The Counter-Terrorism Center of Kazakhstan published a report on the threats posed by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement.
The organization, also known as the Islamic Party of Turkestan (IPT), is the "Oscar winner" of the world of extremism. It has been recognized as a terrorist by both countries, including Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, and the United Nations and the European Union have included it on their sanctions lists.
Kazakh speakers claim that the goal of the IPT is "the separation of Xinjiang from China and the creation of an independent state called "East Turkestan".
The geography of the intentions is consistent with the UN's wording, but not everyone agrees with it. For example, a 2006 US Counterterrorism Office report found that the appetite of terrorists is much wider than Chinese autonomy.
The document describes the IPT as "the most militant of the ethnic Uyghur separatist groups," and its "East Turkestan" is a territory that, in addition to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in western China, "will include Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan."
Speaking only of the separatist intentions of terrorists, the authors of the report of the Counter-Terrorism Center in Kazakhstan mildly state: "It would be illogical to consider that [IPT] is only a problem of China." In this context, they call for consideration of four potential directions of the threat posed by the IPT: "attempts to use the country's territory as a transition axis, spreading radical propaganda via the Internet, recruiting people to foreign terrorist structures and creating channels of financial support."
We do not know why the report appeared now. But we well remember that Turkey is actively pursuing the Uighur issue, and turning it against China. On the map of the great Turan, Xinjiang is colored in so-called colors.