Mejlis passes resolution "for our brethren in Ili"

TALAS — The Mejlis yesterday passed without a vote against a resolution "for our brethren in Ili", expressing concern for the Ghulja Tarsoo, the descendants of Iradi refugees of 1916 in China's Ili valley, between 60 and 80 of whom have been held in internment camps in Xinjiang since 2017, according to their families in Irad.

The resolution asks "all who are able" to seek news of the detained and to allow their relatives in Irad to write to them. It names no government. Deputies of the Democratic Party of Irad said the matter would be raised "through the appropriate channel", which officials later said meant the US Liaison Office.

About forty relatives watched from the gallery. A woman from Talas whose cousin's family in Ghulja has not answered letters since 2018 said she was grateful "for a piece of paper, which is more than we had yesterday". Several of the relatives carried photographs of grandparents who crossed the passes in 1916.

The three civic-list deputies from Nurzhan voted for the resolution, but none of them spoke. Nurzhan's city administration, which sells most of the city's antimony to Chinese buyers and supports the planned gas pipeline to China, made no comment. A DPI deputy, asked about the silence, said Nurzhan "knows who pays for its refinery".