The City of Kashgar

An Oasis of the Silk Road on the Brink of Extinction
9.00 – 12.30, Thursday 27 January 2011
Brussels, Belgium

Two years into Beijing’s ‘Kashgar Dangerous House Reform’, and the Old City of Kashgar in East Turkestan, or China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), faces near total destruction. There is a pressing need to assess the damage incurred, implications for the region’s Uyghur population, and to identify ways in which damage can be mitigated.

To address this urgent need, Ms Frieda Brepoels MEP will convene a conference, ‘Kashgar: An Oasis of the Silk Road on the Brink of Extinction’ at the European Parliament in Brussels from 9.00–12.30 on 27 January 2011 in collaboration with the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) and the Belgian Uyghur Association.

The conference will provide a rare glimpse into one of the defining cultures of Central Asia and a city that has witnessed the passage of Tamerlane, Genghis Khan and Marco Polo. But for political reasons Beijing refuses to include Kashgar in a UNESCO application that would grant the city World Heritage status.

Discussions will explain the unique value of Kashgar’s townscape as a site of international architectural and historical significance, identify the city’s relevance to the Uyghur identity of the region, and place Beijing’s reconstruction plans in the context of its policies towards ethnic nationalities. A constructive debate drawing on European and international case studies will also assess what possibilities remain to protect a unique city from being lost forever.

More information on the event is available fromwww.unpo.org/article/12104

Venue
Room PHS 5B001
Paul-Henri Spaak Building
European Parliament
60 Rue Wiertz
Brussels
Belgium

Registration
Registration must be made before 16 January 2011.
To register, please send your full name, date of birth, place of residence, nationality, organisation to:
Email: gro.opnunull@wokcorke
All relevant information will also be provided at:
www.unpo.org/article/12104

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