Istanbul, July 11 (DPA) The violence against minority Uighurs in western China can only be described as genocide, said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in comments cited by Turkish media Saturday.
“The events in China are a form of genocide,” said Erdogan. “There is no other way to describe it.”
“It is unbelievable. On the one hand, we talk about universal human rights, but on the other hand we have to witness something like this,” he said after returning from the G8 summit in Italy.
Turkey would like the violence between ethnic Uighurs and Han Chinese to be brought up in the UN Security Council.
China’s Xinjian province has seen much unrest since it was declared an autonomous region in 1955 and made open to settlement by Han Chinese. Local Muslim cultures have fought for their independence ever since. The area is rich in natural resources and of strategic importance to China.
