Turkey Defines China Violence as Genocide

The death toll from the violence there has now risen from 156 to 184, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reports. Photo by BGNES

Turkey's Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has described ethnic violence in China's Xinjiang region as "a kind of genocide".

He spoke after a night-time curfew was re-imposed in Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi, where Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese clashed last Sunday, the BBC reported.

"There is no other way of commenting on this event... The event taking place in China is a kind of genocide... There are atrocities there, hundreds of people have been killed and 1 000 hurt. We have difficulty understanding how China's leadership can remain a spectator in the face of these events", PM Erdogan said.

The death toll from the violence there has now risen from 156 to 184, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reports. More than 1 000 people were injured.

Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country, shares linguistic and religious links with the Uighurs in China's western-most region.

The Turkish premier also urged Beijing to "address the question of human rights and do what is necessary to prosecute the guilty".

Erdogan's comments came a day after Turkish Trade and Industry Minister, Nihat Ergun, urged Turks to boycott Chinese goods.

Beijing has so far not publicly commented on Erdogan's criticism.

 

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