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Turkish president Erdogan meets Chinese leaders at start of official visit

Terrorism concerns top agenda amid row over treatment of Uighurs
Turkish president Erdogan meets Chinese leaders at start of official visit

A Turkish nationalist steps on a burning Chinese flag, during a protest to denounce China's treatment of ethnic Uighurs Muslims, in front of the Chinese consulate in Istanbul, in this July 5 photo. (Photo by AFP/OZAN KOSE) 

Published: July 30, 2015 09:41 AM GMT
Updated: July 29, 2015 10:46 PM GMT

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with China’s President Xi Jinping in Beijing July 29 during a visit complicated by disputes over Muslim persecution and terrorism.

Erdogan raised allegations that China had restricted minority Muslim Uighurs from fasting during Ramadan in June, an issue that sparked protesters to burn Chinese flags in the streets of Istanbul this month.

“We consistently advocate that China and Turkey should support each other on major issues and deepen their strategic cooperative relationship,” Xi said.

The Turkish president plans to meet with representatives of China’s Turkic-speaking Uighur and Hui Muslim communities, a proposal accepted by Xi, according to Turkey's state Anadolu Agency, although no further details were given.

“This visit will strengthen the understanding between our nations and help cement friendship between our people,” Erdogan said outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

The Turkish president also met with Premier Li Keqiang and head of parliament Zhang Dejiang for talks that focused on trade and fighting terrorism in the Middle East and China.

“The two countries agree that terrorism is the common enemy of humankind and China and Turkey are both victims of terrorism,” China’s vice foreign minister Zhang Ming told a press conference after the talks.

In recent weeks, Beijing has launched a propaganda campaign in state media on happy Muslims enjoying Ramadan and a series on how Turkey has become a thoroughfare for Uighur terrorists.

Turkey’s bombing of Islamic State positions in Syria this week was expected to be well received by China, which hopes Turkey will better stem the flow of militants across its borders, particularly Uighur separatists slipping out of Xinjiang and returning radicalized.

Earlier this month, the Thai government deported 109 Uighurs back to China, prompting fierce criticism from Turkey, the United States and rights groups.

“Precedent shows that these forcibly returned Uighurs will be harshly treated in Chinese society,” said Alim Seytoff, president of the Uighur Human Rights Project based in Washington D.C.

After sending groups of Uighurs to Turkey in recent years, Thailand was trying to appease China, accepting claims the recent group had a history of terrorism, said Veerawit Tianchainan, executive director of the Thai Committee for Refugees Foundation.

“We cannot actually trust that they all are [terrorists],” he told ucanews.com. “But after sending so many Uighurs to Turkey, it could have stained [Thai] relations with China.”

Beijing has stepped up a crackdown on Uighurs over the past year after deadly attacks in Western China claimed at least 500 dead in 2014, the highest number of fatalities on record following years of separatist violence in Xinjiang.

After riots in Xinjiang that left almost 200 Uighurs and majority Han Chinese dead in July, 2009, Erdogan called the response “genocide”, prompting protests from Beijing.

Critics have accused Turkey of a double-standard as its government continues to deny responsibility for the genocide of millions of Armenian Christians a century ago.

After the European Parliament in April qualified these killings during the First World War as genocide, Erdogan said the decision “would go in one ear and out from the other”.

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