Turkistan Islamic Party

Turkistan Islamic Party Full Name: Turkistan Islamic Party Alias: Turkistan Islamic Movement East Turkestan Islamic Movement Origin: Western China Foundation: 1988 headquarters North Waziristan, Pakistan Commanders: Abdullah Mansour Goals: Establish an independent state called "East Turkestan" in Xinjiang, China (ongoing) Crimes: Terrorism Mass murder Xenophobia War crimes Arson Suicide bombings

The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) (Arabic: الحزب الإسلامي التركستاني‎, romanized: ālḥzb ālإslāmy āltrkstāny) or Turkistan Islamic Movement (TIM), formerly known as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and other names, is an Islamic extremist organization founded by Uyghur jihadists in western China, considered broadly as a terrorist group. Its stated goals are to establish an independent state called "East Turkestan" in Xinjiang. According to a Chinese report, published in 2002, between 1990 and 2001 the ETIM had committed over 200 acts of terrorism, resulting in at least 162 deaths and over 440 injuries. The UN Security Council Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee has listed ETIM as a terrorist organization since 2002.

Background

Since the September 11 attacks, the group has been designated as a terrorist organization by China, the European Union, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and formerly the United States. Its Syrian branch Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria is active in the Syrian Civil War. They are allied with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and possibly with the Taliban.

The NEFA Foundation, an American terrorist analyst foundation, translated and released a jihad article from ETIM, whose membership it said consisted primarily of "Uyghur Muslims from Western China." The East Turkestan Islamic Movement's primary goal is the independence of East Turkestan. ETIM continues this theme of contrasting "Muslims" and "Chinese", in a six-minute video in 2008, where "Commander Seyfullah" warns Muslims not to bring their children to the 2008 Summer Olympics, and also saying "do not stay on the same bus, on the same train, on the same plane, in the same buildings, or any place the Chinese are".

Terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna has said that ETIM is closely associated with the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), and that there are "many sympathizers and supporters" of ETIM in the WUC. China has accused the WUC of orchestrating the 2009 ethnic violence in Urumqi; similarly, Gunaratna said that one of ETIM's aims is to "fuel hatred" and violence between the Han and the Uyghur ethnic groups, adding that it represented a threat to China and the Central Asia region as a whole.