Chinese Communist Party Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara. (March 25, 2021)
Chinese Communist Party State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with his country’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in the Turkish capital Ankara on Thursday (March 25). Meanwhile, hundreds of Uyghurs living in Turkey held a rally in Istanbul to protest the Communist Party’s crackdown on Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region.
Wang Yi’s visit to Turkey began Wednesday and is expected to end Friday, during which he also held talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the two sides will discuss bilateral relations between China and Turkey as well as current regional and international issues during the visit.
Turkey is using a Chinese Communist Party virus vaccine from the Chinese company Kexing, and some Uighurs fear that Beijing is using the vaccine as leverage to pressure the Turkish parliament to pass an extradition treaty.
The Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) ratified the Extradition Treaty between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Turkey last December, and the Treaty is currently awaiting ratification by the Turkish Parliament.
Uighurs living in Turkey rally in Istanbul to protest Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Turkey. (March 25, 2021)
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Istanbul, some chanting “Stop the genocide” and others waving blue star and moon flags symbolizing the “East Turkestan Independence Movement.
I am frustrated,” a 62-year-old protester told AFP. Why is Turkey hosting a Chinese Communist foreign minister?”
Another protester told AFP: “We are afraid of the future. What will happen to our children? Turkey should open its eyes and stand by the innocent Uyghurs.”
The report also said Uighurs in Turkey are pressuring Erdogan’s government to join a new round of Western sanctions against Chinese officials for their actions in Xinjiang.
Reuters reported that Uighurs in Turkey would hold regular demonstrations in the capital Ankara and the largest city of Istanbul to protest the way the Chinese Communist Party treats Uighurs.
A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Turkey said in a statement in February that the protests, and the “solidarity” of individual Turkish lawmakers, were “clearly organized and planned actions. The statement said the actions were aimed at smearing the image of the Chinese Communist Party through rumors, deceiving the Turkish public and damaging relations between China and Turkey.
International human rights groups say at least one million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities are being held in detention camps in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. They are allegedly subjected to human rights violations in the camps, including torture, forced labor, forced sterilization, forced abortion, rape and sexual abuse, and political indoctrination.
The CCP has consistently denied abusing Uighurs or the existence of detention camps. The CCP claims that the detention camps are vocational and technical Education centers designed to de-extremist and help lift regional populations out of poverty. The CCP also says that there has never been any so-called “genocide,” “forced labor,” or “religious oppression” in the Xinjiang region.
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