Thread by @mvolkankasikci

I am now hundred percent sure that there is no boundary for human stupidity. I am the one who wrote this activity report and "Atajurt volunteers" which frequently appear in it basically means me and Atajurt supporters" which appear only ones are a dozen Kazakhs who live in NY.

https://twitter.com/dancohen3000/status/1288285855048708104

Who am I? A PhD candidate at Arizona State University who lives on a contract for 18.500 dollars for a year, who thinks twice before having a dinner at an average restaurant for 15 dollars, but who can live relatively comfortably in Kazakhstan where I have been doing my research

Atajurt, on the other hand, has finally closed its office in Almaty due to lack of money. For about three years, Atajurt has struggled to keep going despite enormous state pressure and financial difficulties, often its volunteers were barely surviving.

Let me give an example. Our operator, Galym Raqyzhan, is one of the volunteers who has dedicated his life to this cause. His own father was imprisoned in Xinjiang. He was one of the few who was getting some money from Atajurt because he was working full time for this job.

His "salary" was 150.000 tenges (approximately 360 dollars) and he was trying hard to support his 3 children with this money. At one point he was so upset, because he had no energy or money left, I lended him 50.000 tenges whic was a very significant amount for him.

Atajurt's not only documented the crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, but did its best to provide a basic material help to dozens of families who were literally on the edge of hunger threshold. Do you know what happens to a wife with several children when husband is imprisoned?

Do you have any idea how miserably these people live? If you are curious, you can just come to Kazakhstan and meet with hundreds of people whose family members are innocently detained in Xinjiang's camps and prisons + a few dozen ex-detainees themselves. Anything we do is public.

It is unbelievable that for these people human agency means nothing. Probably they have never seen a group of people who devote themselves to save their relatives and their people despite all the difficulties. They can only think of "being funded". Come here, I can be your guide

We traveled to provinces to document this tragedy. Once we were in such a tiny and poor village house in Taldykorgan that even I (who is coming from a middle class family in Turkey with connections to village life) felt quite uncomfortable. I tried not to use the "restroom".

Then at night, we stayed at an apartment whose host wanted to take care of us. I don't exactly remember, but probably there were more than 20 people sleeping in a three-room apartment that night. I wonder where were the American organizations who "fund" us then.

Then as I always do once in a semester I went back to Arizona. On March 10, 2019, our leader Serikjan was detained in Kazakhstan. Chinese pressure over Kazakhstan was huge. We started an international campaign for his release. There was no hope within Kazakhstan.

I changed my return ticket and I first went to New York and DC to help Serikjan and in general to publicize Atajurt's work. I paid for my own ticket, later I got a portion of it from Atajurt. In New York, there were a dozen Kazakhs who had been supporting us.

That is how we fund-raised. Generous Kazakhs who were concerned for their kin in Xinjiang. Some Kazakhs living in other countries who earn dollars or euros. Even Turkish taxi drivers in Germany. Serikjan himself was a businessman and well-to-do, he spent quite a lot himself.

Anyway, these Kazakhs met me in New York. They paid for an average, but comfortable hotel for me. They helped and accompanied me in New York. We had hosted so many journalists and activists in Almaty, hence I had some contacts.

I visited for example New York Times. I had a nice, but informal chat with two China correspondents. Just introduced Atajurt. I had already talked to Austin Ramzy about Serikjan's detention, so my visit to New York Times was just a nice meeting without a concrete result.

Then I took the bus to DC to visit human rights organizations' offices. I stayed at a hostel in DC in a room for 4 because we did not have money to spend for a hotel room. At first night I was so tired that I had nightmares and screamed. Thanks God my Russian roommate was nice.

I know Uyghur academics in Turkey, so I reached Omer Kanat from Uyghur Human Rights Project. He was so kind to me, helped to organize a few meetings. I visited Amnesty International for example, but Human Rights Watch was too busy to meet me.

Then someone at UHRP suggested me to visit NED. I said my goal was to visit as many organizations as possible and introduce our organization and publicize the brutal Chinese policies in Xinjiang. It was already quite late, people were leaving when we arrived NED.

