Turkey tells China to close Muslim camps

ISTANBUL: Turkey has called China’s treatment of its minority Uighurs “a great cause of shame for humanity.”

Foreign ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said on Saturday it’s “no longer a secret” that China has arbitrarily detained more than a million Uighurs in “concentration camps.” He said the Turkic Muslim population faced pressure and “systematic assimilation” in western China. Aksoy said Turkey has shared with China its position on “all levels” and urged authorities to close the detention facilities and respect human rights. Aksoy said Turkey had also learned of the death in prison of famed Uighur musician and poet Abdurehim Heyit, who was sentenced to eight years over one of his songs. “This tragedy has further reinforced the reaction of the Turkish public opinion toward serious human rights violations committed in the Xinjiang region,” Aksoy said.

Heyit was a master of the dutar, a type of two-stringed instrument found in Iran and Central Asia. AP