Nury Turkel
نۇرى تۈركەل
Member of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
Assumed office
May 26, 2020[1][2]
President of the Uyghur American Association
In office
2004–2006
Personal details
Born
Nury Ablikim Turkel

1970 (age 53–54)[3]
Kashgar,[4][5] Xinjiang, China
NationalityAmerican
Spouse
Nazli Bilkic
​
(m. 2007)​
Children2
ResidenceWashington, D.C.[6]
Alma materNorthwest A&F University[4]
American University
OccupationLawyer,[1][6]
public official, human rights advocate
Known forFirst U.S.-educated Uyghur lawyer[1]
Former President of the Uyghur American Association
Chairman of the Board for the
Uyghur Human Rights Project
EthnicityUyghur

Nury Ablikim Turkel (/ˌtʊrˈkɛl/; Uyghur: نۇرى ئابلىكىم تۈركەل; Chinese: 努里·特克尔; pinyin: Nǔlǐ Tèkè'ěr; b. 1970) is an American attorney, public official, and human rights advocate based in Washington, D.C. He is currently Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

Turkel was born in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. After finishing his undergraduate in 1995, he moved to the United States. He is former president of the Uyghur American Association[7] and is currently serving as the chairman of the board for the Uyghur Human Rights Project.[8][9][10] In 2020, Turkel was appointed a USCIRF commissioner by then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Turkel is the first U.S.-educated Uyghur lawyer[1][11] and the first Uyghur American to be appointed to a political position in the United States.[12] In 2020, he was included on Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.[13][14]

He is the author of No Escape: The True Story of China's Genocide of the Uyghurs.

Early life

Turkel was born in a detention center[1][6][15][16] in Kashgar[4] (Kashi) during the Cultural Revolution.[17] Turkel's grandfather had been associated with Uyghur nationalists and his mother was interned when she was six-month pregnant. Turkel lived in the detention center for the first four months of his life.[15] Turkel's father was a professor and his mother was a businesswoman.[1][15] He completed his primary and middle school in his homeland. In 1991, he was admitted by Northwest A&F University in Shaanxi Province, China.[4] In 1995, Turkel received his BA and went to the United States for graduate education, never returning to China.[15][16] He has a MA in International Relations and a JD from American University.[4][17]

Career

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo meets with Commissioner Turkel and Chinese dissidents (July 2020)

On March 10, 2003, Turkel made a statement to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China on the worsening human rights situation in East Turkestan (Xinjiang) in the wake of the September 11 attacks.[18]

In 2003, Turkel co-founded the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) and has served as its chairman of the board.[5][17][19]

Between 2004 and 2006, Turkel served as president of the Uyghur American Association.[5][4][20] In March 2005 he organized and led a campaign to advocate for the release of Rebiya Kadeer.[17]

In May 2009 he defended a group of 17 Uyghurs who had been held in Guantánamo Bay since 2002.[21] He wrote that Uyghurs have faced discrimination and are not a threat to U.S. communities.[22][23]

In July 2009, after the July 2009 Ürümqi riots, he condemned alleged Chinese oppression of Uyghurs in Ürümqi, saying that "the Uyghurs literally lost anything that they had, even their native language and their own cultural heritage that they had been proudly adhering to. The economic pressure, social pressure, political pressure made the Uyghurs feel they had been suffocated by the communist regime.[24][25][26]

In April 2012, Turkel praised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for showing support and sympathy for the Uyghur people surrounding his trip to China in a way that was seen as rare among foreign leaders.[27][28] However, in July 2020, Turkel criticized Turkey for deporting Uyghur refugees to countries that then deported them to China.[29]

In early 2017, Turkel had considered visiting his hometown of Kashgar, but was advised by the US government not to travel.[15]

On August 10, 2018, the United Nations said that it has credible reports that China is holding a million Uighurs in secret camps.[30] After that, on August 22, 2018, the BBC interviewed Turkel regarding the reeducation camps issue in Xinjiang. He told BBC it was true that one million or more Uighurs are being held in so-called internment camps in his homeland and said that internees do not have access to legal rights or access to medical care.[31] In September 2018, Turkel testified about the Xinjiang re-education camps before the United States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and Nonproliferation.[32] Turkel successfully represented and provided legal assistance for Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress, restoring Isa's travel privileges to the United States and removing Isa's name from Interpol's Red Notice list.[17]

In September 2019, Turkel testified to the U.S. Congress that Uyghurs were being swept into a vast system of forced labor. Turkel said persons in the Xinjiang re-education camps are often moved to factories. Turkel urged Congress to ban the importation of cotton and textile products from Xinjiang until the end of internment and forced labor policies and the establishment of conditions for due diligence.[33]

