Ankara outreach and requests for representation
The delegation asked Turkey to lead an international response to what the ETGE describes as China's occupation and alleged genocide in East Turkistan. Its requests covered diplomatic, parliamentary, and legal assistance, including support for an International Criminal Court (ICC) complaint and a UN decolonization petition.
Representatives of Anahtar Parti, AK Parti, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the Great Unity Party (BBP), the Republican People's Party (CHP), and the İYİ Party met with the delegation. Participants in the discussions included Yavuz Ağıralioğlu, Kürşad Zorlu, Mevlüt Karakaya, Dr. Cenk Özatıcı, Hakan Şeref Olgun, Prof. Dr. Ahmet Emin Serin, and Sultan Selim Şimşek. The ETGE delegation included members of its Parliament-in-Exile and the president of the East Turkistan National Fund.
A letter set out the delegation's requests, accompanied by a white paper titled "East Turkistan Was Never a Part of China and Restoring Its Independence Is the Only Way Forward." The ETGE also sought observer status in the OTS and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), asking for representation for East Turkistan's people in both Turkic and Muslim forums.
ETGE President Dr. Mamtimin Ala said the people of East Turkistan should determine their future without outside control. He urged Turkey and other Turkic and Muslim nations to sustain diplomatic backing for independence and international justice. During the outreach, the ETGE awarded its Order of Friendship to several individuals and organizations in recognition of their awareness-raising work and support for East Turkistan's freedom and independence.
The legal initiatives behind the appeal
The Washington, D.C.-based ETGE was established on September 14, 2004. Alongside President Mamtimin Ala, its leadership includes Prime Minister Abdulahat Nur and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Security Salih Hudayar.
The ICC complaint dates to July 6, 2020, when the ETGE and the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement filed it jointly. According to an ETGE press release, the ICC Prosecutor announced on December 14, 2020, that the jurisdictional evidence was insufficient at that stage to open an investigation, while leaving open that possibility if further evidence were submitted and considered.
More than 60 parliamentarians from 16 countries affiliated with the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China backed the genocide complaint, according to Wikipedia.
The two organizations also submitted a petition to the UN Special Committee on Decolonization (C-24) on May 5, 2026. They requested that East Turkistan be added to the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.
Summit declaration leaves East Turkistan unmentioned
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hosted the 13th OTS Heads of State Summit in Ankara on October 29-30, 2026, under the theme "Turkic Century: Unity in Language, Thought and Deed." Turkey assumed the organization's rotating chairmanship from Azerbaijan.
The summit adopted the 163-point "Ankara Declaration," which recognized Hungary, Turkmenistan, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as OTS observers. East Turkistan was not mentioned, and the summit announced no observer status for the ETGE.
A separate observer-status request in the declaration concerned the OTS itself, not the exile government. Member states were urged to step up joint efforts to obtain that status for the organization at the UN General Assembly and the OIC.
The declaration named Uzbekistan as the host of the 14th OTS Summit in 2027. Kyrgyzstan also offered to host the organization's informal summit that year.
