Uyghur refugees in Turkey worried about deportation to China

ISTANBUL [Turkey]: Uyghur refugees yet to get Turkish citizenship, are worried about deportation post-Turkey's Interior Minister's discussions with his Chinese counterpart.

Sources privy to the meeting's proceedings revealed that the Chinese side has asked Turkish government to deport some of the identified Uyghur refugees staying in Turkey to China before they are accepted in Canada, according to the International Forum for Rights and Security (IFFRAS).

"The timing of the Chinese security delegation's visit is noteworthy, given the backdrop of Canadian Parliament recently passing a bill to accept 10,000 Uyghur refugees from Turkiye and Central Asia region," said one Uyghur refugee, as reported by IFFRAS. The Vice-Minister of Public Security of China, Du Hongwei, in November 2022, met the Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu in Ankara (Turkey).

The Uyghurs were worried about the secrecy surrounding the meeting attended by the Turkish migration administration officials responsible for granting Turkey's citizenship to the Uyghurs. Also attending the meeting was the Chinese Ambassador to Turkey, reported IFFRAS.

Turkey is home to about 50,000 Uyghurs, the largest Uyghur Diaspora outside Central Asian region. "Uyghur refugees already receiving Turkish citizenship are not in danger. But on the line are those still under refugee status and who act independently. What horrors lie ahead are unthinkable," said the Uyghur refugee.

Recently, some 55 Uyghur organizations called on world leaders to recognize December 9 as Uyghur Genocide Recognition Day, reported Radio Free Asia (RFA).

On December 9, 2021, an independent UK-based Uyghur Tribunal announced its findings that China committed genocide against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in its Xinjiang region.

Uyghur organizations from 20 countries asked global leaders to take action to end the Chinese government's human rights atrocities against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs.

"On December 9, 2021, after 18 months of investigations, and reading through hundreds of thousands of pages of documents and holding hearings from witnesses, the Uyghur Tribunal declared China's crimes in East Turkestan as genocide," RFA quoted the president of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), Dolkun Isa as saying.

"By declaring this day as Uyghur Genocide Recognition Day, we want to draw the international community's attention to this ongoing genocide. By commemorating the day, we want to mobilize countries, peoples and international organizations to stop the genocide," he said.