二、新疆從來不是“東突厥斯坦”

　　突厥是6世紀中葉興起于阿爾泰山地區(qū)的一個游牧部落，于552年消滅柔然汗國，建立突厥汗國。583年，突厥汗國以阿爾泰山為界，分為東、西兩大勢力。630年，唐朝發(fā)兵擊敗東突厥汗國。657年，唐朝聯(lián)合回紇滅西突厥汗國，中央政權完全統(tǒng)一西域。682年，安置在北方的東突厥部眾反叛唐朝，一度建立了后突厥汗國政權。744年，唐朝與漠北回紇、葛邏祿等聯(lián)手平定了后突厥汗國?；丶v首領骨力裴羅因功被冊封為懷仁可汗，在漠北建立回紇汗國。突厥作為我國古代的一個游牧民族，也隨著汗國的消亡于8世紀中后期解體，并在西遷中亞西亞過程中與當?shù)夭孔迦诤?，形成多個新的民族，新的民族與古突厥民族有本質(zhì)區(qū)別。從此，突厥在我國北方退出歷史舞臺。

　　II. Xinjiang Has Never Been “East Turkistan”

　　The Turks (Tujue in Chinese) were nomads who originated in the Altai Mountains in the middle of the 6th century. The Turks annihilated the Rouran and established a Turkic khanate in 552, which split into two forces, settling on either side of the Altai in 583. The Tang Dynasty defeated the Eastern Turkic Khaganate (583-630) in 630, and joined forces with the Ouigours to eliminate the Western Turkic Khaganate (583-657) in 657, thus uniting the Western Regions under central rule. In 682, the remnants of the Eastern Turks that were relocated in the north rebelled against the Tang court and established the Second Turkic Khaganate (682-744). This was quelled by the Tang in 744 with the help of the Ouigour and Karluk peoples in Mobei (the area north of the vast deserts on the Mongolian Plateau). Kutlug Bilge Khagan, leader of the Ouigours, was granted a title by the Tang court, and established a khanate in Mobei. In the late 8th century, the nomadic Turks dissolved as its last khanate collapsed. They mixed with local tribes during their migration to Central and West Asia, but these newly formed peoples were fundamentally different to the ancient Turks. Ever since then, Turks have disappeared from China’s northern regions.

　　中國歷史上從來沒有把新疆稱為“東突厥斯坦”，更不存在所謂的“東突厥斯坦國”。18世紀至19世紀上半葉，隨著西方對阿爾泰語系突厥語族各種語言的劃分，一些國家的學者和作家頻繁使用“突厥斯坦”一詞，指代天山以南到阿富汗北部，大體包括新疆南部到中亞的地域，并且習慣以帕米爾高原為界，將這一地理區(qū)域分為“西突厥斯坦”和“東突厥斯坦”。19世紀末20世紀初，“泛突厥主義”“泛伊斯蘭主義”思潮傳入新疆以后，境內(nèi)外分裂勢力將這個地理名詞政治化，將其內(nèi)涵擴大化，鼓噪所有使用突厥語族語言和信奉伊斯蘭教的民族聯(lián)合起來，組成政教合一的“東突厥斯坦國”。所謂的“東突厥斯坦”論調(diào)，成為境內(nèi)外民族分裂勢力、國外反華勢力企圖分裂中國、肢解中國的政治工具和行動綱領。

　Never in Chinese history has Xinjiang been referred to as “East Turkistan”, and there has never been any state known as “East Turkistan”. From the 18th century to the first half of the 19th century, as the West made a distinction between the various Turkic languages (branches of the Altaic languages), some foreign scholars and writers coined the term “Turkistan” to refer to the region south of the Tianshan Mountains and north of Afghanistan, which roughly covered the area from southern Xinjiang to Central Asia. They called the two areas on either side of the Pamirs “West Turkistan” and “East Turkistan”. At the turn of the 20th century, as “Pan-Turkism” and “Pan-Islamism” made inroads into Xinjiang, separatists in and outside China politicized the geographical concept and manipulated its meaning, inciting all ethnic groups speaking Turkic languages and believing in Islam to join in creating the theocratic state of “East Turkistan”. The advocacy of this so-called state has become a political tool and program for separatists and anti-China forces attempting to split China.

　　三、新疆各民族是中華民族的組成部分

　　中華民族的形成與發(fā)展，是中原各族和文化同周邊諸族和文化連續(xù)不斷交往交流交融的歷史過程。先秦時期的華夏族群，經(jīng)過長期與周圍族群的多元融合，特別是經(jīng)過春秋戰(zhàn)國500余年大動蕩的交匯與融合，至秦漢之際，進一步與周圍族群融合為一體，形成以中原人口居多的漢族，并從此成為中國歷史進程的主體民族。魏晉南北朝時期，各民族尤其是北方少數(shù)民族向中原大遷徙，出現(xiàn)了大融合的局面。13世紀元朝建立，規(guī)?？涨暗恼谓y(tǒng)一局面推動了規(guī)?？涨暗拿褡暹w徙，形成了元朝境內(nèi)廣泛的民族雜居局面。中華各民族在長期發(fā)展中，最終形成大雜居、小聚居的分布特點。多民族是中國的一大特色，各民族共同開發(fā)了祖國的錦繡河山、廣袤疆域，共同創(chuàng)造了悠久的中國歷史、燦爛的中華文化。

　　　III. The Ethnic Groups in Xinjiang Are Part of the Chinese Nation

　　Historically, the Chinese nation was formed and developed through cultural communication, exchanges and integration between peoples in the Central Plains and in other regions. The Huaxia people who appeared in the pre-Qin period, after years of integration with various other peoples, and especially after 500 turbulent years of cultural convergence in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, further integrated with other peoples in the Qin and Han dynasties to form the Han people, a majority group in the Central Plains and the major people in Chinese history. In the period of the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, different peoples, especially the northern ethnic minorities, migrated on a large scale to the Central Plains, resulting in further ethnic merging. In the 13th century, with the founding of the Yuan Dynasty, an unprecedented level of political unification gave rise to unprecedented ethnic migration, leading to various ethnic groups living together within the Yuan territories.

　　After this long historical process, different ethnic groups of China eventually settled among each other, with compact communities here and there. Multiethnicity is a prominent feature of China. Together, the ethnic groups of China have explored the country’s rich resources and vast territories, and have created a long history and a splendid culture.