Uyghurs fleeing Turkey are fearful after China recently ratified an extradition treaty with Turkey. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a press conference on Dec. 30 that Turkey has pledged not to return Uighurs to China.
Mevlut Cavusoglu also said it is illogical to say that Turkey will return the Uighurs to China just because China has approved the extradition treaty. But he added that this only applies to guilty people. Turkey and China signed an extradition treaty in 2017. The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China ratified the “Treaty on Extradition between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Turkey,” Xinhua reported on 26 June. This means that Beijing has completed the final legal procedures before the treaty enters into force.
In Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan submitted the treaty to the Grand National Assembly (TBMM) for a vote last April, but the TBMM has not yet ratified it.
Turkey, which is also a Turkic nation, is seen as a haven for Uighurs to escape persecution in China. It is estimated that there are at least 50,000 Uighurs living in Turkey, many of whom have fled China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region to escape persecution.
Dirichati, the headquarters of the World Uighur Congress in Munich, Germany, told Central News Agency by telephone Dec. 27, “China can use this treaty to weave together charges of alleged crimes and extradite Uighurs who are dissatisfied with the Chinese government and are seeking freedom from domination.”
He stressed, “We call on the Turkish government to take tough measures and send a just solidarity to demand that China close the concentration camps and stop its extreme policy of genocide.”
UN experts say that at least one million Uighurs and other Muslims are detained in “re-education camps” in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. China describes the re-education camps as vocational training centers that help eradicate extremism and train new skills. Some Western media have called the re-education camps concentration camps.
The persecution of Uighurs in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region is a sensitive issue in Turkish society, and Ankara’s response to the ratification of the treaty is under scrutiny. Turkey’s Uighur community fears that ratification of the treaty is “only a matter of time.
Dilishati noted that the extradition treaty has brought fear and anxiety to Uighurs who have fled China and are living in Turkey, and that they are in danger of losing their sense of security.
He said, “We call on the Turkish government to take effective measures to recognize China’s true intentions and prevent this treaty from becoming a special means for China to persecute the Uighurs.”
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