 Hello, my name is Turisman Ziawudun. I am a member of the Turkish Nationalist Association of Turkish-Lawry Arts. Hello everyone, my name is Turisman Ziawudun. I am a camp survivor from the China's concentration camps and I am from the Kunas region of Gholja city of East Turkistan. In total I stayed in the concentration camps for a year, first time it was a month and a half and second one was 10 and a half months, so one year I spent one year of my life in concentration camps. Because my husband was a Kazakh citizen I went to Kazakhstan and stayed there five years and then when I came back to my homeland to visit I didn't know what was going on that was 2017 and I was arrested. So in my first 15 and a half months in the concentration camps I stayed in the concentration camps for a year The first 15 and a half months in the concentration camps was very hard, there were around 1000 people with me in that camp. The condition was very horrible, for example the food was cooked by the Chinese cook so we were given alcohol, we were given bacon or pork products and we were forced to eat those things. Of course I wasn't used to those foods and by time I got sick and my stomach had very severely impacted and I was hospitalized and I was released and then I stayed outside not in the camp till 2018 and I was taken back again to the concentration camps. The city I was in is Kunas region. Before I was taken back for the second time my older brothers and my younger brother they were also taken to the concentration camps and so many people from our region were taken that the city was almost empty. The city of Kholja is usually very crowded, however it was like a war looking ghost city. There were armed police everywhere, they were like tanks and it turned to something totally different to very fast. When I was in the concentration camps, I was told that I was going to be taken back to the concentration camps. I was taken back to the concentration camps and I was taken back to the concentration camps. So the second time when I was taken and it was much different, the previous one was at least, it was like a school-like building but second time it was like a real prison. There were armed police everywhere like watchtowers and it was much much big crowd. I think it might be, you know, holding around 10,000 people because there were big buildings and I witnessed so many horrible stories but I will just talk about a couple of them now. I was taken back to the concentration camps and I was taken back to the concentration camps and I was taken back to the concentration camps. Then I was taken into the concentration camps and I was taken back to the concentration camps. I was born in a village in the middle of the mountains. I was 70 years old. I was 18 years old when I was born. But I was born in a village in the middle of the mountains. I was born in a village with a lot of strength. I was born in a village. We were very crowded. So many ladies stayed with us. In that room, we were not allowed to go outside for going to the bathroom, the restrooms. There was a small red bucket in the corner. And that was our restroom. And everything was being watched by everyone. At the beginning, we were learning intense Chinese and other propaganda. The condition was terrible. As I said, we couldn't shower for months. And finally they allowed us to take a shower. But it was very cold water that there were some old ladies couldn't adjust. And when you reject or say something against to the police, you also get punished. So our daily life was like that. If you get sick in there because of that bad condition, you never get treated. Some old ladies have their fevers. They get very sick, but they're never given medicines. So it was those kind of, you know, environment. Also, they started to take us time to time for questioning room and questioning interrogating us, asking lots of questions. Sometimes some ladies, you know, they leave the room for questioning and they never come back. Some comes back and very quiet, don't talk to anyone. Some lose their conscious. It's very hard to continue your life in those camps, in those cells. And one day they also called me. They always told me that I'd be in a hospital if I'm not good in the process. After I got my tômênt, I left the hospital. I was very tired. I also got an injection. So I had to double check. And I managed to get a doctor in front of the hospital. I got the shot, I saved up my life, so I was able to go to the hospital. I was so scared that I had to go to the hospital. And they said that I couldn't go to the hospital. I came in and I told them that I was going to burn his house. I told them that I was going to burn it because they wanted me to burn it They tried to kill me and I told them that I was going to do something but I told them that i was going to burn the house I said to my brother that i wanted to burn it So I was a little younger, I could take it, but there were very old ladies that I could not un-seen those memories from my memory. Those ladies didn't even have enough hair on their head, they don't even have tea. They were very old and because they don't speak Chinese, time to time they speak Uyghur language and they get punished because of speaking our mother tongue. So basically speaking your own language, showing anything related to your religion, anything related to your identity, Uyghur identity was banned and being punished in there. It's very hard to continue your life in there. One of those days in the interrogation room, I was also