In May 2020, Nury Turkel was appointed a commissioner on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom[17][34][35][36] by then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi who said of Turkel, "I am confident that he will continue to be a powerful voice for the Uyghur people and for the cause of justice around the world."[37] Later that summer, Turkel thanked Trump for signing the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act and further wrote that "It's a great day for America and the Uighur people."[38][39]

Turkel supported a July 2020 United States Department of Commerce announcement sanctioning eleven Chinese companies involved in alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang commenting that the decision, "will help ensure that the fruits of American innovation and industry are not inadvertently fueling outrageous religious freedom and labor violations."[40] Turkel commented in July 2020 about the U.S. sanctions imposed on the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) saying that they were a significant step and that for years Uyghur human rights advocates had been calling for sanctioning the organization.[41][42] Regarding sanctions of the XPCC, Commissioner Turkel commented that, "Now, no business can claim ignorance of China's oppression of the Uyghur people. We hope the sanctions signal to other Chinese officials that there are costs associated with taking part in the Communist Party's repression of religion. The world is watching and we know which officials and entities are responsible for the abuses against the Uyghur people."[43] In an August 2020 interview, Turkel described the camps as one of the worst global humanitarian crises and the largest incarceration of an ethnic minority since the Holocaust.[16] In mid 2020, Turkel urged the U.S. Congress to pass the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which would direct the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to presume that any goods produced in the Uyghur region are the product of forced labor.[44][3]

In September 2020, Turkel was named one of the Time 100 Most Influential People in the World.[13][14]

Personal life

Nury Turkel is a Muslim.[15][45] In 2007, he married Turkish American interior designer Nazli Bilkic. They have two children.[46]

Turkel is proficient in several languages, including Uyghur (his mother tongue), English, Turkish, and Mandarin Chinese.[47][48] [49]

