Erkin Alptekin

- born on 4 July 1939 -

Erkin Alptekin, son of Isa Yusuf Alptekin, the late General Secretary of the Provincial?? Government of Eastern Turkestan, was born on July 4, 1939 in Eastern Turkestan. After the occupation of Eastern Turkestan by the Chinese Communists in 1949, he sought refuge in Srinagar, Kashmir, India, with his parents. His schooling began in Urumchi, capital of Eastern Turkestan; graduated from Convent College in Srinagar, and the Institute of Journalism, in Istanbul, Turkey.

In 1971 he joined Radio Free Europe/Liberty, in Munich, Germany. He worked their as a Program Specialist, Senior Research Analyst, Asst. Director of the Nationality Services and Senior Policy Advisor to the Director of Radio Liberty. He asked for his early retirement when Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty decided to move to Prague, the Czech Republic, in 1995.

Erkin Alptekin has been effectively lobbying not only his own peoples cause but also the cause of many other nations, peoples, minorities and the indigenous peoples in the Western countries since 1971. Thus, he became one of three founders of the Allied Committee of the Peoples of Eastern Turkestan, Tibet and Inner Mongolia, in 1985, in Zürich, Switzerland. He is still the executive president of that organization. In 1991, with the support of some of his countrymen he founded the Eastern Turkestan Union in Europe (ETUE), in Munich, Germany. In 1991, he also became one of the founders of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), which has its seat in The Hague, Holland. Between 1991 and 2003, Mr. Erkin Alptekin served as the Vice Chairman, Chairman and the General Secretary of the UNPO. At present UNPO has 55 members representing almost 150 million people in the world. In 2000, together with Mr. Federico Mayor, the former Cultural Minister of Spain and Ms. Daniela Mitterrand, the former First Lady of France, he became one of the founders of the UBUNTU (Peace), in Barcelona, Spain.

At the founding convention of the World Uyghur Congress in April 2004 in Munich (Germany) which was attended by delegates of East Turkestan National Congress and World Uyghur Youth Congress from 13 different countries, Erkin Alptekins leading role for the Uyghur Freedom Movement was recognized and he was democratically elected as the first President of the WUC.

Erkin Alptekin is also on the advisory board of several international organizations situated in Asia, Europe and in the United States.

For the last 35 years Mr. Erkin Alptekin has attended more than 6,000 international conference world-wide on various topics; published numerous articles, research papers and brochures; and has been the focus of several Western presss media.

Erkin Alptekin is married and has a son. Besides his mother tongue Uighur, Erkin Alptekin speaks Turkish, English and German. He is a German citizen and resides in Germany.