questioned. The questions they asked, she said earlier, that, you know, if you went to overseas, who did you meet with, did you contact any organizations, what did you do and those kind of questions. Once I was a little against what they said and I was also bitten and kicked, tortured. So besides all this what's going on, at night they started to take us for questioning or I don't know what are the reasons. Young girls were taken by the unfamiliar faces of some Chinese men in black suits, they come and they're not the regular police there and called some ladies by name and they take them out. Some never comes back, some comes back as losing their conscious, some they lose their mind, some are like very heavy bleeding. So I thought they were being tortured and one day they also called me and another young lady. One day the police called me and another Uyghur girl who is only 21 years old who is unmarried, she was so beautiful, we both were called to the dark room. I witnessed her being raped in front of my eyes, she was screaming and begging and after that she was like lost her conscious, she was in herself, she cried every day and it's very hard to handle, don't want to talk about the details. Even when she was released multiple times she was called by the Chinese government officials for their alcohol night parties, she had to go and multiple times she contacted me to help her but there was nothing I could do. I too actually went through the same fate with her that I was also called at night and went through what she went through. So in 2018 I was called for questioning again until that I lost my hope of living, she said earlier, I wanted to die, there was no reason to live for me but I was called one day and questioned. There was one lady who stayed there for so long but she got pregnant in there and she was also punished and then they also called all the ladies there and sterilized. In 2018 December 25th 6th I was released because my husband who is Kazakhstan citizen were advocating and trying to get me out and contacted the government officials. On my last night in the camp some of the girls knew that I was going to go, I was going to leave the camp so they admired me because it was my last day. We took turns to sleep, a couple of people stayed awake to look and watch and that day I wanted to take that responsibility because I was going to be released next day and I could sleep but even for that I got punished and the police were asking me why giving your turn towards someone else. Today I was released, I was supposed to be happy that horrible life was going to end and I was going to be free, however I was not. I thought about those girls who cried and stayed with me in my cell and my brothers were also in the same camps and when I was living I remember clearly it was snowing that day my feet was moving very hardly and my brother from one of the windows called like sister and I look back and I felt terrible that I was living and he was staying not just my brothers I had my cousins my relatives in those camps so I couldn't be happy of couldn't share the happy feelings of living knowing that all my brothers and sisters still in the camp stayed behind me. I didn't know what was going on when I was in the camp but my husband was contacting media and giving testimonies about me being in the camp when Chinese government gave me my passport and I traveled to Kazakhstan that's then I learned how I was able to escape. I was released under the condition of coming back in three months so I signed papers and once I came to Kazakhstan first I was still afraid and scared and I thought I was going to go back but then by time I had to speak I had to share the truth so I give some part of my experience as a testimony to some of the reporters right after my testimony I started to getting threatening messages from Chinese police they even tried to burn my house in Kazakhstan. I didn't know what was going on. I was very scared and I had to go back to Kazakhstan and I was scared and I came back. Thank God I was very scared. I was very scared and I was very scared and I had to go back. So the US government, America helped me to come to Turkey, and from Turkey I came to US. I was very sick when I came. I was able to get treatment, luckily here in the US. I went through major surgeries, the trauma, and I got treated here. I am living now. However, you know, I'm still like a dead person, but I need to speak up. I need to still share what I went through. For example, when my brother was taken to the camp, so the Chinese, the home state policy was active, and Han Chinese came to my brother's house and stayed with my sister-in-law, and basically, in a summary, ruined their family as well, separated their family. So the Chinese government's clear intention is sterilize us, intention is decrease the population of Uyghurs, intention is eradicating Uyghurs, and I realized that and I said to myself that I need to speak up. So as a camp survivors, we were in that fire. We were inside those camps, and we have the pain until now. Every day we deal with this trauma. We cannot forget what we went through. What we demand from you guys is we are brothers and sisters. We have the same religion. We have the same fate. We shouldn't stop. Now you know what we went through. Basically, what we're trying to do is we have eye witness what the Chinese government is doing to Uyghurs, brothers, sisters. We expect others to do the same, help us take an action, pray for us, and help Uyghur Muslims in China. Thank you.