Anwar Yusuf Turani

Who is Anwar Yusuf Turani?

Anwar Yusuf Turani 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, 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" and was elected Prime Minister.