Don’t label all Uighurs terrorists, Turkey tells China

The majority of mainly Muslim countries have opted to steer clear of public statements on the issue, for fear of angering China

Turkey’s foreign minister on Sunday said China should not label all Muslim ethnic Uighurs as terrorists, following talks with his Chinese counterpart in Germany.

UN experts believe China is holding a million Muslims in camps in the western Xinjiang region, where most of the country’s Uighur population, the largest Muslim minority, reside.

The region has long suffered from violent unrest, which China claims is orchestrated by an organised “terrorist” movement seeking independence.

“Whether Turk, Uighur Turk, Han Chinese, Buddhist or Christian... it is not right to call all Uighur Turks terrorists just because one or two terrorists came from a certain ethnic group,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Germany.

Cavusoglu held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday during the Munich Security Conference, during which he brought up the Uighur issue with Wang.

“Uighur Turks are Chinese citizens so our wish is that Uighur Turks exercise all their rights as first class citizens. These are our expectations,” he said.

‘Not political tool’

But Cavusoglu said Ankara did not want to use the issue as a “political tool” against Beijing like other countries, which he did not name.

The Turkish minister’s comments were cautious, especially compared with the foreign ministry spokesman’s remarks last February which described China’s treatment of Uighurs as “a great embarrassment for humanity”.

Last year Beijing invited Turkey to send a delegation to Xinjiang, a meeting which Cavusoglu said could take place depending on the programme’s details.