Recently, one of the survivors of concentration camp dropped a shocking bomb, saying that they conflict with the Uyghur community over economic issues, and Zumrat Dawut said he would no longer testify for the Uyghur community for free, but the Uyghur community has not made any responses yet.
On March 22, Zumrat Dawut and Tursunay Ziyawudun went live on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/100034398679054/videos/213310121371611) one after another to express their discontent with the U.S. Uyghur community. According to Zumrat, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) funds the Uyghur community in the U.S. for their activities every year, but the community director, Elfidar Iltebir, actually never pays them. Tursunay Ziyawudun said that she, along with Zumrat Dawut and Mihry Mohamed l, went to the U.S. in early March to attend a mosque prayer event, which offered each of them $500, but Elfidar Iltebir insisted on a total of $500 for the three of them, triggering strong discontent among the three camp survivors. Zumrat Dawut and others stressed that they would only participate in future testifying activities on their own, and if the Uyghur community wanted them to cooperate, they must pay all the costs related to the activities (including round-trip airfare, room and board, transportation costs, etc.).
Our reporter learned that the Uyghur community had not made any response to this and is now inviting other camp survivors such as Gulbahar Haitiwaji to participate in the testifying activities in the U.S. On March 28, Zumrat Dawut went on another live broadcast, stating that he hasn’t received any invitation from the Uyghur community for hearing activity, and that’s why himself, along with Mihry Mohamed and Tursunay Ziyawudun didn’t show up. He also emphasized that there was no conflict between the nine camp survivors and it is that someone (i.e. the Uyghur community director) deliberately stirred up conflicts.
We will continue to follow up to grasp the relevant inside information, and would welcome timely contributions from those in the know. Our email address is bahadirelsever@gmail.com
