Turkish opposition lawmakers have accused the government of secretly sending Uighurs in Turkey back to China in exchange for the Chinese-made New Crown vaccine. While arrests of Uighurs in Turkey have occurred in the past, they have been escalating in recent months.
The Associated Press reported Friday (Feb. 5) that while there is no conclusive evidence yet, some lawmakers and Uighurs fear that Beijing is using the vaccine as leverage to pressure the Turkish parliament to pass an extradition treaty. The Extradition Treaty between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Turkey, signed in 2017 and abruptly ratified by the Standing Committee of the Chinese People’s Congress last December, could be presented to the Turkish parliament as early as this month.
Uighurs say the bill, once it becomes law, could give them the ultimate Life-threatening nightmare: deportation to their Home country, a country they fled to avoid mass detention.
Millions of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities are believed to be held in internment camps in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. According to Western media reports, they are subjected to human rights violations in the camps, including torture, forced sterilization, forced abortions, rape and sexual abuse, and political indoctrination. The Chinese government denies the allegations.
Last month, more than a dozen police officers, many of them armed, swarmed the home of Abdullah Metseydi, an ethnic Uighur in Turkey. The police officers asked him if he was involved in any campaign against China and threatened to deport him and his wife.
“I’m afraid of being deported,” Abdullah’s wife said tearfully, “and I fear for my husband’s mental health.”
Turkey is one of the largest overseas residences for Uighurs, and it is estimated that at least 50,000 Uighurs are currently living there, many of whom still have not received Turkish citizenship.
Last December, the arrival of the first shipment of Chinese vaccines was delayed by weeks, raising suspicions about the deal. Officials blamed licensing issues.
Yildirim Kaya, a member of parliament from Turkey’s main opposition party, said China promised to release 30 million doses of vaccines by the end of January, but has delivered only a third, the report said. Turkey relies heavily on vaccines from China’s Kexin, and the country has accumulated more than 2.5 million confirmed cases of the new crown and more than 26,000 deaths.
“Such delays are abnormal. We have paid for these vaccines.” Kaya said, “Is China blackmailing (blackmailing) Turkey?”
Both Turkish and Chinese authorities insist that the extradition bill is not aimed at Uighurs.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said last December that the vaccine delay had nothing to do with the Uighurs’ problems.
He said, “We do not use Uighurs for political purposes, we defend their human rights.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin also denied any connection between the vaccines and Uighurs and the extradition treaty.
“The relevant speculation you just mentioned is groundless,” he said at a press conference on Thursday.
He added: “The conclusion of an extradition treaty between China and Turkey will help solidify the legal basis for judicial cooperation between the two sides, provide institutional safeguards for the joint fight against transnational crimes, and also help protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese and Turkish citizens and enterprises and promote the development of China-Turkey relations, which is in the interests of both sides.”
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