Protesting Uygurs in Turkey demand release of relatives allegedly held in China

Around 200 protesters held up pictures of missing family members and chanted ‘China Stop Genocide’ near the Chinese consulate in Istanbul

About 50,000 Uygurs are living in Turkey, many of whom fled the crackdown in China

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Turkish riot police stand guard as Uygurs protest near the Chinese consulate in Istanbul on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 8:49pm, 12 Feb 2021Updated: 8:49pm, 12 Feb 2021

Around 200 Uygurs protested on Friday in Istanbul, demanding answers from Beijing on the whereabouts of their family members allegedly being held by Chinese authorities.

Protesters, including children and the elderly, held up pictures of missing family members and chanted “China Stop Genocide” behind a police barricade, 500 metres from the Chinese consulate.

“We demand China immediately release our relatives in Xinjiang and other regions, many of whom we have not heard from for five years,” Uygur academic Burhan Uluyol said, accusing Beijing of “lying to the world.”

An estimated 50,000 Uygurs are living in Turkey, many of whom fled the crackdown in China, leaving some members of their Turkic-speaking Muslim families behind.

Buzura Paltahaci said she hadn't heard from her husband Aldulkadir since 2017 when he was detained by Chinese border police at an airport in Xinjiang.

“I haven't been able to communicate with him since … I fear for my husband's life,” Paltahaci said.

She added her husband was briefly held at a “re-education camp” in 2016 where he had been mistreated and interrogated.