Two Books Decry the Uyghur Tragedy in China

July 15, 2022

Mr. Turkel, himself a Uyghur and the first Uyghur-American to rise to a political position in the U.S. .. . . styles his book a “memoir,” but his own hair-raising story is only one of many he tells. He was born in 1970, in a prison camp, his pregnant mother—only 19—having been imprisoned because her father had been involved in Uyghur politics before the Communists took power. She was so ill-fed in jail that she could scarcely breastfeed her son. Before giving birth, she had been hit on her swollen belly by a guard.

Mr. Turkel did well at school and at age 25—in 1995—left China for studies in the U.S., never to return. He went to law school and cofounded the Uyghur Human Rights Project, an advocacy group based in Washington.

Read the full article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/two-books-decry-the-uyghur-tragedy-in-china-review-ilhan-tohti-nury-turkel-11657897576