BFP: Friday, 5. July 2013 by Christoph Germann

The Great Game Round-Up brings you the latest newsworthy developments regarding Central Asia and the Caucasus region.  the struggle for influence, power, hegemony and profits in Central Asia and the Caucasus region between a U.S.-dominated NATO, its GCC proxies, Russia, China and other regional players.

In the wake of the recent terror campaign in China’s autonomous region of Xinjiang, the Global Times published an interesting article about the arrest of Muslim Uyghur Memeti Alili and the connection between unrest in Xinjiang and the proxy war in Syria [emphasis mine]: Xinjiang terrorists finding training, support in Syria, Turkey From a foreign student studying in Istanbul to a soldier receiving training in Syria’s Aleppo, to a terrorist plotting attacks in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, 23-year-old Memeti Aili said he felt like his dream was turned into a nightmare. Memeti Aili was recently caught by the police when returning to Xinjiang to complete his mission to “carry out violent attack and improve fighting skills” assigned by the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM). ETIM is a terrorist group that aims to create an Islamist state in Xinjiang, which works alongside the East Turkistan Education and Solidarity Association (ETESA), an Istanbul-based exile group. … Istanbul-based? Considering Turkey’s involvement in recruiting Central Asian militants and funneling them into Syria, this is hardly surprising. Last year the Global Times already provided more information about ETIM and ETESA: