Turkey has again expressed concerns over ongoing human rights violations in China’s Xinjiang autonomous region, home to the ethnic Uighur community, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
“NECESSARY STEPS MUST BE TAKEN”
At the UN General Assembly, Turkey again urged that the cultural and religious identity of Uighur Turks be respected and guaranteed, in a national declaration this Monday to the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian & Cultural Issues) which the ministry shared with reporters.
“We attach importance to the role of the UN in addressing the concerns and expectations of the international community regarding practices against Uyghur Turks and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang,” said the declaration.
Turkey’s declaration stressed that relevant UN bodies play “an important role in recording the human rights situation in the region” while “making concrete recommendations.”
Citing eight recommendations the UN Elimination of Racial Discrimination Committee gave to China in August 2018, Turkey said the concerns and recommendations the committee made are still applicable to this day and “necessary steps must be taken in this regard.”
The declaration also underscored Turkey’s respect for China’s territorial integrity, and said “our country’s well-known expectation from both the international community and the Chinese authorities is for the Uyghur Turks and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang to live in peace and tranquility as equal citizens of China.”
Turkey’s declaration also pointed to its ethnic, religious and cultural ties with Uighur Turks, and said “the human rights practices against Uyghur Turks and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang in recent reports have made us particularly worried.”