News Analysis
Nury Turkel, one of the world’s most prominent Uyghurs, is under pressure from Beijing. The Washington-based American lawyer was instrumental in legislative and executive actions by the U.S. government to support Uyghur human rights in China.
In the context of rising transnational repression by Beijing, including violent attacks linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Turkel’s brother was hospitalized in Fairfax, Virginia, with severe wounds, allegedly by an attacker who had previously called Turkel a “traitor” for his views on China.
Turkel co-founded the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) in 2003. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) appointed Turkel to the Commission on International Religious Freedom in 2020, where he currently serves as vice-chair. He has bipartisan support in Congress, including from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who publicly recognized Turkel for his facilitation of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020.
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