The World Uyghur Congress at 20: Navigating Leadership for Global Advocacy
The World Uyghur Congress (WUC), a global umbrella organisation of the Uyghur people headquartered in Munich (Germany), completed two decades of its creation in April 2024. As described in the official webpage of the WUC, its objective is "to promote democracy, human rights and freedom for the Uyghur people and to use peaceful, non-violent, and democratic means to determine their political future." Despite the sanctions and Chinese excesses against the Uyghur people and their diasporic leaders, the WUC has been able to air the Uyghur views to mobilise international opinion in favour of hapless Uyghurs, who have been suppressed and oppressed by China in the last seven decades or so.
Since its inception in April 2004, the WUC was led from the front by Erkin Aleptkin, the "living lexicon" of the Uyghur movement and the worthy son of the tallest Uyghur leader, Isa Yusuf Aleptkin, who dexterously manned the Uyghur movement in Turkiye from the 1950s up till his death in 1995. Erkin Aleptkin was able to develop a good rapport with the sympathisers of Uyghurs across the globe, especially in the USA, Europe and Turkiye, besides convincing the policymakers in Western countries about the plight of the Uyghurs. He was elected as the first President of the WUC during the first General Assembly in 2004 and remained the Chief Advisor of this organisation from 2007 onwards for six years. The Octogenarian leader still commands tremendous respect in the WUC and among the Uyghurs across the globe.
Rebiya Kadeer, popularly known as the mother of Uyghur nationalism in the 21st century, succeeded Erkin Aleptkin as the President of the WUC in the second General Assembly of the organisation in the year 2006 and remained so for more than one decade. Upon her release from the Chinese jails and subsequent prominence in the American power corridor, she was made the President of the American Uyghur Congress in 2005. For a long time, she remained the symbol of the Uyghur movement across the globe, for which she got a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. In addition, she was popular among American funders, especially the National Endowment of Democracy (NED). When Rebiya ascended the WUC throne, many Uyghurs, even international observers, believed she would fill the vacuum (absence of a charismatic Uyghur leader) in the global Uyghur diaspora. However, she could not fit herself into the shoes of Isa Yusuf Aleptkin, even his son Erkin, because she lacked understanding of the Uyghur diaspora movement, political ingenuity and effective communication skills.
Some of Rebiya's close cohorts, like Dolkun Isa, manipulated this situation and later became the global face of the WUC. The last few years of Rebiya's leadership witnessed an undercurrent of power rivalry among the Young Turks in the global Uyghur diaspora. For example, analysts dubbed Seyit Tumturk (based in Turkey's Kayseri city) and Dolkun Isa (based in Munich) as the potential heirs to Rebiya. However, Dolkun finally won the race and became the WUC President during the organisation's sixth General Assembly. To many onlookers, Dolkun used the good office of Rebiya Kadeer and other influential Uyghur leaders in the diaspora to outsmart Seyit. The Dolkun-Seyit rivalry was corroborated when Seyit, who held important posts in the WUC, such as representative for three years and Vice President (for over a decade), did not get any portfolio during the Presidentship of Dolkun.
Dolkun Isa rose to prominence as the face of the Uyghur democratic resistance movement in Xinjiang against the Chinese throughout the 1980s to the most coveted position (the President of the WUC). He became a force to reckon with in the WUC after the World Uyghur Youth Organisation, led by him, merged with the East Turkestan National Congress in 2004 to establish the WUC. In the last two decades, he held important portfolios in the WUC, such as the Secretary-General in the first three General Assemblies, Chairman of the Executive Committee and General Secretary in the next couple of General Assemblies, before becoming its President in 2017 for more than half a dozen years until he opted to step down on August 5, 2024. The most significant advantage of Dolkun is that he is multilingual and has managed to win the confidence of Western lawmakers, scholars, funders, sponsors, and members of civil society organisations. He is known to be very close to the top leadership of the NED.
Now, since the WUC is holding its eighth General Assembly by the end of October this year (2024), during which the WUC will elect its new President, the present Vice President Erkin Ekrem, a Professor at Hacettepe University in Ankara (Turkiye), is entrusted with the responsibility as interim President of the organisation for the next two and half months. In all possibilities, Omer Kanat, a Washington-based Uyghur leader who has been part of the Uyghur diaspora movement and held important posts in the WUC, could be a frontrunner. In addition, another Uyghur leader from Turkiye, who lost his chance to Dolkun in 2017, may have risen to the occasion is Seyit Tumturk.
However, the dark horse is Ms. Rushan Abbas, as a few Uyghurs told this author. Rushan has lived in the USA since 1989 and has many advantages. Rushan is accepted by the old guards of the global Uyghur diaspora, especially in the USA and Europe. Further, she is also close to the leadership of the NED, the primary funder of the WUC. She could be another Uyghur woman leader after Rebiya Kadeer and hold such a prestigious position amongst the diaspora. Rushan, too, enjoys the confidence of her predecessor, Dolkun Isa, who still has considerable clout among the diaspora. In addition, Rushan's election as President will mellow down the controversy over sexual allegations against a couple of top leaders of the WUC. Even though she has not held any official position in the WUC, she has been a prominent Uyghur woman activist fighting for the cause of East Turkistan. She was the female face of the pro-democratic movement in Xinjiang University in the 1980s. Her husband, too, has been holding important portfolios in the WUC since its inception.
Now, the time has come for the WUC to choose a President who is widely accepted across the Uyghur diaspora. The new President should not only embody the unity of the community but also be active, assertive, and determined to advance the WUC's primary objectives. This leadership transition comes at a time when the organization faces significant controversies, making it imperative to have a strong, decisive figure who can navigate these challenges while continuing to advocate for Uyghur rights on the global stage.