The Belt Road Project as A Triggering Element of the Securitization of the Uyghur Issue

Year 2022, Volume: 31 Issue: 1, 19 - 52, 15.04.2022

Göktürk Tüysüzoğlu Selim Kurt

Abstract

The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) is considered based on its ethnocultural, religious, and historical diversity. In its national security documents, known as the White Paper, China associates the region with extremism, separatism, and terrorism; and thus recognizes the Uyghurs as a threat. At the crossroads of OBOR’s (One Belt One Road) three separate land corridors, Xinjiang, which has a crucial place in Beijing’s hegemony-building process, is a region regarded critical from a geopolitical and geo-economics perspective. In this context, Beijing securitizes the Uyghurs, with whom China claims that its own values, political goals, and perception of the future are not compatible, from the “threat” point of view. This approach can also be interpreted through the conceptual elements envisaged by the Copenhagen School, such as immigration waves, horizontal and vertical competition, and depopulation.

Keywords

China, OBOR, Bingtuan, Copenhagen school, Securitization theory

Uygur Meselesinin Güvenlikleştirilmesini Tetikleyen Bir Unsur Olarak Kuşak Yol Projesi

Abstract

Sincan Uygur Özerk Bölgesi, sahip olduğu etno-kültürel, dinsel ve tarihsel farklılık ekseninde değerlendirilmektedir. Çin, White Paper olarak bilinen ulusal güvenlik belgelerinde, bölgeyi, aşırılıkçılık, ayrılıkçılık ve terör ile ilişkilendirmekte ve bu anlamda Uygurları bir tehdit olarak görmektedir. Pekin’in hegemonya inşa sürecinde çok önemli bir yeri olan Tek Kuşak Tek Yol Projesi’nin üç ayrı kara koridorunun bağlantı noktası olan Sincan, bu anlamda jeopolitik/jeoekonomik önemi kritik olarak değerlendirilebilecek bir bölgedir. Bu bağlamda, Pekin, kendi değerleri, siyasal hedefleri ve gelecek algısıyla uyum içerisinde olmadığını iddia ettiği Uygurları “tehdit” ekseninde güvenlikleştirmektedir. Bu süreç, göç dalgaları, yatay ve dikey rekabet ile nüfus azalması gibi Kopenhag Okulu’nun öngördüğü kavramsal unsurlarla da anlamlandırılabilmektedir.

Keywords

Çin, Tek Kuşak Tek Yol Projesi, Bingtuan, Kopenhag Okulu, Güvenlikleştirme teorisi

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