Turkistan Islamic Party

Group Profile

Earlier this year, we published an article on the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) - an extremist group of Uyghurs that seeks to establish a sovereign nation in the Chinese Xinjiang province. Although ETIM is based in Pakistan and Afghanistan, in 2012, some militants began travelling to Syria to participate in the country’s civil war. Since beginning their settlement, additional Uyghurs have travelled both from the ETIM bases and from China itself to live along with their families in some of the abandoned Syrian towns. The group of Uyghurs based in Syria is known as the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP). In this article, we’ll explore who TIP is, as well as how they raise, move, store, manage, use, and obscure their funds.