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AFP
Ankara
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 ethnic Uighur, the largest Muslim minority, live.
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. “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.
Cavusoglu criticised sceptical statements from Beijing over links between Turks and Uighurs, insisting they had “ethnic, religious, cultural and historical ties”.
Ankara
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 ethnic Uighur, the largest Muslim minority, live.
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. “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.
Cavusoglu criticised sceptical statements from Beijing over links between Turks and Uighurs, insisting they had “ethnic, religious, cultural and historical ties”.
