‘Backstabbers’: Uyghurs Protest Turkish Foreign Minister’s Friendly Trip to Chinese Genocide Ground Zero

Chanting “we will not be silent” and decrying the “betrayal” of the government of Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leaders of the East Turkistan Government in Exile held a protest before the Turkish embassy in Washington, DC, on Tuesday to condemn Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s ongoing friendly visit to China.

Fidan landed in China on Monday, meeting with senior Chinese leaders in the country in Beijing before heading to Kashgar and Urumqi, in occupied East Turkistan. The Turkish Foreign Ministry published photos on Wednesday of Fidan in East Turkistan, meeting with oppressive Communist Party leaders and enjoying a tour of local mosques and bazaars, which gives the appearance that China allows indigenous Turkic people in the region to live freely.

In reality, communist dictator Xi Jinping has been orchestrating a genocide in the region since at least 2017. Human rights researchers have documented ethnic cleansing policies by the Communist Party in the captured region for decades – including evidence of killing political prisoners by extracting their organs for transplants. Under Xi, however, the persecution escalated to the level of genocide through a policy of “breaking lineages, breaking roots, breaking connections, breaking origins” of the indigenous people of East Turkistan.

Under Xi, the Communist Party began imprisoning Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic people in concentration camps for “violations” such as traveling abroad or not eating pork. Inside the camps, survivors say they endured and witnessed atrocities such as torture, gang rape, indoctrination, and slavery. Outside of the camps, Xi enacted mass forced sterilization campaigns to limit the growth of the population and began demolishing cemeteries, mosques, and historical sites en masse. In one case, the Chinese government replaced a Uyghur mosque with a public toilet.

The Uyghurs, the majority ethnic group of East Turkistan, are ethnically Turkic people and have historically maintained cultural ties with Turkey. In 2009, before Turkey joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Erdogan accused Beijing of “genocide” against Uyghur people. His condemnation has all but disappeared following the signing of lucrative trade deals with the Communist Party, despite his efforts to maintain a reputation as a defender of Islam around the world.

Members of the East Turkistan Government in Exile organized a protest in Washington, DC, to condemn what they called a “betrayal” of the kinship among Turkic peoples. Prior to the establishment of communist China in 1949 and an invasion by communist mass murderer Mao Zedong, East Turkistan was a sovereign republic; the East Turkistan Government in Exile exists to keep that tradition alive.

“The recent visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to China and then to occupied East Turkistan signifies Turkey’s alignment with China’s oppressive regime, endorsing their genocide policies against our people,” Haider Jan, an advocacy coordinator for the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement, said at the protest in Washington on Tuesday. Jan urged the international community to hold Turkey accountable for its apparent support for the genocide:

Salih Hudayar, the East Turkistan Government in Exile’s Minister for Foreign Affairs & Security, delivered remarks in which he asserted Fidan’s visit disgraced Turkey, revealing not just “a political misstep, but a profound moral failing.”

“For centuries, East Turkistanis have looked up to Turkey as a beacon of hope, considering them our bloodkin from our shared turkic heritage, culture, language, and history,” Hudayar said. “Yet today we witness the continuous betrayal Turkey a nation bound to us by cultural, ethnic, religious, and historical ties has chosen to align itself with our oppressor, with our colonizers, with our enemy, China.”

“The recent visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to China and then to occupied East Turkistan and his alliance with the genocidal Chinese occupation regime is more than a simple diplomatic affair, it is an outright endorsement of China’s genocidal policies,” he continued, “a campaign of colonization, occupation, against the Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Tatar, and other Turkic people of occupied East Turkistan.”

“Some guests we perceive as brothers, as our kinsmen, as our protectors, turn out to be the most treacherous backstabbers,” Hudayar said.

Upon arriving in China, Fidan made explicit that the primary reason for his visit was to seek better business opportunities for the Turkish government.

“We brought up the issue of how we can make trade figures more balanced in all our meetings. I made practical suggestions such as removing restrictions on the import of Turkish agricultural products,” Fidan told reporters on Monday. “Tourism is another area in which we want to further develop our cooperation.”

Fidan added that Erdogan was interested in joining the China-led BRICS geopolitical and economic coalition, which endeavors to marginalize the United States on international platforms. If accepted, Turkey would be the first NATO ally to enter BRICS.

The Turkish government published photos on Wednesday of Fidan touring occupied East Turkistan with Chinese regime handlers, visiting sites in the regional capital, Urumqi, such as the local grand bazaar and regime-controlled mosques:

Fidan also held a meeting with the chief communist repressor in East Turkistan, Ma Xingrui, the Communist Party secretary of the “Xinjiang Autonomous Uyghur Region,” the Communist Party name for East Turkistan:

No news reports at press time indicate that Fidan raised the issue of the ongoing genocide or demanded China respect human rights during his visit.

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