Sincan - Turkiye Cin Iliskileri - Dışişleri Bakanlığı

Turkish PM comment triggers China-Turkey ties concern

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s accusation of "genocide" in describing the rioting which killed 184 people in China’s northwestern Muslim region of Xinjiang should come as no surprise to those familiar with Erdogan's outspoken, populist style. His response has drawn an indignant response in China, and Turkish commentators are now voicing concerns that his undiplomatic approach could harm Chinese-Turkish relations. The timing was unfortunate. President Abdullah Gul last month became the first Turkish president to visit China in 15 years, signing $1.5 billion worth of trade deals, according to Turkish media. He also visited Xinjiang during his trip. Chinese businessmen visiting Turkey were in the process of signing multi-billion dollar agreements with their Turkish counterparts.

Veteran Turkish political commentator Sami Kohen said it was natural for the Turkish people to show their sensitivity and anger over developments concerning their Uighur ethnic kin (a Turkic people who are largely Muslim and share linguistic and cultural bonds with Turkey and Central Asia). “But state policy must be more cautious and moderate. Speeches and reactions since the start of the Xinjiang crisis have created serious doubts on whether a harmonious and consistent policy has been set out,” Kohen said in Milliyet newspaper.

“It was seen with different incidents in the past that over-the-top expressions have put Turkish diplomacy in a difficult position and did not have any practical results,” he said. The genocide label is particularly sensitive in Turkey, which strongly refutes Armenian claims that the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War One constituted genocide. The English-language China Daily has urged Erdogan to take back his remarks, describing them as interference in China’s internal affairs. Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the accusation did not make sense.

UIGHUR'S SAY CHINA'S ETHNIC POLICIES AT ROOT CAUSE OF URUMQI RIOTS

On July 5, Uighurs attacked Han Chinese in the regional capital Urumqi after police tried to break up a protest against fatal attacks on Uighur workers at a factory in south China. Han Chinese launched revenge attacks two days later in what was Xinjiang’s worst ethnic violence in decades.

CHINA SAYS SOURCE OF PROBLEM IS EXTREMISM, SEPARATISM & TERRORISM

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told his Turkish counterpart by telephone on Sunday the Urumqi riots were a grave crime orchestrated by the three evil forces, Xinhua news agency said, referring to extremism, separatism and terrorism.

Commentator Cengiz Candar said the situation called for cool heads, given China’s permanent membership of the United Nation’s Security Council, which gives it veto powers in issues concerning Turkey such as the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus, neighbouring Iraq and Iran. “Now is the time to overcome the ‘tension’ which has emerged between Turkey and China with a diplomacy which is cool, quiet and patient,” Candar wrote in the liberal daily Radikal.

That diplomacy could face a fresh test in the near future after Erdogan said last week Turkey would grant a visa to exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer, who is based in the United States. China has blamed the ethnic unrest on exiled Uighur separatists, especially Kadeer, who denies the charge. Source: Reuters July 15 2009