Even though the Turkish parliament has not yet ratified the agreement, the initiative is expected to cause concern among the large Uighur diaspora in Turkey.
Le Monde
China announced on Saturday, December 26 the ratification of an extradition treaty with Turkey: a text that Beijing wants to use in particular to speed up the return of some Uighurs suspected of “terrorism” and refugees in Turkey.
Even if the Turkish parliament has not yet ratified this agreement (signed in 2017), the initiative is expected to raise concern within the large Uighur diaspora (estimated at 50,000 people) present in Turkey. Turkey has linguistic and cultural ties with the Uighurs, a Turkish-speaking and Muslim minority. Ankara has long been one of the main defenders of their cause on the international scene, before being more discreet.
China has embarked on a policy in the Xinjiang region (north-west) maximum surveillance of the Uighurs after numerous deadly attacks against civilians, attacks for which Beijing attributes the responsibility to the separatist and Islamist Uighur movement.
According to foreign experts, the Chinese authorities have interned at least a million people – Uighurs in particular – in” camps “. Beijing speaks of “vocational training centers”, intended to help the population to find a job and, thus, to move away from extremism. Believing themselves to be victims of persecution, many Uighurs fled to Turkey.
“An instrument of persecution”
“The standing committee of the National People’s Congress ratified” the ” extradition treaty “Sino-Turkish, announced in a short statement the Chinese parliament.
The text however provides several grounds for refusal. This is particularly the case if the State to which the extradition request is submitted considers it linked to a “political crime”, if the person concerned is one of its citizens, or if the latter enjoys the right to ‘asylum.
“This extradition treaty will cause panic among the Uighurs who fled China and ‘not yet having Turkish citizenship,’ Dilxat Raxit, spokesperson for the Uighur World Congress, an exile organization based in Germany, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). “We call on the Turkish government […] to prevent this treaty from becoming an instrument of persecution,” he added, assuring that Beijing was exerting economic pressure on Turkey to ratify the treaty.
The question is delicate for Ankara, because the Turks are generally sensitive to the Uighur cause. News articles accusing Turkey of quietly expelling Uighurs to China sparked public outcry.
Turkey is the only majority Muslim country to have so far publicly denounced the treatment. Uighurs. The Turkish Foreign Minister thus described it in early 2019 as “a shame for humanity”. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, however, praised last year in China the policy pursued in Xinjiang, deeming people “happy” there, according to statements reported by the official China New Agency.