TENSION between Turkey and China is increasing after tourists in Istanbul were “attacked and harassed” during angry protests against the Chinese Government’s crackdown on the Uyhur – a mainly Muslim ethnic group.

China’s embassy in Istanbul has now issued a warning after tourists were caught up in the demonstrations at the weekend.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets to show solidarity with the Uyhur who have allegedly been banned from fasting and worshipping during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The protests turned ugly as Chinese flags were burned and the window of a popular Chinese restaurant was smashed.

Riot police stepped in with tear gas when the mob appeared to target East Asian tourists. One woman caught up in the chaos was heard shouting: “I’m not Chinese! I’m Korean!”

As the protesters – reportedly from the far-right Grey Wolves movement – were dispersed, the Chinese embassy warned tourists not to go out on their own or try to take pictures of any demonstrations, claiming that some tourists had been “attacked and disturbed”.

The trouble follows Turkish criticism of China’s Ramadan restrictions although these have been denied by the Chinese authorities.

Nevertheless Turkey, which has strong cultural, religious and ethnic links with the Uyhur, last week sent a strongly-worded diplomatic note to China expressing concern over the restrictions.

In response the Chinese state media claimed Turkey was just trying to stir up trouble.

“The Turkish Government has already on multiple occasions unreasonably interfered in Chinese internal politics, which indicates ‘Pan-Turkism’ still exists in modern Turkish society,” said Chinese tabloid Global Times. “We can see that Turkey has ulterior motives regarding interference in the Xinjiang issue.”

China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Turkey should “respect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to exercise prudence in its words and actions on relevant issues”.


REPRESSION

THE protests in Turkey follow unrest in Xinjiang province where most of the Uyhur live. The violence has claimed the lives of hundreds of people over the last few years with the Chinese Government blaming Islamist terrorists for the attacks.

However the Uyhur claim the violence is the direct result of government repression and laws banning Ramadan fasts and women wearing the veil.

Official policy in China is that people are allowed to maintain their cultural identity but the Uyhur say they are being swamped by the Han Chinese who are being encouraged to move into Xinjiang, the country’s most westerly region.

Roughly the size of Iran, the region has long been fought over but was brought under Chinese control in the 18th century. Russian influence, however, continued with the Soviet Union backing a short-lived Uyhur-led East Turkestan Republic from 1944-49. Once China had become fully communist, the Soviet Union then withdrew support and the Republic fell.

It was made an autonomous region by China in 1955 and Han Chinese were helped to move there to work in the new farming villages and industrial towns.

Since then the economy of the area has developed quickly with petrochemicals and oil now more lucrative than agriculture. It is also a significant pipeline and trade route into Central Asia and beyond.

Now the region is 40 per cent Han Chinese and just 45 per cent Turkic-speaking Uyhur with the latter claiming their cultural identity is being deliberately diluted.

This claim has been fuelled by what appears to be deliberate marginalisation and discrimination by the Chinese authorities and has erupted into more and more frequent outbreaks of violence.


EXECUTED

TO try to curb the unrest, 30 alleged separatists were executed in 1997 but this only sparked more protests which, again, were dealt with severely.

In the city of Yining, nine people were killed during clashes according to official figures, although the Uyhur claim more than 100 died.

Violence again erupted in the run up to the Olympics in 2008 with reports of attacks on police stations and bus bombings. Then, in Xinjiang in 2009, in the main city of Urumqi, more than 200 people were killed in bloody battles between Han Chinese and Uyhurs. According to the authorities most of the dead were Han Chinese.

Trouble surfaced again in 2013 when separatist “terrorists” were accused of killing 21 people during violent unrest.

The violence has continued in sporadic outbreaks with the authorities blaming the “East Turkestan Islamic Movement” for the attacks.

Independent experts as well as exiled Uyhurs have denied such a group exists and have accused the Chinese authorities of trying to justify repression by overstating the threat of terrorism.

Exiled Uyhurs are mainly concentrated in Turkey, home of the East Turkestan Liberation Movement, and Germany where the World Uyhur Congress was set up in 1994.

Armed security forces are now frequently seen in Xinjiang and Uyhurs are routinely stopped and checked at the many security points.

In areas where there has been violence, Uyhurs are banned from buying knives.

There is a blanket ban on Communist Party members, Government officials, and anyone under the age of 18 entering mosques, and only older men are allowed to have beards while wearing of the full veil is banned.

China continues to maintain that it has not banned Ramadan and claims a policy is promoted that “Muslim residents’ religious feelings, needs and customs be fully understood, respected and protected.”

However a number of websites belonging to Xinjiang schools and local councils suggest the opposite.

Jinghe County, for example, tells employees to “pledge to obey political discipline to firmly ensure that families that have (Communist) Party members and students will not fast and will not participate in any forms of religious activities.”