Turkey concerned over Xinjiang incidents, calls for investigation
Sunday’s Zaman, 6 August 2011
Turkey has said in a statement that it is concerned over recent incidents in China’s restive Xinjiang region that has left several dead, calling to bring criminals before justice.
The Friday’s statement came days after a trio of recent attacks blamed on militants among Xinjiang’s native Turkic Muslim Uighur population opposed to heavy-handed Chinese rule. At least three dozen people, including the alleged attackers, were killed in the attacks in the cities of Hotan and Kashgar, which came just ahead of the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Uighurs are culturally, linguistically and religiously distinct from China’s Han ethnic majority, and share many links with ethnic Turks in Central Asia and Anatolia.
The Foreign Ministry statement said Turkey attaches importance to security, stability and peace of people in Xinjiang, whom the statement said Turkey considers as “friendship bridge” with China.
The latest major anti-Chinese riot in Urumqi was two years ago in which at least 197 people were killed, hundreds arrested, and scores left missing. The unrest also caused relations between Turkey and China to get worsened after Turkey’s leadership strongly criticized China.