Turkey Is Called to Help China Resettle Uighur Refugees to their Countries of Origin

Turkey sent Uighur refugees home to their home country, China, through a third country like Tajikistan and in their own country they face the threat of persecution and imprisonment. The Telegraph reported on Sunday.

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The report said, Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, "helped China repatriate Muslims by sending them to three countries before they returned (to China)." Thus was reported by Alarabiya, Monday (27/7).

For decades, Muslim Uighurs fled to Turkey because of the repression they faced in China, which has imprisoned 1 million Uighurs in "re-education" camps. In a number of reports and confessions of former prisoners, in the camp they were forced to renounce their religious identity.

Beijing considers many Uighurs to be extremists and endanger China's national security.

In the past, Erdogan, who described himself as a world Muslim leader, called Chinese actions against Uighurs "genocide".

But lately his government has stopped discussing China's actions, a move called The Telegraph with economic motives and Ankara's desire to attract Chinese investment.

From Turkey to Tajikistan to China

The Telegraph tells the story of Aimuzi Kuwanhan (59), a Uighur who fled China and sought refuge in Turkey, living in government housing.

After disappearing last summer, Kuwanhan was traced to a detention center in the Turkish city of Izmir, before being extradited to Tajikistan, citing a lawyer hired by his family.

"Sources who know Kuwahan say from there he was sent to China," the British newspaper reported.

Another Uighur woman, Zinntegul Tursun, was also deported from Turkey to Tajikistan before being repatriated to China last year.

This is not the first report that the Turkish government has fulfilled China's request regarding Uighurs.

The US public media office, National Public Radio reported in March that Uighur refugees Abdurehim Imin Parach, who had long criticized China's treatment of Uighurs, was arrested by Turkish police in Istanbul and he was asked to no longer voice resistance against China.

"I am not sure that China is directly pressing the Turkish government to oversee Uighurs here," he said in an interview with NPR.

"Or whether Chinese agents have infiltrated Turkish society to describe us as terrorists."

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