More than 100 Chinese writers and artists in northwest China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region Thursday gathered in Urumqi to sign an open letter to the world condemning the July 5 riot that left 192 people dead.

In the letter, dated Thursday, the writers and artists called the riot a "big tragedy" and the rioters "terrorists".

The Urumqi riot left more than 1,600 injured, and hundreds of vehicles vandalized, shops looted and other public facilities destroyed.

Dilynar Abula, of ethnic Uygur group and a top-grade performer with Xinjiang Song and Dance Troupe, said: " performers and other staff of our troupe come from diverse ethnic minorities. We do rehearsals and give performances together, and care for each other. We never expect riots such as the one on July 5 could happen."

"We will create more artistic works to reflect national unity, reproducing episodes in which people of different ethnic groups help and care for each other," said the woman performer.

Dilynar Abula also serves as deputy chairwoman of Chinese Dancers Association and chairwoman of Xinjiang Autonomous Regional Dancers Association. Her prize winning works include "Grapes Picking", "Dish Dance", and "Dabancheng Girl", all solo dances.

"Rioters who killed innocent people indiscriminately were not only enemies of all Uygurs and other ethnic minority people in Xinjiang, but also enemies of mankind," said the letter.

"One objective of terrorists is to destroy our peaceful life, cut the link for the mankind to love and trust each other, drag mankind into abyss of racial conflict and genocide.

"As witnesses to the Urumqi riot, we saw brutal killings, vandalism and looting on July 5, but we have confidence in strength of truth and justice, and have faith in the government's determination to penalize those who were convicted for their roles in the Urumqi riot," said the letter.

Liu Bin, head of Xinjiang Branch with China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC), a Han Chinese writer which is well versed in Uygur language, said Xinjiang was part of the global village.

"Like parts of the world, Xinjiang now faces problems of splittism and terrorism," said Liu,"so the task for writers is to use our pens to reflect these topics, especially telling the truth behind the Urumqi riot to our readers so that unity could be brought into everybody's mind."

"We are also confident that all kind and peace-loving people in the world capable of discerning truth from facts will never be hoodwinked by rumors and drivel spread overseas by Rebiya Kadeer and the separatist World Uygur Congress she heads," said the letter.

The writers and artists said 56 minority nationalities in China had formed a family and the "People's Republic of China is our sole spiritual mother."

"While condemning the brutality of the rioters, we call for mutual understanding, mutual respect and unity between people, and among people of different ethnicities," said the letter.

"We also hoped that more and more western media journalists can travel to Xinjiang to gain a first-hand knowledge about Xinjiang, and see things with their own eyes, so as to gain better understanding of Xinjiang and produce balanced news reports," it said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 17, 2009)