Enver Can, founder of the World Uyghur Congress: ‘Because of Dolkun Isa, our cause and organization suffered great damage’

By Yusuf Tunçer

Enver Can, founder of the World Uyghur Congress, talked about the death threat to him by the abusive chairman Dolkun Isa: ‘I think he made that threat in an organised way in consultation with some people in Munich with criminal records. According to the statute, he cannot run for president again.’

The leaders of the ‘World Uyghur Congress’, which is supported by the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED), have been in disputes, including death threats. The headquarters of the organisation is located in Germany. Enver Can, one of the founders living in Germany, said that the president Dolkun Isa, whose name was involved in the sexual harassment incident, made death threats to him. Isa called Can on 29 July and threatened, ‘If you do not stop addressing the allegations of harassment against me, I will visit you with members of the community, which could result in death.’ Enver Can filed a criminal complaint with the German police.

Esma Hazal Gün, a Turkish girl living in Belgium, who was sexually harassed by Dolkun İsa, President of the ‘World Uyghur Congress (WUC)’, told all the details of the incident to Aydınlık on 1 June. The echoes of the sexual harassment scandal of Dolkun İsa, who is also banned from entering Türkiye on the grounds of ‘threatening public security’, continue. The reactions of the victims, the Uyghur Diaspora and academics in various countries of the world to the attempts of Dolkun İsa, who claims that he fights for ‘human rights’ and tries to convict China with lawsuits filed in various countries on the grounds that women are mistreated (the latest example is Argentina), to cover up his own harassment are increasing. Dolkun Isa and the WUC under his leadership resort to insults and death threats to suppress the reactions.

In the shadow of the harassment scandal, the WUC will convene in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, between 24-27 October 2024 to elect a new president and leadership. With a positive report from a so-called ‘independent research organisation’ hired by the WUC, Dolkun Isa is expected to present himself as exonerated and run for the presidency for the third time, breaking the ‘two-term’ rule in the statutes.

Enver Can, one of the founders of the WUC together with Dolkun İsa in Germany in 2004, spoke to Aydınlık about the harassment incident, the death threat and the 8th Congress to be held in October.

‘I have been dealing with these works for 35 years’

Who is Enver Can?

I was born in 1949 in Gulca, China. In 1961, I came to neighbouring Afghanistan and from there to Türkiye. I have been living in Germany since 1973. For 35 years, I have been involved in the establishment of many associations in order to explain the ‘East Turkistan’ cause to the world and Western public opinion. I started the Ilham Tohti Initiative Movement in 2016 as the founding chairman and I am currently serving in that position. I was the founding chairman of the East Turkistan National Congress in Germany, one of the 2 organisations that merged during the establishment of the WUC in 2004, and then I became the Vice President when we established the WUC.

‘We established the Uyghur Congress together with Dolkun’

Could you tell us about your acquaintance and relationship with Dolgun Isa, President of the World Uyghur Congress?

Dolkun Isa came to Germany in 1996. We met there. We have been working side by side for nearly 30 years. Then we founded the WUC together, we worked together. So he is a man of the cause in my eyes. And that’s why I was very surprised that the sexual harassment incident developed in this way and that his name was involved here.

‘I told him to resign, he threatened me with death’

You call Dolgun Isa a ‘man of the cause’. But sexual harassment, first apologising, then denying and finally announcing his ‘temporary’ resignation from the presidency after 4 months… Moreover, there is another woman who says she was harassed. Does this fit your definition of a ‘man of the cause’?

We worked together for nearly 30 years. When I said that he was a man of the cause, I saw that he made sacrifices for the cause. Now, I was shocked that such a man’s name was mentioned with harassment and that he did not resign in time by realising this. And when I said, ‘If you resign, it will benefit both the cause and yourself,’ he insulted me and fired me from the association. And finally he threatened me with death. Until then, he was what I call a man of the cause. Let me tell you frankly, if he apologises to the Uyghur community, the world public opinion and the girl he harassed, if he accepts that he made a mistake, I will nominate him as a candidate. Dolkun Isa cannot be a candidate for more than two consecutive terms according to the WUC statute.

‘Denying harassment allegation was a big mistake’

What was the reaction among Uyghurs after Dolkun Isa’s harassment case came out? Did anyone else react other than you?

Now this is a very important and kind question. Since I was not present at those meetings, as far as I heard, there were some reactions, but they were few. There were two meetings with the board of directors and even an extended board of directors. He gathered the people around him, and the majority there said, ‘You will remain as our president’. My guess is that afterwards, perhaps encouraged by this, he gave up admitting the harassment incident you mentioned on the Radio Free Asia (RFA) broadcast. It was a big mistake. He said, ‘I don’t know that girl, I don’t remember such an incident.’ I guess he probably took courage from those who supported him. Then that broadcast was completely cancelled, you know. Again, according to my guess, there was also great pressure there.

Academics’ warning to WUC

For example, the number of academics and researchers from various countries, including Türkiye, reacted officially when the number was first 25 and then increased to 31. They issued a joint statement in English. ‘The WUC has been passive on this issue’, they said. Indirectly, they declared that Dolgun Isa should resign in May. Maybe 180-200 delegates will come to the WUC General Assembly from all over the world. Two of them have reacted to this academics’ declaration. Among these academics, there are those who were invited and taken to a big meeting in Tokyo two years ago. Yes, we have WUC and its delegates, but we need countries and scholars who support us.

‘Ethical understanding is over’

For example, there’s Erkin Siddik. You wrote about him in your last article. He is a doctor, he works at NASA. And he has been living in the West for at least 40 years, though not as long as me. Even that man does not address the main issue in his social media post. He says, ‘Some US Presidents had mistresses. What’s wrong with that?’ In other words, he is actually making a defence that tries to normalise immoral issues such as polygamy, extramarital affairs and harassment. Even though he does not directly defend it, he gives that meaning. Unfortunately, that meaning comes out. Now this ‘intellectual’. If the Uyghur intellectual says this, what do you expect from our people? So you asked if you were left alone. Even though I am not alone, this ethical understanding has ended somewhere.

‘I was removed from their group after death threats’

You stated that you were removed from 4 Whatsapp communication groups. It is evident from this suppression that there is a serious discomfort about the harassment being discussed.

Yes. I was removed from 4 WhatsApp groups. The most important one for me is the Uyghur Ziyalılar Community. Ziyali means enlightened. After Dolkun Isa telephoned and threatened me, I went to the police the same day in the evening. The next day, they removed me from two groups of WUC, the World Organisations and the European Organisations. The head of these two groups is the vice-president of the WUC. This is of course on the direct instruction of the Dolkun İsa. Thirdly, there is a group that supports the WUC, from which I was also expelled.

‘Uyghurs need to raise their voice’

No one there said, ‘Why are you removing Enver Can?’ If the intellectuals do not speak out, it means that we do not have the courage to be civilised, or I see a problem with our intellectuals. They should speak out.

‘Dolkun Isa ran away from me’

How did you get the death threat?

When I heard about the harassment, I phoned, he didn’t answer. If it wasn’t convenient, he’d call back later. I waited two or three days, no word. I went to WUC headquarters for Friday prayers. I knocked on his door, he didn’t open. A week later I went to Friday prayers again. Again I knocked on his door, he didn’t answer. 15 minutes later he came down for prayers. After the Friday prayer, I went up to him and extended my hand and said, ‘I can’t find you since two weeks.’ Dolkun Isa told me, ‘You didn’t stand next to me, you lost the right to shake hands with me, you lost the right to shake my hand’. Then he shouted in public, ‘I don’t want to see this man here again’. He expects me to stand behind him without any interrogation or questioning.

‘He threatened me with several people with criminal record’

After that, I wrote about it, shared it with the public, and my posts continued. About a week later, he called me and said, ‘I have fired you from the centre. If you don’t stop your writings, this time I will come with my friends and the congregation and there will be a funeral’. Clearly a death threat. I think that he did not make that threat on his own, but in an organised way in consultation with a few people with criminal records in Munich. If necessary, I can give the names of those people.

‘He should have stepped down to clear this stain, he didn’t’

It’s a stain on him. In Europe, it’s over the day after that. He withdraws, resigns or is forced to resign. Dolkun Isa didn’t. My problem and my case has been this. Because of one person, our cause and our organisation has suffered great damage. I am 75 years old. He respected me, he used to call me ‘brother Enver’. That’s why I can’t recognise this man now.

‘He cannot run again’

The WUC says that a so-called ‘independent research organisation’ it hired is conducting an investigation into the harassment. Even if Dolkun Isa gets a favourable report from that organisation, can’t he run for a third term as president this term? If he does, isn’t he breaking your bylaws?

Yes, he is. He cannot be a candidate this term according to the statutes. According to the WUC statutes, he cannot be a candidate at the 8th General Assembly in Sarajevo in October.

‘He should apologize to that girl’

What legal action did you take regarding the death threat?

I filed a complaint with the police. I haven’t received any information from the prosecutor’s office yet. In Germany, in such cases, the police first looks into it and then sends it to the prosecutor’s office. But as I said, my aim is our cause, our organisation. Therefore, whoever has made a mistake should pay the penalty so that he will not do it in the future. If he accepts his mistake and apologises to the Uyghur people, the international community and especially to Ms Esma, then my job is done. I will nominate him to the WUC. But not this time. Because according to the bylaws, he cannot be president three times in a row.

