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When the Chinese Communist regime tries to resist the truthful exposure of its genocidal policy against the Uyghurs, it sometimes experiences the opposite effect. This is exactly what happened in the case of Albanian journalist Olsi Jazexhi (pictured), who came to East Turkistan — now called the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of the People’s Republic of China — at the invitation of its government, with the firm intention of exposing the «lies and rumors of Western propaganda» about the persecution of the Uyghurs. But something went wrong…

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Well, not immediately. Initially, Jazexhi was full of positive impressions from the tour organized for him and his colleagues by the Chinese escorts, as can be seen from his reports from a week ago (at the time of this publication) [link to YouTube channel]. That’s not surprising, since the emphasis was on the XUAR’s successes in economic development, the transformation of deserts into flourishing oases, and the impression was reinforced by the numerous dancing and smiling Uyghurs presented by the Chinese escorts to the observers from a dozen countries.

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However, when they paid closer attention to the details and facts, their impressions began to change… For example, Jazexhi explains that he was disturbed by the emphasis on the official Chinese view of the Uyghur problem. In particular, according to the white paper distributed to the delegation members, while Xinjiang has always been Chinese, the Uyghurs themselves are portrayed as a foreign population — immigrants. Moreover, Islam is described in the document not as a traditional religion of China, despite its centuries-long presence in the country and the formation of the Chinese Islamic tradition, but as a religion of Arab and Turkish conquerors alien to Chinese culture.

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Doubts that the life of the Uyghurs is not as smooth as presented by their Chinese comrades began to grow after the journalist, during a tour of the historic center of Urumqi, separated from the Chinese escorts and discovered that all the historic mosques in the area were closed. Later, during Friday prayers, when some of the mosques open, he discovered that only a small number of specially selected elderly people were present — no young people, women or children. But the biggest shock for the journalists awaited them in the so-called educational (re-education) centers, which the Chinese Communists had the intelligence to establish…

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In general, it should be noted that Jazexhi was initially not only positive about the Chinese version of the situation in XUAR, but also justified it in a global context. In particular, he considered the policy of «Sinicizing Islam» in the XUAR, about which the Chinese had informed him and for which a special Islamic center had been created, as analogous to the efforts of other contemporary states such as Austria, France, and so on. However, upon arriving at the so-called educational or preventive centers where this policy is implemented in practice, he realized that all these words were nothing but a cover for the brutal crushing not only of the Uyghur Islamic identity but also of their individuality.

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In particular, in conversations with people placed in these centers, including teenagers, he discovered that they were sent there for observing the most basic and «harmless» aspects of Islam, such as ritual prayer (salat, namaz), fasting, wearing the hijab, reading the Quran, or entering into a religious marriage (nikah). But the most shocking thing in these conversations was that all the people who ended up in these so-called centers because of their devotion to Islam, upon leaving, declared that they were no longer Muslims, repented of their past, and declared their faith in the Communist Party of China (CPC) and its ideals.

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Beneath the mask of the mechanically smiling and dancing residents of these centers, Jazexhi and his colleagues saw broken and completely reprogrammed individuals. The shock of what they saw was so strong that tears could not be held back not only by Muslim observers, but also by Hindus, who were astonished that Muslims were not merely restricted in some rights, as is the case in India, but were completely deprived of their religion and individuality, being subjected to experiments like Pavlov’s dogs. The Albanian journalist firmly believes that these «centers» are nothing more than concentration camps, drawing parallels between them and the «re-education camps» that existed in his native Albania under Enver Hoxha.

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This tyrant, who completely banned any religion in Albania, also set himself the task of raising «a new generation completely free of any religious prejudice,» for which children taken from religious families were sent to such institutions for their «re-education. Orwell’s famous book «1984» is almost entirely consistent with what the Albanian journalists saw in these camps. According to the Chinese collaborators, who could not understand what he was confused about, there are currently 500,000 people in these camps. In practice, however, this means that absolutely all Uyghurs, especially young people who show any signs of Islamic identity, end up in them.

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In general, as Jazexhi describes, once the initial image of a Chinese-Uyghur idyll evaporates, it becomes clear that the population of the XUAR consists of two main categories: an increasing number of arriving Chinese (Han), who occupy all the leadership positions and behave like self-confident overseers, and completely intimidated Uyghurs, who are afraid of absolutely everything. What to believe in, how to dress, where to go, who to be friends with, what to do — the price for the slightest mistake in any of these matters can be ending up in a camp where a person’s psyche is completely broken. According to Jazexhi, it was inconceivable to imagine the existence of such a thing in the 21st century. It should be emphasized once again that this person is not only skeptical of Western policies, but also believes that the West is trying to use the Uyghur card exclusively for its own purposes. However, he is convinced that neither this nor anything else can justify what he has seen with his own eyes. For those who understand English, you can watch his report in two parts at the links below: [link to YouTube Part 1] [link to YouTube Part 2].