Turkey calls on China to close internment camps for Muslims

Ankara called on the international community and the UN secretary general to take action.

China, China Uighur, Uighur community China, China Uighur, Turkey Uighur, Turkey China, Muslims in China, World news, Latest news, International news, India nexpress — Last week, rights activists urged European and Muslim nations to take the lead in establishing a UN investigation into China’s detention and “forced indoctrination” of up to one million Uighurs, who speak a Turkic-language, and other Muslims in Xinjiang province. (File/Reuters)

Turkey called on China to close its internment camps for Muslims, saying the camps which reportedly hold a million ethnic Uighur people are a “great shame for humanity”.

Last week, rights activists urged European and Muslim nations to take the lead in establishing a UN investigation into China’s detention and “forced indoctrination” of up to one million Uighurs, who speak a Turkic-language, and other Muslims in Xinjiang province.

“The policy of systematic assimilation against the Uighur Turks carried out by the authorities of China is a great shame for humanity,” Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said in a statement late on Saturday.

Read | Rights groups seek UN inquiry into China’s mass detention of Muslims

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Reporter - China's harassment of Muslims

The UN accuses China of detaining a million Uighurs, Kazakhs and people from other Muslim minorities in the region of Xinjiang. Most have not been accused of anything let alone sentenced.

“It is no longer a secret that more than one million Uighur Turks incurring arbitrary arrests are subjected to torture and political brainwashing in internment camps and prisons,” Aksoy said.

Turkey’s response follows the death of Uighur poet and musician Abdurehim Heyit in custody.