Bibliography

  • Turkel, Nury (2022). No Escape: The True Story of China's Genocide of the Uyghurs. Toronto: Hanover Square Press. ISBN 978-1-335-46956-4.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "USCIRF Welcomes Appointment by Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Nury Turkel to U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom". United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. 26 May 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  2. ↑ "Justice For All Welcomes The Appointment Of Nury Turkel To USCIRF". 27 May 2020.
  3. 1 2 Turkel, Nury. "The U.S. Must Use the New Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act to Sanction Chinese Officials for Religious Persecution". Time. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Nury Turkel". Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 Elana Schor (6 June 2020). "Q&A: Nury Turkel on Uighurs and new religious freedom post". Associated Press. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 "Survivors of Religious Persecution at the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly". State Department. 22 September 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  7. ↑ "Nury Turkel: A Turkish Primer on Engaging Beijing". www.uhrp.org. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
  8. ↑ "Attorney Nury Turkel". www.chinafile.com. 5 April 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
  9. ↑ "The Uyghur Crisis in China: Adversity, Advocacy, Activism". UCLA Asia Pacific Center. 16 November 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  10. ↑ "Remarks at the 5th Biannual Congress of the Uyghur American Association by Nury Turkel". Uyghur American Association. 28 May 2006. Archived from the original on 9 May 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  11. ↑ Leigh Hartman (23 June 2020). "Once interned in China, Uyghur American fights for religious freedom". ShareAmerica. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  12. ↑ "The Nexus with Art Swift 027". Event occurs at 1:00.
  13. 1 2 Dolkun Isa (22 September 2020). "Nury Turkel". Time. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  14. 1 2 "USCIRF Commissioner Nury Turkel Named to TIME's Annual TIME100 List of 100 Most Influential People in the World". United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. 22 September 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lisa Murray (14 December 2018). "Uighur lawyer Nury Turkel says Australia should sanction Chinese officials". The Australian Financial Review. Archived from the original on 21 July 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2020 – via Internet Archive.
  16. 1 2 3 Kenneth Bandler (17 August 2020). "The Uyghers' plight is a humanitarian crisis. More must be done to help". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Nury Turkel, Commissioner". United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  18. ↑ "OPEN FORUM ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE RULE OF LAW IN CHINA" (PDF). pp. 9–11, 39–41.
  19. ↑ "CPIFC Welcomes the Appointment of Mr. Nury Turkel to USCIRF". Citizen Power Initiatives for China. 27 May 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  20. ↑ "Nury Turkel". Human Rights Foundation. Archived from the original on 21 July 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  21. ↑ Nury A. Turkel (26 June 2008). "Uighur Justice". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  22. ↑ "Meet the real Uyghurs". www.foreignpolicy.com. Retrieved 20 May 2009.
  23. ↑ Michael Clarke (2016). Anna Hayes, Michael Clarke (ed.). Xinjiang from the 'outside-in' and the 'inside-out': exploring the imagined geopolitics of a contested region. Inside Xinjiang: Space, Place and Power in China's Muslim Far Northwest. p. 249. ISBN 978-1-317-67250-0 – via Google Books.
  24. ↑ "Uyghur Protests Widen as Xinjiang Unrest Flares". www.democracynow.org. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
  25. ↑ "Mr. Nury Turkel Lawyer, Eastern Turkestan, USA". www.a9.com.tr. Retrieved 8 July 2009.
  26. ↑ "Nury Turkel: Why Western leaders have failed the Uighurs". www.independent.co.uk. 7 July 2009. Retrieved 8 July 2009.
  27. ↑ Nury A. Turkel (19 April 2012). "A Turkish Primer on Engaging Beijing". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  28. ↑ "Xinjiang in China's Foreign Relations: Part of a New Silk Road or Central Asian Zone of Conflict?". Griffith University. pp. 18–19. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  29. ↑ Aykan Erdemir; Philip Kowalski (21 August 2020). "China Buys Turkey's Silence on Uyghur Oppression". Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  30. ↑ Stephanie Nebehay (10 August 2018). "U.N. says it has credible reports that China holds million Uighurs in secret camps". www.reuters.com. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  31. ↑ "'Mass murder' fear for Muslim Uighurs". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  32. ↑ "CHINA'S REPRESSION AND INTERNMENT OF UYGHURS: U.S. POLICY RESPONSES Written Testimony of Nury Turkel Chairman of the Board, Uyghur Human Rights Project" (PDF). US House of Representatives. 26 September 2018.
  33. ↑ "HEARING: Forced Labor, Mass Internment, and Social Control in Xinjiang" (PDF). Congressional-Executive Commission on China. 17 October 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  34. ↑ Leigh Hartman (23 June 2020). "Once interned in China, Uyghur American fights for religious freedom". U.S. Embassy in Denmark. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  35. ↑ "ICT welcomes Nury Turkel's appointment to US religious freedom commission". International Campaign for Tibet. 26 May 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  36. ↑ "Balance of Power: China's Treatment of Uyghurs (Podcast)". Bloomberg News. 29 June 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  37. ↑ "Pelosi Floor Speech in Support of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act". Speaker Nancy Pelosi U.S. House of Representatives. 27 May 2020. Archived from the original on 22 July 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  38. ↑ "China Warns of 'Countermeasures' After Trump OKs Bill to 'Punish' Country Over Ethnic Crackdown". News18. 18 June 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  39. ↑ Nury Turkel (8 June 2020). "The U.S. Must Use the New Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act to Sanction Chinese Officials for Religious Persecution". TIME. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  40. ↑ Richard Finney (20 July 2020). "US Sanctions 11 Chinese Firms for Human Rights Abuses in Xinjiang". Radio Free Asia. Translated by Alim Seytoff. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  41. ↑ Joshua Lipes (31 July 2020). "US Sanctions Key Paramilitary Group, Officials Over Abuses in China's Xinjiang Region". Radio Free Asia. Translated by Alim Seytoff. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  42. ↑ "USCIRF Applauds Global Magnitsky Sanctions Against Xinjiang Entity". United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. 31 July 2020. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  43. ↑ Linda Lew (24 August 2020). "Xinjiang's sprawling conglomerate may be biggest ever to face US sanctions". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  44. ↑ Nury Turkel; James W. Carr (26 August 2020). "Was Your Face Mask Made Using Forced Labor in China?". The Diplomat. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  45. ↑ Margaret Hagan (19 July 2010). "The human rights repertoire: its strategic logic, expectations and tactics" (PDF). International Journal of Human Rights. 14 (4): 575.
  46. ↑ Turkel, Nury (2022). No Escape: The True Story of China's Genocide of the Uyghurs. Toronto: Hanover Square Press. pp. 17, 54–55. ISBN 978-1-335-46956-4.
  47. ↑ "HHRG-115-FA05-Bio-TurkelN-20180926.pdf" (PDF). Congress.gov. 26 September 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  48. ↑ "Attorney Nury Turkel". www.chinafile.com. 5 April 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
  49. ↑ "INTERPOL Red Notice Attorney". www.estlundlaw.com. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
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