On April 7, the Ankara municipality dug a hole in front of the Communist Party’s embassy in Turkey under the pretext of “checking the theft of water resources from nearby residents,” in what was seen as a different kind of counterattack by the Turkish state and won popular applause. (Ankara city administrator Öztürk tweeted)
While the Chinese Communist Party and Turkey are engaged in a diplomatic tug-of-war, on April 7, the city of Ankara dug a hole in front of the Chinese Embassy in Turkey under the pretext of “checking the misappropriation of water resources by nearby residents,” in what was seen as a different kind of counterattack by the Turkish state and won popular applause.
After the mayor of Ankara and another politician commemorated the 31st anniversary of the Uyghur “Barren uprising,” the Chinese embassy in Turkey sent out two “war wolf” diplomatic-style tweets that drew 8,000 messages, mostly criticizing the embassy for violating diplomatic protocol and crossing red lines. Most of them criticized the Chinese Embassy for violating diplomatic protocol and crossing the red line. The Turkish Foreign Ministry later summoned the local Chinese ambassador to protest.
According to Radio Free Asia, Cuneyt Ozturk, an administrator of the Turkish capital’s Ankara municipality, tweeted two photos of construction work in front of the Chinese embassy in Turkey on Wednesday, saying the work was being done to “check if residents in the area are stealing water from the tap. He said the construction was “to check if the residents of this area are stealing water.
Öztürk also previously wrote in another tweet, in a mocking tone, that the Chinese embassy might not have to pay for water this month. He also alluded to the Chinese Communist Party’s “vaccine diplomacy” and economic pressure on Turkey.
Rifaat, a Turkish citizen of Uighur descent, told Radio Free Asia that the city is responsible for smaller streets and municipal projects in Ankara, according to the division of powers, and that the sudden construction in front of the Chinese embassy was supposed to be a different kind of statement in response to previous diplomatic incidents.
“It is actually damaging the Chinese embassy, as it should be for China (CCP), and Turks are embracing this move.”
According to Rifat, Turkey is taking a different path of counterattack than Western countries in the face of the Chinese Communist Party’s “war wolf diplomacy.
Omer Kul, a professor at Istanbul University, said that China’s image in the world is already very bad, and this time the CCP’s “war-wolf speech” has triggered a great deal of resentment among Turkish citizens and the media.
Kul also said that as an academic, he is very supportive of many countries around the world sanctioning China over the Chinese Communist Party’s genocide against the Uighurs. Given Turkey’s cooperative relationship with China, perhaps Turkey has not sanctioned China for the time being, but if this incident continues to escalate, it may inspire Turkey to sanction.
Abdullah Germain, a Uighur exile in Turkey, revealed that they held protests, seminars and exhibitions in six cities on the occasion of the 31st anniversary of the Barren Township Uprising, which should be a major reason for the Chinese embassy to be very angry and to spread fire on pro-Uighur politicians to provoke a backlash among the people.
On the 31st anniversary of the Barren Township uprising, Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas, a CHP member, and Meral Aksener, the leader of the nationalist Iyi Party, tweeted to mark the occasion. In the tweet, Yavas said, “Even though 31 years have passed, we still feel the pain of the East Turkestan massacre as much as we did on the first day.”
In 1990, 200 Muslims, including Uighurs, clashed with the local government over ethnic tensions in Baren Township, Xinjiang. The Chinese Communist Party officially called it a “riot,” but the Uighurs insisted on calling it an “uprising.
The Uighurs, who are also a Turkic people, have close ethnic, linguistic and religious ties to Turkey. Turkey is one of the main countries of refuge for Uighurs abroad, with an estimated 50,000 Uighurs currently taking refuge there. Recently, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Turkey, and rumors that the Chinese government is using “vaccine diplomacy” to pressure Turkey to sign an extradition agreement have raised concerns about the situation of Uighurs.
Rifaat, a Turkish citizen of Uyghur descent, believes that the Chinese Communist Party’s war-wolf diplomacy has awakened the Turkish public and that the wave of civil protests will influence the government’s attitude toward China, which is not a bad thing for the Uyghurs.
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