Turkey Urges China To Respect Uighur Muslims' Rights
20 June 2019Sabah Daily
There are very concerning developments ongoing in China against Uighur Turks
and other Muslim groups, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said, urging the
country to respect the rights of minorities.
Attending the first session of the 40th United Nations Human Rights Council (OHCHR)
in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday, Çavuşoğlu addressed the conference on the
matter of disarmament.
Giving a separate speech at the same session, Çavuşoğlu called on the Chinese
government to separate terrorists from innocent people and underscored that
there is a violation of human rights going on against Uighur Muslims.
Çavusoğlu said Turkey recognized "China's right to combat terrorism," but
urged the country to respect freedom of religion and to safeguard Uighurs' and
other Muslims' cultural identities.
Çavuşoğlu then inserted a line into his remarks, adding: "And I have to
underline that we support the One China policy."
He was referring to China's stance that the country encompasses Taiwan and
autonomous regions including Xinjiang and Tibet.
China's western Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region is home to around 10 million
Uighurs. The Turkic Muslim group, which makes up around 45 percent of
Xinjiang's population, has long accused China's authorities of cultural,
religious and economic discrimination. Up to 1 million people, or about 7
percent of the Muslim population in Xinjiang, have been incarcerated in an
expanding network of "political re-education" camps, according to the United
Nations.
In a report released in last September, Human Rights Watch blamed the Chinese
government for a "systematic campaign of human rights violations" against
Uighur Muslims in northwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region in the country.
Turkey, which shares cultural and religious ties with the Uighurs, has been
the only majority Muslim country to criticize Beijing over a wide-ranging
crackdown of religion and minority languages. The Foreign Ministry called
China's treatment of Uighurs "a great cause of shame for humanity."
Çavuşoğlu in his speech also criticized Israel, saying human rights violations
against Palestinians have "reached an alarming level."
Turkey always attaches importance to human rights despite fighting
simultaneously against multiple terror threats, in particular against the
Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), the PKK, its Syrian affiliate the People's
Protection Units (YPG) and Daesh, Çavuşoğlu tweeted after the session ended.
"Disarmament, nonproliferation and armed conflict are critical for global
safety, security and peace. They are of greater value during times of
instability and uncertainty," Çavuşoğlu said. "On its part of the world,
Turkey is directly confronted by multitude risks and threats. We are fighting
with various terrorist organizations at the same time from Daesh to the PKK,
the PYD [Democratic Union Party], YPG, and FETÖ, while the conflict in Syria
is almost in its ninth year."
During the conference Çavuşoğlu also held bilateral meetings with his
counterparts and the heads of U.N. including Human Rights chief Michelle
Bachelet. Making a statement after their meeting, Çavuşoğlu said in his tweet
that he congratulated Bachelet's new tenure and they spoke about Turkey's
efforts to shed light on the murder of late journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
"Wished @ambachelet a successful tenure. U.N. praises our principled and
transparent stance on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi," Çavuşoğlu tweeted.
Khashoggi was killed and dismembered by a group of Saudi operatives in the
country's consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018. Initially denying and later
downplaying the incident as an accidental killing in a fistfight, almost three
weeks after the disappearance Riyadh finally admitted that Khashoggi was
murdered in a premeditated action but denied any involvement of the royal
family. The incident was blamed on lower-level officials, including five that
are now facing the death penalty for their involvement. Despite more than 100
days passing since his assassination, the whereabouts of his body remain
unknown.
©
EsinIslam.Com
Add Comments