Turkey urges China to stop 'assimilation' of Uighurs

ANKARA (AFP) - Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged China to stop the “assimilation” of its
Uighur minority Saturday, the day after he said the unrest in Xinjiang was “like a genocide.”
“We ask the government of China to abandon assimilation, because such assimilation can do you no good,”
Erdogan said in a speech to his Justice and Development Party broadcast on television.
“No state, no society which attacks the lives and rights of innocent civilians can guarantee its security and
prosperity,” he warned.
“Whether they are Turkic Uighurs or Chinese, we cannot tolerate such atrocities,” Erdogan said. “The suffering of
the Uighurs is ours.”
Anti-Chinese demonstrations have been held across Turkey in solidarity with the Uighurs, but the government
has been cautious in its criticism of Beijing, a key trading partner.
Erdogan earlier said Turkey would ask the UN Security Council to discuss ways of ending the violence. The call
was rejected by China, one of five permanent members of the council who can veto its actions.
The foreign ministry in Ankara has been careful with the wording of its statements, urging China to “act in
accordance with international human rights norms and principles” in handling the unrest.
“The Turkish people feel very close to the Uighur people and share their suffering,” said a ministry statement,
underlining that Uighurs form a “strong bridge of friendship” between Turkey and China.
Trade and Industry Minister Nihat Ergun has called for a boycott of Chinese goods, while hastening to add that
this was a personal gesture with no government approval.
A Chinese government policy of transferring members of the majority Han population to distant areas to
consolidate Beijing’s authority has exacerbated resentment among the locals, analysts say.
Xinjiang’s eight million Uighurs make up nearly half the population of the region, and have long complained of
repression and discrimination under Chinese rule, but Beijing insists it has brought economic prosperity to the
region.