At NED, I met an Uyghur guy who was just an ordinary employee there without any authority. And ironically, he was quite uninterested in our organization. I felt he was treating me like "I have no idea why you are here". We chatted a little about different topics in Turkish.

Yes, as funny as it sounds, this is the whole story of NED "funding" Atajurt in Kazakhstan. It is so shameful to charge people who devote their lives to save other lives as volunteer, because they feel the pain of innocent victims. It may sound too alien to you, I am aware.

Ah sure, also Eurasianet part. Firstly, I have no idea who funds Eurasianet. What I know is that it is supported by Harriman Center and any academic or journalist working on the Eurasian region would know it since it is one of few English-language media organs covering the region

Their editor heard that I was in New York and wanted to meet me. My flight back to Kazakhstan was from New York. I came back from DC, met him in a cafe and then went to the airport. I didn't know he was gonna publish our conversation like an interview.
eurasianet.org/chinese-camp-s…

Ah by the way, I had a panini and a drink there for I guess about 10 dollars which I could afford with my TA salary, I didn't need CIA to fund me to eat a panini. Maybe that is too bourgeoisie, I don't know. Sorry If I offend you for being able to afford a panini.

At the time I was planning to write an op-ed on Gulag analogies for Chinese camps. I told this to Justin, he said they would be happy to publish it and even pay me, if I am not wrong 150 dollars (holly shit, what a funding!). Then he did not respond my e-mails for months.

By then, thanks to my volunteer work with Atajurt, I knew quite a number of journalists, academics etc. I looked for an outlet to publish my article. Nobody helped. Finally, I found a Middle-Eastern think tank through a Turkish friend to publish it.
research.sharqforum.org/2019/05/14/is-…

Then I returned to Kazakhstan on March 25. I was worried to get deported. I was not. But then, Atajurt guys told me the secret service could also interrogate me, it was kind of dangerous for me in Kazakhstan. I left for Turkey on March 29 without even letting my parents know.

I stayed for about a month in Istanbul at my friends, went to Ankara for a week to see other friends. I tried to publicize Atajurt in Turkey too, nobody was interested. I gave an interview at a very minor TV. Then spent another month at my parents' and returned Kz in June.

Ahhh I forgot Apply Daily. While I was in DC, a female journalist was there and she learned I was in DC too (maybe from UHRP or from Amnesty guys, I can't remember). I met them in a park. It was my first time in DC. I was so freezing and we were doing the interview in a park.

Hong Kong journalist knew next to nothing about Xinjiang. Quite accidentally, we had that interview and she got more and more interested in the topic. But guess what? I was frozen for 2 hours, but that interview was never published. Just like my interview with SCMP in New York.

And finally, I wrote this activity report. It was first and foremost to provide some hope for Atajurt volunteers and testifiers. I tried to show how the world was caring for them even though it was usually not the case.

And of course I exaggerated. For example, I met with Sean Roberts in a bar in DC whom I knew before; but then I wrote "Atajurt volunteers met with academics from George Washington University" instead of writing Mehmet chatted with Sean Roberts.

Yes, this is the story of my New York and DC trip. I don't remember how many times I asked journalists or people from other organizations if they could support these miserable people a little bit. Every time they refused. A few of them later personally donated little money.

They did interviews, collected information, wrote their stories and got promotions; while people whom they interviewed continued to live in misery. The ex-detainees you see on BBC or CNN still live in misery. They don't have money to see a doctor.

Gene Bunin worked so hard to raise funds for some of the ex-detainees to have medical examinations. That was the only source for many people.

And these bastards are talking about NED or CIA funding Atajurt. Guys, just go fuck yourself while we try to help people survive.

While this thread is getting some attention, I'd like to address Western journalists, academics etc. who frequently ignore Kazakhs, Uyghurs in their own struggle. Some Westerners act like as if this struggle is alive only thanks to Western researchers. We all have to thank them.

However valuable your work is, whatever efforts you have; you're the ones who earn money, get promotions-fame for your work and who live in safe countries. While these people are the ones who suffer, earn nothing, face pressure and who don't even get credit. This is their story.