's loss for the top post at UNESCO, a question Ihsanoglu declined to answer before turning to another questioner. Inner City Press has also wanted to ask him about the killing of Boko Haram's leader in Nigeria, the fighting in Yemen, and calls for OIC action on Kashmir, regarding which a closed door meeting was held later on Monday in the UN's basement. Even Gaddafi in his speech mentioned Kashmir, making all the more notable the silence on the Uighurs.