So-called ‘independent’ research firm not reaching out to victims

The so-called ‘independent investigators’ hired by the WUC have never had any contact with the victims of harassment, I learnt from Ms Esma, a victim of harassment. According to the WUC’s website, the title of the investigating lawyer was changed from ‘human rights expert’ to ‘GBVH lawyer’ (GBVH: gender-based violence and harassment) for show. Is such an ‘independent and impartial’ investigation possible?

That company cannot justify harassment anywhere. And of course, is that company independent or not? I cannot know that, I am not in a position to follow it. But after a result comes out, there are probably others who can follow up on whether that research is in accordance with international acceptance or not.

A call to victims of harassment: ‘come out, be a hero’

I was contacted on social media by another woman who said that she had experienced similar harassment with Dolgun İsa. Have other people contacted you?

We hear about it on social media. So if you have experienced such a thing, come out. As we said before, civilised courage. Come out, be a hero. So that other people like you don’t have to go through this in the future.

‘Dolkun’s defenders are his paid staff’

Those in managerial positions seem to be standing behind Dolkun Isa in the case of harassment. Especially among them are women, despite the sensitive issue of harassment. How do you assess this?

I attribute this to two things: Lack of civil courage on the part of some, and economic interests and position on the part of others. They do what he says, because they get a salary from him. In this regard, not all of them, but some of them are afraid of losing their position.

They have appointed vice-president Erkin Ekrem as Transitional WUC President. Is he close to Dolkun İsa?

Erkin Ekrem is an academic from Türkiye. When the WUC was founded, he helped to prepare our statute. I have a personal relationship with him since 1999. He was also my political advisor at that time. But now he is working in harmony with Dolkun Isa. He is not a person who speaks a lot and shows his colour. Maybe in the future he may say, ‘Enver, I thought the same as you. But…’. Now he realises that there are people behind Dolkun Isa. Maybe that’s why he didn’t want to make a noise.

‘It won’t be a democratic general assembly’

At the 8th World Uyghur Congress to be held in Bosnia Herzegowina in October, Dolkun Isa will probably break your own bylaws and run again, despite the ‘two-term’ rule. Also, there is the sexual harassment incident. An 8th general assembly will be held under the shadow of sexual harassment by its chairman. Moreover, the WUC does not allow you and your possible opponents to attend the 8th General Assembly. When you consider all this, do you believe that it will be a democratic general assembly?

Dolkun served two terms as president. So he actually finished his term according to the bylaws. So he may or may not run, but it will not be a fully democratic general assembly. For the simplest example, it says that candidates for leadership positions must have served in the WUC for at least 6-7 years. That’s not democratic.

‘They can ostracize me all they want, I won’t shut up’

As I mentioned at the beginning, today, if the Kurultay, which has a statute in accordance with international law and rules and which has been established by a handful of people for 20 years, has come to this day, then it is the duty of every Uyghur to protect it. It is also my duty as its founder. They can exclude me as much as they want. I will not shut up.

‘We can go even lower with this wound we have received’

The world will say to us, ‘These people are civilised, modern, democratic. Let us strengthen our support for them, let us support them’. If we cannot do this, we can go even lower with the wound we have received. Right now, a congress is being held under this shadow. As Uyghurs, we need to learn many lessons from here. We have no other luxury but to save this congress. For this, I acted as much as I could. I am not angry. I am not saying, ‘Let him apologise to me.’ Let him apologise to the Uyghur people saying, ‘I made a mistake.’ Let him apologise to that girl.

What had happened?

On 10 May, it emerged that women working as human rights activists in various organisations had been harassed by leaders of Uyghur organisations. The harassment allegations centred on Dolkun Isa, President of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), who lives in Germany, and Nury Turkel, President of the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) and Chair of the US Congress Committee on Religious Freedom, who lives in the US. While Nury Turkel resigned from his post after the news, Dolkun Isa first issued an apology in English on his social media account on 12 May, and denied the incident on the Uyghur broadcast he attended on 25 May, saying that he did not remember. Unable to prevent the reactions, Dolkun Isa announced his ‘temporary’ resignation 4 months after the revelations, saying that the WUC had ‘launched an independent external investigation’ into the alleged harassment.

Esma Hazal Gün, a Turkish girl living in Belgium, told Aydınlık in detail about how she was harassed by Dolkun İsa, the President of the World Uyghur Congress, with the words ‘There are many more women who can come forward’.